Ivalua Secures $70M In Funding From KKR

Silicon Valley- and Paris-based Ivalua, a spend management software company, has secured growth equity minority funding from KKR, a leading global investor.

According to a press release, the funding will be used by Ivalua to realize its ambition of becoming the global leader in the spend management market. KKR will become a new shareholder alongside the founders and Ardian, which invested in Ivalua in 2011.

The $24.5 billion spend management market is rapidly growing, with its software becoming a strategic tool for businesses to boost profitability by streamlining procurement processes, decreasing unnecessary spending, and managing vendors and contracts through a centralized platform.

“The spend management software market is undergoing a huge transformation, coming out from under the shadow of better-known SaaS [software-as-a-service] sectors,” said David Khuat-Duy, CEO and founder of Ivalua. “Ivalua is a success story in this strategic market. Its strong and differentiated product allows for flexibility and easy vertical integration and has led to the highest client retention rate in the market. We are partnering with KKR to facilitate further investment and innovation in our suite and accelerate our pursuit of becoming the clear leader in the source-to-pay market. For us, KKR is the right partner because of their global network, deep expertise in procurement and technology, and experience in partnering with growth stage companies and entrepreneurs to help them achieve their global ambitions.”

Ivalua’s source-to-pay platform is already highly regarded in the industry, relied on by over 250 blue chip customers globally including Honeywell, the City of New York, Veolia, Thales, Orange, Michelin and Deutsche Telekom. It was recognized by Gartner as a leader in its “Magic Quadrant for Strategic Sourcing Application Suites 2017,” as well as a value leader and customer leader in the latest eProcurement SolutionMap released by SpendMatters.

“After our successful investments in Fotolia, OVH and Captain Train, Ivalua is our fourth investment into a French technology company over the last few years, which speaks to the strength of the local technology ecosystem. We are incredibly excited about partnering with the founders and Ardian,” said Lucian Schoenefelder, director at KKR. “KKR is very well-positioned to help Ivalua fulfill its global ambitions given our track record of scaling European technology companies with the help of our global platform and KKR’s portfolio of more than 120 companies, many of which could benefit from Ivalua’s product.”

KKR is making the investment from its $711 million next-generation technology fund, which is dedicated to growth equity investment opportunities in the technology sector.