Aras Announces $70 Million Investment Led by Goldman Sachs

Aras announced a $70 million minority investment led by Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing group with participation from Silver Lake Kraftwerk. The Series D round of growth equity will support Aras’ expansion of global operations and rapid growth of its open PLM platform through in-house development and technology acquisition. As part of the transaction, Hillel Moerman and Holger Staude of Goldman Sachs will join Aras’ Board of Directors as a board member and as an observer, respectively.

Aras is disrupting the industrial software markets for PLM, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), and quality management systems (QMS). The company’s open software platform enables large manufacturers to digitally transform their enterprises.

“At Goldman Sachs, our focus is on high-growth companies with significant barriers to entry, leading technology and experienced management teams—these characteristics drove our interest in Aras,” says Hillel Moerman, head of Private Capital Investing, Goldman Sachs. “Globally, industrial businesses are wrestling with the transition to the digital era, whether refreshing mission-critical enterprise applications or positioning themselves for new opportunities. Aras’ innovative software platform enables them to execute digital transformation projects.”

Aras announced a $40 million investment round last September led by Silver Lake Kraftwerk with participation from GE Ventures. Since then, Aras has completed strategic acquisitions to grow its applications suite with the additions of Impresa MRO for in-service assets and Comet SPDM for simulation management; expanded global operations with offices in the United Kingdom and Italy; doubled office footprint at its U.S. headquarters, and grown global employee headcount by more than 50%. Aras was also named a Leader in the Forrester Wave for Product Lifecycle Management for Discrete Manufacturers.

“Aras continues to transform the market and deepen its relationships with leading manufacturing enterprises,” says Martin Fichtner, managing director of Silver Lake Kraftwerk. “Aras has executed on acquiring innovative functionality to accelerate growth and on expanding its global footprint. We are very excited to welcome Goldman Sachs as a new investor and to expand our own investment in Aras.”

“Aras has shown the ability to support some of the world’s largest manufacturers and their complex use cases, as well as to use outside investment to effectively scale its operations and capability,” adds Peter Belillo, president, CIMdata. “This sizable investment provides further validation of the company’s business model and the confidence the market has in Aras Innovator, Aras’ product innovation platform, and its ability to enable an organization's digital transformation and deliver strategic business value.”

Adds Peter Schroer, CEO and founder of Aras, “This funding round with Goldman Sachs PCI enables us to move forward rapidly on multiple fronts and deliver the critical capabilities our customers need to innovate and transform their operations. We view this additional capital as another positive step forward for our entire open PLM community so that we can deliver capability faster, on a larger scale.”

In addition to Silver Lake Kraftwerk, other participants from the Series C Silver Lake Kraftwerk-led funding round, including GE Ventures, have continued their investment in Aras in this round.

Sources: Press materials received from the company.

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