Apptio CEO Sunny Gupta
Apptio CEO Sunny Gupta

Apptio has been discussed as possible IPO candidate for some time now, but it appears as if the Bellevue-based enterprise software company is finally getting ready to make the plunge.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the company — led by Seattle area entrepreneur Sunny Gupta — has hired Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America for an upcoming public offering. The Journal reports that the offering could value Apptio at more than $1 billion, which would not be surprising given that the software company commanded a valuation of $600 million in its 2012 venture financing round.

Apptio has raised $136 million in venture financing, including a $45 million round in May 2013.

Backers include Janus Capital, The Hillman Company, Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, Madrona Venture Group, Shasta Ventures and T. Rowe Price Associates.

Earlier this year, Gupta told GeekWire that they embody the characteristics of a unicorn company, a startup with a valuation of more than $1 billion or more.

apptio“It’s amazing to me that these private companies are disclosing their valuation,” he said. “We’ve been around for 7-plus years… We have always acted and run ourselves like a Silicon Valley company, but we are based in Seattle.”

Gupta also has not been shy about his desire of building a long-lasting enterprise software company in Seattle, one that could one day be publicly traded.

Kurt Shintaffer
Kurt Shintaffer

“We’ll consider every option that sets us up for growth and longevity, but we don’t have any specific plans at this time,” Gupta told us in 2013.

Some recent moves in the executive office also may indicate that Apptio is getting ready to go public. Last month, the company named co-founder Kurt Shintaffer as CFO, filling a key role left vacant after Sean Boyle left for Amazon.com. It also named former Concur executive Susanna Morgan as senior vice president of finance and investor relations. The more than 600-person company also boasts former Microsoft CFO Peter Klein on its board.

Apptio’s service helps CIOs better analyze their IT spending.

If Apptio successfully completes an IPO, it will be the first technology company in Washington state to do so this year, and the first since Juno Therapeutics went public last December.

We’ve reached out to Gupta for comment, and we’ll update this post as learn more. Update: Gupta declined to comment on the WSJ report.

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