EPFL spin-off Nexthink raises $85 million
Nexthink,spin-off that leads the market in software for managing employees’ digital experience, has just completed an $85 million fundraising round© 2018 NicoElNino
Nexthink, an EPFL spin-off that leads the market in software for managing employees’ digital experience, has just completed an $85 million fundraising round. The proceeds will be used to fuel the company’s international expansion – particularly in key markets like the US.
Nexthink, a technology startup founded at EPFL in 2004, announced today that it has raised $85 million in fresh capital from investors. The proceeds will be used to step up the company’s global sales efforts for its digital employee-experience management platform and drive its international growth and expansion in key markets, including the US.
The fundraising round was led by Index Ventures; other investors included Highland Europe, Forestay Capital, VI Partners, Auriga Partners, Galéo Capital, TOP Funds and Olivier Pomel, the co-founder and CEO of Datadog. This comes on top of a $40 million round completed in 2016 and brings the total amount of capital raised by the firm to $150 million.
Using artificial intelligence to map and manage enterprise applications in real-time
Nexthink’s software gives the IT departments of large companies real-time analytics on their company’s entire application portfolio. It collects data from thousands of workstations on end-users’ behavior and interactions with enterprise applications in just a few seconds. That helps IT managers visualize incidents and spot security weaknesses. In addition, the software uses machine learning to identify problems that have already been encountered and select the right solution – saving IT departments considerable time and money. With its software installed on more than 7 million workstations across 900 companies – including multinationals such as Adobe, Commerzbank and Western Union – Nexthink has established itself as the market leader in its field.
Its innovative technology allows IT departments to become proactive by having real-time visibility across the digital workplace, gather real-time feedback from employees and automate remediations. Customers report an up to 30% reduction in IT incidents – which cuts support costs and reduces employee frustration substantially.
IT systems play a big role in enabling employees to work effectively and under the best conditions possible. “Today’s companies struggle with providing reliable, high-performance applications while meeting cost-reduction targets. We believe that the answer lies in adopting an employee-centric view of IT architecture, and that we offer the most powerful platform for achieving that,” says Pedro Bados, Nexthink’s CEO, who co-founded the business just after graduating from EPFL at the age of 25.
According to figures from International Data Corporation (IDC) and cited in Nexthink’s press release, enterprises will spend almost $2 trillion per year by 2022 to drive digital transformation agendas – meaning the young firm’s market has considerable growth potential.