JAMF stocking stuffed with $30M equity investment
Image: Matthew M. Long, Ayres Associates
Christmas came a bit early for JAMF Software, the Blugold-powered firm that’s building a major new office in downtown Eau Claire: Its parent company, JAMF Holdings, just got a $30 million investment from Summit Partners, a Boston-based growth equity firm with a history of pumping money into hot tech companies. According to a Tuesday press release, “JAMF Software will use the funding to drive product development, expand industry partnerships and deliver on the company’s vision to enable organizations of all sizes to succeed with the Apple platform.”
JAMF – which is based in Minneapolis but has its largest employee base in Eau Claire – is already a major player in the exploding Apple market: As the press release notes, JAMF makes the only software package – Casper Suite -- developed exclusively for the Apple platform to manage Mac, iPad, Apple TV, and iPhone networks. JAMF has over 4,000 customers – including more than one-third of the firms in the Fortune 100 – and its software is used to manage more than 2.8 million Apple devices.
Expect this investment – the first major outside cash infusion in the company’s 11-year history – to help JAMF grow even more rapidly. As part of the deal, Greg Goldfarb, one of Summit Partners’ managing directors, will join the JAMF board.
“For over 11 years, JAMF has operated as a bootstrapped startup, not relying on external resources,” said Chip Pearson, managing partner of JAMF Software. “Today’s announcement reflects Apple’s continued growth in the enterprise and JAMF’s commitment to helping enterprises succeed with their vision around the Apple platform. We are honored that folks like Summit Partners share this outlook and commitment.”
JAMF was co-founded in 2002 by UW-Eau Claire alum Zach Halmstad. At last count, JAMF had about 275 employees worldwide, up from about 180 earlier this year. Its new four-story, 72,000-square-foot Eau Claire office across from Phoenix Park, which will open in late 2014, is being built to accommodate 300 employees.
