AppDirect closes $185 million led by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec

AppDirect

AppDirect, a San Francisco-headquartered startup founded by two Canadians, has raised $185 million USD in funding, bringing the company’s total funding to date to approximately $465 million.

The financing was led by new investor the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, with participation from previous investors Inovia Capital, JPMorgan Chase, and Mithril Capital. AppDirect said the new funds will go toward the company’s “organic expansion,” acquisitions, and new hires.

AppDirect’s last financing was a $140 million round in 2015.

According to The Globe and Mail, AppDirect will hire 150 new team members in its Montreal office, which opened in 2014, making it the company’s largest office by headcount.
 

“AppDirect has a proven business model and a solid client base that uses its platform daily to run their core operations,” said Chris Arsenault, managing partner at Inovia. “For Inovia, this announcement is an important milestone in a longstanding relationship that has seen AppDirect flourish from a small startup to a major player in the cloud-based business services market.”

Founded in 2009, AppDirect uses cloud technology to connect channels, developers, and customers through its platform, aiming to simplify the digital supply chain by facilitating the onboarding and sale of products with third-party services.

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AppDirect’s co-founders and co-CEOs are Nicolas Desmarais and Daniel Saks, both Canadians. Desmarais is a member of the family behind Power Corporation, which has deployed notable investments into Canadian FinTech startups through its subsidiaries. Saks is the cousin of CEO of StackedHR Ilan Saks.

AppDirect’s last funding round took place in 2015 and totalled $140 million. Since raising the 2015 round, the company claims it has seen 1,500 percent growth in gross merchandise value to over $1 billion USD. AppDirect also claims to now serve 2,000 merchants globally, including Vodafone, Honeywell, and Deutsche Telekom.

AppDirect has two Canadian offices, one in Montreal and one in Calgary. The company has also acquired three Canadian startups to date: Calgary’s AppCarousel, Montreal’s Radialpoint, and Toronto’s jBilling.

Image source App Direct.

Isabelle Kirkwood

Isabelle Kirkwood

Isabelle is a Vancouver-based writer with 5+ years of experience in communications and journalism and a lifelong passion for telling stories. For over two years, she has reported on all sides of the Canadian startup ecosystem, from landmark venture deals to public policy, telling the stories of the founders putting Canadian tech on the map.

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