Fintech firm Kyriba brings corporate headquarters back to San Diego, hits $110 million in revenue
SAN DIEGO, CA – For fintech software firm Kyriba, its on-again, off-again relationship with San Diego is back on. Founded in 2003, the company was based in the region but relocated its headquarters to New York a few years ago. Now it has officially moved back to San Diego, where it has more than 120 employees – up from 80 in the middle of last year.
“I live in San Diego,” said Jean-Luc Robert, chairman and chief executive of Kyriba. “New York is becoming very expensive. San Diego is a place where it is easy for us to attract talent. So we made the decision while keeping the smaller office in New York.”
Kyriba makes cloud-based financial management software that helps large companies manage their cash in far-flung global bank accounts. It expects to move into a new, 50,000-square-foot corporate office in June that will more than double its current footprint in San Diego.
In addition to San Diego and New York, Kyriba also has offices in Paris, London, Tokyo, Dubai and seven other locations.
The privately held software-as-a-service firm hit $110 million in revenue last year, up 40 percent from 2017, said Robert. The company aims to reach $400 million to $500 million in revenue by 2023. Kyriba established a new software category around liquidity management, said Robert.
“We allow the chief financial officer and treasurer not only to know their cash but to optimize their cash, protect their cash and move their cash,” he said. Last year, Kyriba entered a partnership with investment management giant BlackRock that allows its customers to move cash to BlackRock money market funds when necessary.
It also works with WorldFirst, which has expertise in foreign exchange and international payments. Kyriba has raised roughly $100 million in venture capital over the years, said Robert. Its product suite includes supply chain finance, payments, cash management, working capital management, compliance and bank connectivity. It recently added business intelligence and lease accounting to the line-up.
The company’s 2,000 clients are mostly big companies. It added 229 new customers last year for its subscription software, including Eastman Chemical, Hitachi High Tech, Palo Alto Networks and Peloton.
Last month, Kyriba acquired a Phoenix-area firm FiREapps, which makes analytics and other tools to manage foreign exchange fluctuations. Robert declined to disclose the purchase price for FiREapps, which has about 130 customers and 40 employees.
“It is a perfect fit, and it makes us very strong on the (compliance) side at a time when volatility is going to increase with the trade war between the U.S. and China, with Brexit,” said Robert. Reaching $100 million in revenue is considered a trigger for software firms to launch an initial public stock offering. But Kyriba has no immediate plans to go public, said Robert.
“We want to keep up the growth,” he said. “We have no problem accessing capital. We have 650 people in the organization. We’re going to add 200 to 300 this year, and San Diego will be one of the primary hiring spots.”