The company was founded in 1984 by Duncan Klett[4] and two others as Cadence Computer Corporation[5] and went public in June 2014.[6] In 2017, Kinaxis said that it expected to have 500 employees by the end of the year.[7]
Business
Kinaxis provides supply-chain-management software on a subscription basis, primarily to large, multinational companies. Customers include Ford, Cisco, Qualcomm, and Avaya.[8] They also provide related professional services to their customers. Contracts typically run for two to five years.[7] Their main product was called RapidResponse).[9] As of 2017, approximately 77% of revenue came from subscriptions, with the remainder from professional services.[10] Kinaxis also allows other companies, including Deloitte and Bain & Company, to install Kinaxis software for a percentage of the subscription revenues.[7] Kinaxis runs two data centers in South Korea. It has approximately 100 customers and about 5% of an estimated $4 billion market for software related to supply chain planning.[11][12] As of 2016, 85% of revenue was from US customers, 4% from Canadian customers, 8% from Asian customers, and the rest from European customers.[10] Competitors in the supply chain management software industry include SAP SE and JDA Software.[13] In 2017, a significant customer in Asia stopped paying, leading to a 3% reduction in revenue for the company.[7]
History
Kinaxis was founded in 1984 as Cadence Computer Corporation, to do supply-chain analysis of using custom mainframe computers, by three former Mitel engineers.[12] The name was later changed to Carp Systems International (after the nearby Carp River), then Enterprise Planning Systems.[7] In the mid 1990s, it changed its name to Webplan, and shifted from making hardware to providing software.[citation needed]
Recent history
In 2000, it led a venture round that raised $33 million.[12] In 2005, it renamed itself Kinaxis, and started focusing on selling software by subscription, as opposed to collecting a one-time fee.[12] In June 2014, it held an IPO on the Toronto Stock Exchange, raising a total of $100 million.[14] Since then, its market capitalization has increased to $1.7 billion, as of August 2017.[7] In 2022 they acquired MPO, a multi party orchestration platform connecting Supply Chain actors.
In December 2024, Kinaxis Inc. has rejected calls from activist investors to pursue a sale, emphasizing its commitment to creating long-term shareholder value. Daventry Group LP, holding a 1.3% stake in the company, issued a letter urging the board to explore a sale, while Irenic Capital Management LP echoed this sentiment in a separate statement. In response, Kinaxis hired Goldman Sachs for strategic advice and reaffirmed its focus on its current business plan.[15][16]
