SoftBank Vision Fund 2 leads Pax8 $185 Million Funding Round

Software is constantly advancing as innovators aim to promote substantial improvements to efficient and effective services. Coinciding with this influx of disruptive software has been the expansion of cloud commerce marketplaces which streamline the process of purchasing and managing cloud-based applications by offering it all from an online storefront.

While only possessing limited offerings in their infancy, cloud marketplaces have since grown to offer hundreds of cloud products from the industry’s leading vendors, along with expertise, guidance, and insights that have considerably enhanced customer satisfaction. This growth is expected to continue, with Gartner stating that more than half of enterprise IT spending in key market segments will shift to the cloud by 2025.

Providers of the leading cloud commerce marketplace, Pax8, this week announced they have raised $185 million in new equity capital from new investor SoftBank Vision Fund 2, increasing the company’s valuation to $1.7 billion. SoftBank led the round with additional contributions from pre-existing investors, including:

• Catalyst Investors 
• Sageview Capital 
• Blue Cloud Ventures
• Liberty Global Ventures 

As part of the transaction, Kristin Bannon, Investment Director at SoftBank Investment Advisers, will be named to the Pax8 Board of Directors.

John Street, CEO at Pax8, stated. “As we continue to evolve our technology and marketplace to meet the needs of SMBs, the new investment will provide capital to accelerate innovation and continued expansion into new global markets,” he continued. “This strong funding round reflects the powerful work Pax8 is doing to enable and grow SMBs through our partners, employees, technology, education, and support. Year over year, we continue to experience record-breaking growth, and we look forward to working with SoftBank to continue elevating our performance.”

Pax8 offers organizations a unique approach to buying, selling, and managing their cloud while simplifying the IT buying experience for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) through the IT channel ecosystem. Utilizing their 20,000 managed services partners and award-winning platform, marketplace, education, support, and solutions, Pax8 has cloud-enabled more than 200,000 businesses. As a proven disruptor within the market, Pax8 highlights the importance of excelling within the cloud to stay competitive, as they solve challenges around billing and provisioning and provide the automation businesses require for scalability.

“Pax8 has disrupted the IT industry, exemplified courage through innovation, and has built the people, processes, and technology to revolutionize the way businesses build and consume technology,” said Nagraj Kashyap, Managing Partner at SoftBank. “Under John’s leadership, Pax8 has shown ongoing success, and we believe its vision for the future will prove to be transformative for B2B markets.”

“Through its marketplace, Pax8 is empowering SMBs with technology solutions they would otherwise not have access to while simultaneously granting software vendors distribution capabilities to a hard-to-reach customer segment,” said Kristin Bannon, Investment Director at SoftBank Investment Advisers. “I am thrilled to join the Pax8 Board and partner with the company on its hyper-growth technology strategy for the platform and cloud marketplace and new opportunities for the company and its ecosystem of partners.”

Continuing to grow alongside the increase in cloud-based technology solutions, the cloud commerce marketplace provided by Pax8 will invariably expand its capabilities and offerings for SMBs and the MSPs who serve them aiming to become more competitive, efficient, and profitable.