OpenERP Becomes Odoo and Closes $10 Million in Funding

SAN FRANCISCO, May 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

OpenERP has raised $10 million dollars in funding to support its R&D efforts and commercial growth. As part of the growth strategy OpenERP is rebranding to Odoo, to better reflect its expanded areas of focus in CMS & Ecommerce and POS applications beyond the core ERP function. Odoo has improved its pricing and included a free version for up to two users for very small businesses to enjoy a completely integrated suite of business solutions.

After years of rapid growth OpenERP, the leading integrated open source business software, is happy to announce it has secured a new round of USD 10 Millions of financing, jointly provided by leading venture capital firms XAnge (France), SRIW (Belgium), Sofinnova Partners (France), and the management team. The new financing will support the acceleration of outstanding growth the company has seen, doubling its sales during the period 2011-13, and growing R&D staff to over 100 people.

Cyril Bertrand, partner at XAnge, comments: "We have been extremely impressed by the breadth of the product the company has developed over the years, and its ability to become international so fast, providing day to day value to thousands of companies worldwide directly and through a global network of 550+ partners. We look forward to a great collaboration."

According to Fabien Pinckaers, founder: "We made an unprecedented effort during the last 18 months to complete our offering with a new CMS, Ecommerce, a full marketing suite including events, surveys, and marketing automation. Our latest apps received an incredible traction from our community. It is now time to further boost our growth and secure our seat as the world's number one integrated business apps software. Over the next 18 months we will strengthen our US operations, and EMEA."

Alain Tingaud, Venture Partner at Sofinnova adds: "We are glad to continue to support the company as we believe that, even if the plan is ambitious, it is still at the start and in a few years from now the company will still have a huge market to tackle. Millions of companies worldwide need better software to run their business, away from legacy players and spreadsheets."

The changes in the product go beyond those traditionally seen in ERPs, therefore the company needed a new name: Odoo. This name has no reference to "ERP" to better reflect the goal of the company: to make business software as easy as tap water. "We have yet to see a company that can offer an application integrating CMS, Point of Sales, and eCommerce down to CRM, Billing, Warehousing, and Accounting. We have all of this and more," says Pinckaers.

Aligned with the goal, the online version of Odoo will now be free for up to 2 users. Pinckaers explains: "Millions of very small businesses worldwide could not afford an integrated application to run their company as they lack the technical skills to install open source software or could not afford licenses from traditional players. We are happy to disrupt that market and offer a superior solution for them. And when they need more as they grow, it costs only $15 per application bundle per user - it is as compelling as it can get."

A new website, odoo.com, replaces the previous openerp.com. Odoo.com has been entirely built with the new "Website Builder", enabling companies to create a website in hours without tedious back-end or rely on technical resources. "It greatly symbolizes what we are up to," says Pinckaers. "Providing apps to run and grow your company, seamlessly, and easily."

About Odoo 

Odoo, formerly OpenERP, is a leading business application software editor. Founded in 2005, Odoo thrives in a unique and fully open ecosystem combining the resources of its community, partners' network and vendor. Odoo provides 25 main applications supported by the editor. In addition, the community, comprised of more than 1,500 active members, has contributed more than 3000 apps to cover a wide variety of business needs. The network of 550+ certified partners, established in more than 100 countries, deploys the solution locally. More than 2 Millions users rely on Odoo to run their business. The software, available online on odoo.com, is one of the most frequently installed business suites worldwide.

About our investors 

XAnge Private Equity is a Private Equity and Venture Capital Fund management company regulated by the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF) and the German BaFin. Founded in 2004, XAnge is a subsidiary of the French Post Bank.  XAnge Private Equity manages 375M€ of funds.

Sofinnova, founded in 1972, is a leading French Venture Capital company based in France. They invest in life sciences and technology companies. Soffinova manages €1.3 Billions in assets

SRIW, founded in 1979, is a public fund aimed at supporting economic development in Wallonia through support and funding. It supports more than 400 companies in the region.

SOURCE OpenERP sa