AppDirect, the US-based provider of a cloud platform for online commerce, raised $140m yesterday in a series E round backed by media and entertainment company Stingray Digital.
The round was led by an investment fund advised by JP Morgan Asset Management, and featured all AppDirect’s earlier institutional investors, including Foundry Group, iNovia Capital, Mithril Capital Management and StarVest Partners.
JP Morgan’s investment included $30m provided to AppDirect in conjunction with its last round, earlier this year, according to Bloomberg, which reported the funding was raised at a $1bn valuation.
AppDirect runs a network of cloud service marketplaces that brings together service providers, developers and consumers, allowing businesses to buy and manage, or sell and distribute cloud services on a single platform.
The funding comes after a year in which AppDirect has doubled its workforce to more than 350 people spread across nine countries. It will support product development, particularly on AppDirect’s core platform.
Daniel Saks president and Co-CEO of AppDirect, said: “This new round of funding validates our vision and traction in the market, and will allow us to put cloud services in the hands of millions more businesses through local, trusted providers.
“We look forward to helping even more companies of all sizes and stages of growth sell and manage their own [software-as-a-service] applications.”
AppDirect has now raised more than $245m since it was founded in 2009, including $50m secured from Mithril Capital Management at a $600m valuation in February this year. That investment followed a $35m series C round in April 2014 featuring Mithril, iNovia and Foundry Group.
Stingray Digital had previously contributed to AppDirect’s $8.5m series A round in 2012 before returning for a $9m series B round the following year. The series A round was led by iNovia, which also provided $3.25m of seed capital for AppDirect in 2011.