Portland software program developer Puppet, town’s largest homegrown tech firm, sold Monday to a Minneapolis agency known as Perforce Software. The privately held corporations didn’t disclose phrases of their deal however indicated Puppet will function as a standalone enterprise inside Perforce, a minimum of in the meanwhile.“I’m proud and happy with what we’ve accomplished, and I believe Perforce is a superb place to land,” mentioned Luke Kanies, the Reed College graduate who based Puppet in 2005 and served as its CEO till 2016. Kanies continues to be on Puppet’s board.“All acquisitions are bittersweet. No one ought to begin an organization in hopes it turns into half of a bigger firm,” Kanies mentioned. “But I do suppose this can be a good final result for the corporate. It is nearly as good an final result as we may make it for as many individuals as attainable.”Puppet provides 500 workers to Perforce’s workforce of 1,200. Perforce mentioned Monday that Puppet’s Portland workplace will stay open. The bigger firm mentioned it operates on a hybrid work mannequin, related to Puppet’s.Puppet was maybe essentially the most distinguished of a half-dozen tech corporations that helped revitalize Oregon’s tech trade within the aftermath of the Great Recession. Its software program helps handle information facilities and different massive laptop programs.Puppet moved its headquarters from Kanies’ residence state of Tennessee to Portland in 2009, and grew into one of many metropolis’s best-funded and best-known know-how companies. It raised a minimum of $128 million and as soon as had 600 workers, most of them at its headquarters on the Portland waterfront.Puppet pursued an preliminary public providing in 2016, however know-how moved shortly, and its shoppers quickly had options to the Portland firm’s improvement operations, or DevOps, software program. Growth slowed, Kanies stepped down as CEO, and Puppet shelved its IPO plans and endured two rounds of layoffs.Still, Puppet remained one of many metropolis’s most seen know-how corporations and the corporate mentioned Monday its annual revenues high $100 million. Puppet mentioned it serves 40 of the Fortune 50 largest corporations and counts 85% of the world’s largest banks as shoppers.And Puppet executives helped run a succession of smaller Portland corporations, contributing to ongoing renewal within the metropolis’s tech scene.In 2020 Puppet declared it deliberate an IPO the next yr. But whereas the corporate was certainly beneath stress from its preliminary backers to discover some return on their investments — Puppet’s preliminary funding was 13 years in the past — a public providing at this late date appeared a longshot and by no means materialized.“There was a time limit the place many people, myself included, thought Puppet could be one of many nice IPOs to come out of the Pacific Northwest. And for a corporation of our measurement, we’ve all the time punched above our weight,” Puppet CEO Yvonne Wassenaar wrote in an open letter Monday, acknowledging the corporate didn’t meet a few of its objectives.“But what issues long-term isn’t what monetary milestones gasoline an organization’s progress,” Wassenaar mentioned. Instead, she mentioned, Puppet shall be in a position to attain clients with Perforce “in a manner that we couldn’t have accomplished on our personal.”Along with Jive Software, Urban Airship (now Airship), Elemental Technologies, Jama Software, Janrain, Act-On Software and on-line banker Simple, Puppet fashioned a cluster of tech startups in downtown Portland a decade in the past. Collectively, they helped transition Oregon’s tech sector away from its historic reliance on laptop {hardware}.All these corporations had large aspirations, largely unrealized. Jive, for instance, basically shut down in 2017 after its sale to a Texas firm. The identical factor occurred to Simple, which pulled the plug final yr after the sale of its mum or dad financial institution.Their legacies endure, although, in smaller corporations launched by their alumni, outposts of bigger corporations primarily based elsewhere, and a cadre of seasoned know-how executives who reduce their tooth in a bustling Portland startup scene.“It’s so exhausting to deal with what we received and what we achieved and never to deal with the goals we had 5 years in the past,” Kanies mentioned Monday.There’s actually a measure of disappointment that Puppet didn’t develop into the massive, standalone enterprise software program firm he envisioned then, Kanies acknowledged. But he mentioned he takes nice satisfaction that Puppet remade its sector of the software program trade with instruments that made it simpler for DevOps professionals to do their jobs.And Kanies mentioned he takes satisfaction in constructing a welcoming, open neighborhood inside Puppet. If he’d been advised what Puppet would change into again in 2005, or 2009, Kanies mentioned he would have been delighted.“I’d have taken it in a heartbeat,” Kanies mentioned. “Because it actually meant that a lot, and since we actually did find yourself doing a lot.”Perforce, based in 1995, is backed by non-public fairness corporations Francisco Partners and Clearlake Capital Group. It mentioned that purchasing Puppet will increase Perforce’s personal portfolio of DevOps software program.“With Puppet, we shall be offering our clients with entry to a product portfolio that allows them to drive innovation on a world scale. We look ahead to welcoming the Puppet group and persevering with to supply the extent of buyer assist, companies, and neighborhood Puppet has established out there,” Perforce CEO Mark Ties mentioned in an announcement.– Mike Rogoway | [email protected] | Twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699
https://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/2022/04/puppet-portlands-largest-tech-company-sold-to-minneapolis-based-perforce-software.html
Puppet, Portland’s largest tech company, sold to Minneapolis-based Perforce Software
