EDBI joins US$42m funding round for software automation company Puppet

EDBI - the investment arm of the Economic Development Board - has joined in the latest US$42 million funding round for DevOps (development operations) and automation company Puppet.

The round was led by Cisco Investments, the venture arm of IT and networking technology company Cisco Systems, and joined by Kleiner Perkins, True Ventures and VMWare.

In a media statement, EDBI's president and chief executive Chu Swee Yeok said that Puppet's automation and management platform helps manage and improve the efficiency of their IT assets and can help companies in Singapore realise productivity gains while ensuring compliance.

"Leveraging our network, we look forward to helping Puppet scale up its local talent pool to address the region's opportunities through its APAC regional HQ in Singapore and to augment Singapore's digital transformation strategy," she added.

Puppet develops and maintains an open source and commercial platform for automating the delivery and operation of software, which it says has been adopted by more than 40,000 companies.

It said that by 2020, 90 per cent of the top 100 global companies will reduce operational inefficiencies through DevOps practices, and aims for its innovations to drive DevOps and automation gains for its customers.

The 500-employee Portland, Oregon-headquartered company has offices in Seattle, Sydney, Timisoara (Romania), and Tokyo. It opened its Singapore office in May 2017, also designating it the company's Asia-Pacific hub. According to media reports, Puppet has a 12-man team in Singapore, with plans to hire an additional eight.

Darryl McKinnon, vice-president and managing director, APJ, said: "Every customer I talk to in Singapore, and across APJ, is looking to transform their business to thrive in the digital economy. They see DevOps and automation as the quickest way to do that - safely and at scale. This investment gives Puppet the flexibility to move even faster as we execute on our vision and empower customers on their journeys to automation success."

Puppet's chief executive Sanjay Mirchandani said that the company's growth and international expansion was "testament to the rising demand for DevOps transformation, software automation and the pressing need for enterprises to navigate the new world of software delivery".