Sunny Gupta thinks he has discovered an entirely new business category, and he’s apparently having little trouble making his case to customers — or investors.
Today, his Bellevue, Wash.-based SaaS startup, Apptio, announced that it has raised a $16.5 million round of funding — its third in just three years — bringing the company’s total funding to $37.5 million. Shasta Ventures led the round, joined by Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners and Madrona Venture Group. All are previous investors.
Ignition Partners, which had participated in Apptio’s Series A round, was not included in what Gupta characterized as an “oversubscribed” round that attracted term sheets from numerous outside investors, all of which he says were turned down.
“In all honesty, I screwed up in [the] B round, as I thought [the] deal was too expensive, given the opportunity,” says Ignition Managing Director John Connors. He adds, “Sunny is doing a great job of building this company, and I missed [an] opportunity … that we should have participated in.”
