BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Appfire, a leading provider of apps for software development teams, announced today that it has received a $49M strategic investment from Silversmith Capital Partners, a Boston-based growth equity firm. Appfire’s portfolio of 60+ apps are used by thousands of enterprises to enhance collaboration tools like Atlassian’s Jira Software and Confluence. The investment marks the first time Appfire has raised outside capital, which will be used to expand the company’s cloud-based product offerings and support strategic acquisitions of complementary apps.
Over the past 15 years, Appfire’s founders bootstrapped the company to scale by focusing tirelessly on customer success. Appfire’s Bob Swift, Feed Three, and Wittified brand apps help teams at companies like Google, Amazon, and Starbucks streamline product development through improved collaboration, security, reporting, and automation. Appfire’s partnership with Silversmith solidifies its market leadership while positioning the company to be a key enabler of accelerated digital transformation globally.
“Since starting Appfire, our founding team’s vision has been to grow the company into a leading provider of apps that enable product teams to do their best work,” said Appfire co-founder and CEO Randall Ward. “It was clear when we met the Silversmith team, that they not only shared this vision, but truly understood our business and would work hard to support us. We are thrilled to partner with them as we look to build on our past successes in launching apps and scaling the operations of acquired companies.”
Appfire’s acquisitions of Bob Swift in 2014 and Wittified in 2015 demonstrate its track record of integrating world-class products and teams that share a passion for developer tools.
“Silversmith is excited to partner with Appfire to help propel the company into its next stage of growth,” said Sri Rao, General Partner of Silversmith Capital Partners. “Appfire’s leadership team has deep experience in developing apps at scale and a proven ability to welcome and grow acquired developer tools within its portfolio. As companies around the world continue to solve modern challenges with digital solutions, we believe Appfire is well positioned to play a crucial role in how software development teams work together now and in the future.”
“We are excited to see increased investment in the Atlassian ecosystem and are looking forward to working with Appfire to continue to drive new value and innovation for our customers,” said Martin Musierowicz, Head of Global Channels, Atlassian.
As part of the transaction, Rao and Lyndsay Kerwin, Vice President at Silversmith, have joined Appfire’s Board along with Randall Ward and Mat Gauvin, Appfire’s co-founder and COO.
Kirkland & Ellis served as legal counsel to Silversmith Capital Partners and John L. Koenig Law, LLC served as legal counsel to Appfire.
About Appfire
Appfire is an award-winning Platinum Top Vendor and has been a global authority in the Atlassian ecosystem for nearly 15 years. Appfire's popular Bob Swift, Wittified, and Feed Three product brands comprise the largest portfolio of apps on the Atlassian Marketplace with 60+ purpose-built products and 30,000 active installations worldwide. Learn more at www.appfire.com.
About Silversmith Capital Partners
Founded in 2015, Silversmith Capital Partners is a Boston-based growth equity firm with $1.1 billion of capital under management. Silversmith’s mission is to partner with and support the best entrepreneurs in growing, profitable technology and healthcare companies. Representative investments include ActiveCampaign, BHE, Centauri Health Solutions, Digital Map Products, DistroKid, Impact, LifeStance Health, MediQuant, Validity, and Webflow. The partners have over 75 years of collective investing experience and have served on the boards of numerous successful growth companies including Ability Network, Dealer.com, Liazon, Liberty Dialysis, MedHOK, Net Health, Passport Health, SurveyMonkey, and Wrike. For more information about Silversmith, please visit www.silversmithcapital.com.
