QlikView: Bet Big, Time Right And Become A Disruptive BI Leader

The near-decapitation (by acquisition) of the BI space in 2007-8 was perfectly timed for QlikTech, whose QlikView is rapidly becoming one of the leading independent products. This is hardly new; since its founding in Sweden in 1993, the company’s timing has been unerring. Years of slow growth – “From 1993 to ‘99 we had a grand total of 5 customers, all in Sweden,” Senior VP Anthony Deighton told me recently – ended abruptly with a funding round from a Swedish VC. That led to a revamped management team with an eye for growth, and in the next 6 years, QlikTech climbed to 1500 customers – still mostly in Sweden, though some were in Germany and a few were in the US. The next big bet was what Deighton calls “an over-investment in direct sales” based on a 2005 round of funding from some better known VCs. Since then, the takeoff has been remarkable – a happy timing of product, platform and market. With $120 million in revenue and 50% growth in 2008, Qlikview is reaping the benefits of effective timing, a conservative ramp that did not overreach, and a technology landscape that is paying off its visionary design. Now, wth QlikView release 9.0, it’s targeting enterprise scale, better performance and manageability, and mobile deployment. As the economy begins to recover and mobile platforms proliferate, it appears QlikTech’s timing is once again dead on. Read more of this post