Businesses today – possibly more than ever – are turning to technology to forecast their performance in the coming weeks, months, and years, amidst a period of significant turbulence in the global economy. A company facilitating this capability is announcing a substantial investment to capitalize on this trend.

Jedox, a German company that develops software to assist organizations with financial planning and analysis utilizing data from common sources such as Excel spreadsheets, has secured funding exceeding $100 million – the precise amount is undisclosed – in a funding round spearheaded by Insight Partners. Iris Capital, eCAPITAL, and Wecken & Cie. (all prior investors) also participated. The company currently serves approximately 2,500 clients, including prominent organizations like Microsoft, McDonald’s, and the industrial conglomerate ABB.

Initially designed for on-premises or cloud deployment and primarily aimed at financial planners, the company’s software has broadened its scope over the past few years to encompass a wider range of users, particularly in HR planning and procurement. This funding will enable Jedox to extend its applicability to an even greater variety of use cases and industries. CEO Florian Winterstein – who joined the company in 2018 during its previous funding round – explained that while the name “Jedox” itself has no specific meaning, the company is concentrating on the letter “X”.

“Our intention is to extend beyond just the finance department,” he stated, leading the company to conceptualize FPNA (financial planning and analysis) as “XPNA”. Expanding beyond its original areas of focus “is a common objective for all enterprise-level businesses currently.”

To date, the company has raised around $150 million, and Winterstein confirmed that Jedox is not revealing its valuation with this current round. However, he did disclose that Insight Partners has taken a majority investment, and this funding follows considerable interest from both financial and strategic investors seeking to support the company. Microsoft and Salesforce – both active strategic investors in the startup ecosystem – are among its partners and occasional customers, as are companies offering enterprise resource planning solutions, due to Jedox’s market traction and presence.

“We have received numerous inquiries, perhaps monthly, from companies within our sector, from other areas of financial services, and from those seeking improved tools to integrate into broader enterprise service offerings,” he said. He described these approaches as “interesting” but also mentioned that the startup is also considering an initial public offering (IPO) in the coming years – a path taken by its main competitor, Anaplan. Regardless, there are no immediate plans for an exit, as the company continues to experience strong growth.

Founded in 2002, Jedox embodies a typical European startup narrative. Winterstein highlighted that its initial efforts were entirely open-source based, and the company was “not focused on commercialization, consisting largely of tech enthusiasts and German engineers lacking extensive go-to-market experience.”

This began to evolve with Winterstein’s arrival and the founders’ subsequent departure, alongside the company’s transition away from the open-source model. (However, open-source components remain active, primarily centered around the Palo open-source standard.) Jedox, according to Winterstein, is now fully committed to cloud services, with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) accounting for 75% of its revenue, and the remaining portion primarily consisting of professional services related to that.

(Winterstein’s emphasis on professional services is noteworthy, given his background. Prior to this role, he led and founded several companies, two of which were acquired by IBM, a leading provider of technology solutions coupled with professional services.)

In the realm of technology, particularly within the enterprise sector, discussions of modeling frequently turn to artificial intelligence and big data machine learning, and this is understandable: AI is currently a prominent topic.

However, much of this can be deceptive. I have encountered numerous tech professionals who express skepticism about the claims surrounding so-called AI, questioning its actual capabilities.

What is particularly encouraging is that Jedox does not pursue this approach.

“I find the hype around ‘what is AI’ frustrating,” he said when I raised the subject. “It often involves simple predictions and statistical modeling.” He was quick to point out that “not all of our work involves AI, and approximately 100 out of our 2,500 customers are genuinely utilizing AI. Others are using what some might label as AI, but it doesn’t meet the strict definition of AI.”

He clarified that Jedox does incorporate AI into its systems for modeling and providing more accurate business forecasts, but that Jedox does not independently develop these algorithms in all instances.

“There are around 20-25 algorithms available, and we don’t believe it’s necessary to create a new one,” he explained. Instead, the company leverages AI services from providers like Google and Microsoft to power its services on a foundation built by Jedox, “which applies user or customer data to various AI services and our infrastructure to determine the most suitable algorithm for the data and the customer’s specific needs.”

Companies like Palantir have demonstrated the value of modeling and predictive insights for organizations. Jedox’s distinctive advantage lies in delivering similar capabilities in a more practical and accessible manner for everyday users.

“Jedox delivers a unique approach to financial planning through its flexibility, familiar Excel-based interface, and customer-centric focus,” said Jeff Lieberman, MD at Insight Partners, in a statement. “We are excited to partner with Florian and the Jedox team to provide industry-leading cloud planning tools to leaders across all industries, globally.” Rachel Geller, another MD at Insight Partners, and Henry Frankievich, principal, will be joining the board of directors as part of this investment.