Newsmakers 2012: Apptio’s Sunny Gupta swings for the fences

The thing we’ve always liked about Sunny Gupta is that he’s not playing “small ball.” Nope, the entrepreneur is taking a big swing for the fences with Apptio, a Bellevue company that’s developing new ways for corporate IT departments to manage costs.

And Gupta, who previously co-founded iConclude, took a big step up to the plate in March when Apptio raised $50 million in venture funding from the likes of T. Rowe Price, Madrona Venture Group, Greylock and others.

It was among the biggest venture capital deals in the state this year, putting a very healthy $600 million valuation on the enterprise software company.

“Apptio has pioneered the creation of a new enterprise SaaS category for CIOs that enables them to manage the business of technology and clearly communicate its value to the enterprise,” said John O’Farrell, a general partner for Andreessen Horowitz, at the time of the financing.

But what’s equally impressive about Apptio is that it is not just about dollars. Gupta has been assembling a world-class team in 2013, possibly prepping for what some believe could be an initial public offering.

Among the new hires: Bob Kimball, the former CEO of RealNetworks, who joined as executive vice president; and Brett Helsel, a veteran technology executive from Isilon and F5 Networks, who joined as senior vice president of engineering operations.

With that team in place, Apptio is certainly one to watch. And we’re honored to include Gupta on the list of the 2012 GeekWire Newsmakers of the Year.

We’ll be spotlighting all of our 2012 Newsmakers on GeekWire over the next month, leading up to the GeekWire Gala on Dec. 6 at McCaw Hall in Seattle. Many of the newsmakers from the list will be joining us and the rest of the tech community on that night to mark a remarkable year of news. Details and tickets here for the big night.

Previously: Newsmakers 2012: Asteroid miner Chris Lewicki points Planetary Resources to a new industry in space