arago AG, a German-based developer of artificial intelligence (AI) that companies can use to cut costs, has received a $55 million investment from KKR, which will support the global roll-out of arago’s product portfolio with growth equity.
arago AG’s key product is AutoPilot is a knowledge-based automation platform that automates entire IT-stacks without requiring runbooks. The technology, which took eight years to develop, enables automation rates at an average of 88 percent at present. This visionary approach was acknowledged amongst others by Gartner analysts who named arago “Cool Vendor in IT Operations 2014“, a designation given to those who support digitization and the notion of “Big Change”.
“arago pursues a strategy of continuous growth and international expansion,” says Chris Boos, founder and CEO of arago. “In KKR, we have now found a partner who perfectly supports this approach. The investor?s long track record in the B2B area and its international network of companies will be a great asset to arago.?
The main competitor to arago is IPSoft. Boos says the market opportunity is $1.2 trillion.
?For KKR, this investment is about supporting the global development of a cutting-edge German technology company founded and run by a world class entrepreneur. arago is an excellent example of Europe’s ability to produce outstanding technology companies and we believe our partnership will demonstrate the role KKR can play in helping such companies to become global champions,” says Philipp Freise, Member and Head of the European Media & Digital investment team at KKR.
KKR has a long track record of supporting companies in technology, having invested more than $9 billion of equity since 1999 in more than 20 technology companies across different sub-sectors including software, online companies and semi-conductors. Recent partnership oriented growth investments include BMG, Fotolia and Ringier Digital. In addition to its long track record of investing, KKR has a unique vantage point from its private equity portfolio that is comprised of more than 90 companies that together spend nearly $10 billion on IT annually.
The arago investment is part of KKR’s newly established growth equity effort, which focuses on selective investments in fast-growing, tech-enabled companies that sell highly differentiated products with global market potential and which are led by outstanding founders.
