Two months ago, Wrike CEO Andrew Filev came on The Top Entrepreneurs Podcast and spoke to Nathan about the economics of their business. Filev explained that the project management software company had just crossed 18k paying customers and 2M total users.
With an ARR run rate rapidly approaching $100M and 500%+ growth over the last three years, Vista Equity Partners has just taken a majority stake in Wrike for a deal valued at $800M.
Did Vista pay too much for Wrike?
The estimated $800M deal comes in at an 8x ARR run rate multiple, an impressive exit for a company that had only raised $27M in venture capital. Wrike received a $275M valuation during their most recent funding round, in October 2017, according to PitchBook Data.
With 600 employees and a $100M ARR run rate, Wrike is currently at $167k in revenue per employee: north of the $139k average revenue per employee across 900 other private B2B SaaS companies.
What’s next for Wrike and Vista?
The partnership appears to fit well within Vista’s existing strategy, according to Patrick Severson, principal, Vista Equity Partners:
“Vista seeks to partner with category-leading software businesses, such as recent investments in Marketo, Xactly, and Cvent. We are always looking for stand-out companies with an accelerating trajectory – we found just that in Wrike,” said Severson in a press release last month.
Going forward, Vista is seeking to bring operational efficiency to the table, but will retain Filev as a member of the board of directors.
“In addition to the unique resources it brings to Wrike, Vista provides unrivaled operational expertise. This partnership is both a huge win for our customers and a great endorsement of Wrike’s leadership,” explained Filev.