Infor, a business cloud software company that develops applications spanning across financial, manufacturing, supply chain, HR, and customer relationships, has made some major announcements over the last week. This includes a $1.5 billion investment and a new retailer loyalty program.
$1.5 Billion Investment
Koch Equity Development (KED) and Golden Gate Capital recently announced that they are investing $1.5 billion in Infor. This investment builds on KED’s investment of over $2 billion in Infor at the beginning of 2017. And Infor is currently considering a potential IPO for this year or next year subject to market conditions.
“Koch and Golden Gate Capital have been phenomenal partners for Infor, and all of our 17,300 employees are excited about this milestone as we prepare for the next stage of growth,” said Infor CEO Charles Phillips in a statement about the investment.
Over the last five years, Infor has invested about $2.5 billion in product design and development. And the company delivered more than 475 new products, 1,870 integrations, and 20,700 industry features in its CloudSuite product line so far.
Now Infor CloudSuite is the only multi-tenant ERP suite that spans front and back office applications as well as logistics with global support. And Infor saw over $3 billion of revenue in the fiscal year 2018.
Constellation Research founder and principal analyst Ray Wang told TechCrunch that he estimates Infor’s valuation at about $60 billion. Wang’s valuation model was based on industry comparisons with Oracle and SAP and Infor’s revenue.
Koch Executive Vice President and CEO of Enterprises at Koch Industries Jim Hannan said that Koch was a customer of Infor before becoming an investor. And he pointed out that Koch Industries’ companies are continuing to move their most mission-critical applications to Infor CloudSuite. And Infor’s products are being deployed globally for Koch’s 120,000 employees.
Golden Gate Capital managing director David Dominik explained that Infor went through a “remarkable evolution over the years.” And he emphasized that Golden Gate remain strong supporters of Infor’s strategy and leadership team as they pursue their next phase of growth. Plus Rishi Chandna — who is a managing director at Golden Gate — acknowledged that Infor’s emphasis on innovation and commitment to deliver solutions to its customers underpin the success of CloudSuites.
New Loyalty Program For Retailers
Infor’s new loyalty program for retailers is powered by CrowdTwist — which is a New York-based engagement solutions company. And it enables retailers to improve engagement levels with customers. Infor Loyalty is a part of the Infor Retail Converged Commerce suite of solutions.
Infor Loyalty is expected to provide better capabilities to track customer purchases, social media mentions, and survey activity. Plus Infor Loyalty is expected to deliver a multichannel loyalty and engagement platform that reaches consumers across all points of interaction and spend. And users will get rich first-party data across all channels, including mobile, store, web, and social.
This data is actionable and can lead to more personalized customer experiences. And Infor Loyalty will offer significant data analytics capabilities including engagement tracks, lookalike modeling, next most likely to purchase, and attrition modeling. Corey Tollefson, the SVP and general manager of Infor Retail specified that the company has “heavily invested in retail technology and converged commerce” over the past two years.
“It’s become increasingly crucial for retailers to build meaningful connections with consumers through personalized communications, relevant promotions, and authentic experiences,” added CrowdTwist CEO Scott Matthews. “Our exciting new partnership with Infor will provide their retail customers with the ability to drive consumer loyalty through omnichannel data capture and engagement. By leveraging the CrowdTwist solution integration, Infor customers will be able to benefit from increased in-store traffic, higher purchase frequency, and greater customer lifetime value.”
