AppDirect Inc., a startup helping organizations procure technology services more efficiently, today announced that it has secured $100 million in fresh funding.

Canadian asset manager CDPQ provided the capital. It previously invested $80 million in AppDirect as part of a 2020 funding round. Since launching in 2009, the procurement software provider has raised more than $500 million from CDPQ and other institutional backers. 

San Francisco-based AppDirect operates a marketplace that enables organizations to centrally purchase technology services from different suppliers. The platform provides access to cloud applications, internet subscriptions and a range of other offerings. AppDirect says its supplier network includes more than 600 companies including major industry players such as Google LLC and IBM Corp.

Alongside its core procurement features, the platform provides a user management tool. Companies can use it to create accounts for employees in the cloud applications they purchase through AppDirect. Moreover, the tool promises to automate related tasks such as processing employees’ login requests.

The second core offering is a platform that allows companies to create their own technology procurement portals. According to the software maker, the offering is geared primarily toward IT advisory firms. Such companies can create web portals that allow their customers to purchase technology products on a self-service basis.

The marketplace creation platform comes with a prepackaged interface template. For companies with more advanced requirements, the offering includes a set of built-in application programming interfaces. Those APIs can be used to customize a marketplace’s interface design, product catalog and other key details.

The $100 million investment will be used to enhance Capital Invest, a second service the company provides for IT advisory firms. The service enables companies to raise debt financing for business growth initiatives without selling shares.

AppDirect positions Capital Invest as a more convenient alternative to traditional liquidity sources. According to the company, eligible IT advisory firms receive an “immediate upfront payment” after closing a debt financing round through the service. The deal terms are set based on a firm’s recurring revenue and business data from the past three years.

“To keep up with today’s ever-changing market, technology merchants need fast access to capital to accelerate their growth,” said Chief Revenue Officer Emanuel Bertolin. “With AppDirect Capital, technology advisors can take advantage of innovative capital options to expand their business or invest in the future, which makes increasing access to this program all the more essential.”

Capital Invest is not the only component of AppDirect’s revenue growth strategy. Last month, the company previewed AI Marketplace, an upcoming tool that will enable customers to create artificial intelligence bots based on popular large language models. AppDirect says that those bots will lend themselves to tasks such as helping an IT advisory firm find upselling opportunities.

Image: AppDirect