Cherwell Software Secures $50 Million Investment from KKR to Further Advance Service Management Leadership

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Feb. 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cherwell Software, LLC, a leading provider of IT service management (ITSM) solutions, announced today that it has secured $50 million in funding from KKR, a global investment firm. KKR is making the investment through its Next Generation Technology Fund, which focuses on investments in software, security, Internet, digital media, and information services.

KKR joins existing Cherwell investor, Insight Venture Partners, which has made a series of investments beginning in 2012. With the support of KKR's funding, Cherwell will accelerate research and development and make strategic investments aimed at broadening and deepening its portfolio of IT and enterprise service management offerings.

Vini Letteri, a member of KKR's Technology, Media & Telecommunications industry team, will be joining Cherwell's board of managers.

"The IT service management market is a large and rapidly growing sector undergoing a period of disruption as new, emerging technologies replace older legacy systems. With IT teams' increasing importance within organizations, ensuring there is no interruption to IT services and that customer satisfaction is high are paramount to any business," said Vini Letteri, Director, KKR. "Since its founding, Cherwell has been entirely customer-centric in its focus and is led by a seasoned, passionate, and industry-leading management team. Its platform provides unparalleled value and the ultimate flexibility to its customers to operate in any industry and in any environment-on premises, cloud, or hybrid. We are really pleased to partner with them to help accelerate Cherwell's future growth and leadership in this dynamic industry."

Named by IDC as the fastest growing vendor in its 2015 Worldwide Problem Management Software Market Shares report, Cherwell has become a force multiplier for IT organizations that need to become more innovative and agile, while reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO) of their service management initiatives. The ITSM market is widely known for expensive, inflexible tools supplied by vendors whose business practices are characterized by confusing licensing models and punitive pricing.

Cherwell has driven strong growth in the ITSM market by delivering:

• A codeless platform that enables rapid solution customization and hassle-free upgrades
• A transparent and straightforward concurrent licensing model, along with predictable, all-inclusive pricing
• A "customers first" philosophy which has resulted in 98%+ customer satisfaction rate

"IT teams are increasingly abandoning their legacy service management tools in favor of powerful, modern, and agile solutions that empower them to confidently tackle business challenges and opportunities," said Craig Harper, Chief Executive Officer of Cherwell. "KKR's investment in Cherwell is validation that our core principles and areas of focus will continue to drive phenomenal growth and fulfill our goal of being the best service management solution on the planet."