Apprenda
 | |
| Private | |
| Industry |
Technology Software |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Founder |
Matt Ammerman Sinclair Schuller Abraham Sultan |
| Headquarters | Troy, NY |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Sinclair Schuller (CEO) |
Number of employees | 100 (2015)[1] |
| Website |
www |
Apprenda is an American computer software company that provides platform-as-a-service (PaaS) software to help companies create, update, and manage private and public cloud-based applications.
History
Founding and operations
Apprenda was founded in 2007 in Clifton Park, New York, by Matt Ammerman, Sinclair Schuller, and Abraham Sultan.[2] Schuller and Sultan both graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Ammerman graduated from University at Albany, SUNY.[2][3] Schuller, the company's CEO,[4] previously worked in IT, developing applications for large banks.[5]
In June 2014, Apprenda moved from Clifton Park to Troy, New York, in part to be closer to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.[3][6] With headquarters in New York rather than California, Forbes has called Apprenda "the anti-Silicon Valley startup."[2] The company has a second office in New York City, with plans to eventually expand into Europe.[7]
Services
Apprenda launched its platform-as-a-service (PaaS) in 2007, supporting Microsoft's .NET Framework. The following year, Apprenda closed its public cloud service and began selling the software behind it so that companies could run it on their own private servers.[2][4][8] In 2010, the company launched SaaSGrid Express, a free, downloadable SaaS application platform.[9][10] In September 2012, the company introduced ApprendaCloud, a free public PaaS providing a raw infrastructure where developers can experiment with creating mobile and cloud-based applications, before bringing them into Apprenda or their own in-house infrastructure.[4][11] After previously only supporting .NET, in February 2013, Apprenda added Java as a second language, adding support for an estimated 90% of enterprise app development on PaaS.[7] In 2014, Apprenda and Microsoft offered users access to the Microsoft Azure cloud system at no additional cost, so customers can deploy a PaaS that bridges their own data center and Azure.[12][13] Beyond Azure, Apprenda's work with Microsoft extends to Windows Server, Team Foundation Server, Windows Azure Pack, SQL Server and Oracle enterprise databases.[14]
Software
Apprenda's PaaS software is aimed primarily at developers working for organizations such as banks, insurance companies and healthcare providers,[7] to build and manage new applications, and to move their existing applications to the cloud.[15][16] Unlike other PaaS providers, whose software runs in the public cloud, Apprenda's software runs in the private cloud. Due to privacy issues, companies like banks and healthcare providers generally prefer to use the private cloud.[7][17] With partnerships from Apprenda's OneCloud Alliance aimed at ensuring interoperability and portability, companies can move their existing applications to either the public cloud (i.e. Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure), their own private cloud, or to a mixture of public and private.[14][16][18] The technology is capable of shifting Java and .NET applications from single to multitenancy.[19]
Apprenda introduced version 1.0 of PaaS software in mid-2011.[17] Version 4.0, released in November 2012, add features designed to make it easier to shift between the private and public cloud, with a single-click feature. The company this makes it easier to build next-generation, cloud-based apps and update existing apps without having to change much code. This aims to allow companies the security of the private cloud with the convenience and scalability of the public cloud.[5][20] In early 2014, Apprenda released version 5.0 of its PaaS software, which includes dynamic scaling and support for Oracle databases.[17]
Funding
Apprenda raised $5 million in 2009, and another $11 million in 2011.[18] It raised its initial $16 million in venture capital financing from High Peaks Venture Partners, Ignition Partners and New Enterprise Associates.[8] In November 2013, Apprenda announced it had raised an additional $16 million.[2][19] In July 2015, Apprenda raised another $24 million, led by investor Safeguard Scientifics, bringing its total venture stake to $56 million.[21]
Clients
Apprenda's clients include JPMorgan Chase, Boeing, Honeywell, Diebold, McKesson, Symantec, AmerisourceBergen, Dell, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and Quest Software.[2][7][8][12][16][19] The company's software is being used by JPMorgan Chase to host and get better control of over 3,000 apps, which is the largest private PaaS in the world.[7][18]
Milestones
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 2007 | Apprenda is founded in Clifton Park, NY. |
| 2008 | Launches initial product offering, with support for .NET Framework. |
| 2010 | Releases a free and self-installable version of their product. |
| 2012 | ApprendaCloud is introduced. |
| 2013 | Apprenda adds support for Java. |
| 2014 | Partners with Microsoft to become compatible with Azure. |
| Moves headquarters to Troy, NY. | |
References
- ↑ Chelsea Diana, "From Troy to England and back," Albany Business Review, October 15, 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Susan Adams, “Apprenda: The Anti-Silicon Valley Startup,” Forbes, December 16, 2013.
- 1 2 Larry Rulison, “Apprenda moving to downtown Troy,” Times Union, May 29, 2014.
- 1 2 3 Klint Finley, “Apprenda Joins Army of Microsoft Clouds (Sorta),” Wired, September 17, 2012.
- 1 2 Alex Williams, “Apprenda Launches A Hybrid Development Platform For Developing Apps On-Premises And The Cloud,” TechCrunch, November 27, 2012.
- ↑ Keshia Clukey, “Software developer Apprenda moves to Troy,” Albany Business Review, May 30, 2014.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sean Ludwig, “Apprenda adds Java as a second language, will ‘support 90%’ of enterprise PaaS needs,” VentureBeat, February 27, 2013.
- 1 2 3 Lyneka Little, “How the Young Founder of Apprenda Landed $16 Million from Albany, N.Y.,” Entrepreneur, October 26, 2012.
- ↑ Dana Gardner, “With eye on cloud standard, Apprenda offers free downloadable version of SaaS application server,” ZDNet, June 1, 2010.
- ↑ Phil Wainewright, “SaaSGrid Express: irresponsible or indispensable?” ZDNet, June 2, 2010.
- ↑ Barb Darrow, “Apprenda seeks to make private PaaS more practical,” GigaOm, September 17, 2012.
- 1 2 Charles Babcock, “Apprenda, Microsoft Team For Hybrid PaaS,” InformationWeek, April 29, 2014.
- ↑ Barb Darrow, “Microsoft and Apprenda tighten up their PaaS pact,” GigaOm, April 29, 2014.
- 1 2 Vance McCarthy, “Apprenda OneCloud Alliance Attracts Top Vendors; Promotes Open, Interoperable Enterprise PaaS,” Integration Developer News, September 8, 2014.
- ↑ Christopher Mims, “Why Isn’t Apple a Leader in Security?” Wall Street Journal, September 7, 2014.
- 1 2 3 Arik Hesseldahl, “Apprenda, Helping Big Companies Embrace the Cloud, Lands $16 Million,” All Things Digital, November 20, 2013.
- 1 2 3 Charles Babcock, “Apprenda 5.0 Eases Cloud Application Scaling,” InformationWeek, January 28, 2014.
- 1 2 3 Eric Blattberg, “Back to the future: Cloud platform Apprenda snags $16M,” VentureBeat, November 20, 2013.
- 1 2 3 Jack Clark, “Cloud upstart Apprenda plots Euro invasion with sugar daddies’ $16m pot,” The Register, November 20, 2013.
- ↑ Hamish McKenzie, “In Cloud Week, Apprenda launches a platform that swings both ways: public and private,” PandoDaily, November 27, 2012.
- ↑ Matt Weinberger, "Ex-Morgan Stanley programmer raises $24 million to make old apps new again", Business Insider, July 21, 2015.