Apple Enterprise Specialist Jamf Reportedly Files For IPO

The device management software maker, which has been making a major push with channel partners, is reportedly seeking a valuation of about $3 billion.

Apple device management software maker Jamf has made a confidential filing for a planned initial public offering, according to Bloomberg.

With a focus on enabling Apple device usage within businesses, Jamf has seen strong growth recently in part through increased efforts with channel partners, company executives have told CRN.

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Citing sources familiar with the filing, Bloomberg reported that Jamf is seeking a valuation of about $3 billion in connection with an IPO, which could take place as soon as this year. Jamf's revenue reached about $220 million last year, according to the report.

Jamf declined to comment when reached by CRN on Friday.

Still, the IPO "plans could change" and the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is not yet public, Bloomberg noted.

Minneapolis-based Jamf reports having more than 35,000 customers and managing 15 million Apple devices, including for prominent customers such as IBM, SAP and even Apple itself.

Jamf's flagship product, Jamf Pro, is an enterprise mobility management offering for managing and securing devices including Macs, iPads and iPhones.

Thanks to Jamf's "very close partnership" with Apple, "we get the support that we need, and we feel like we can provide a better solution in working with Apple," Jamf CEO Dean Hager said in an interview with CRN in November. "No matter who we go to, we are actually positioning and selling—as are our channel partners—the Apple experience. And by that I mean, it's always an Apple device, and it is the Apple experience that Apple originally intended."

For its next phase of channel expansion, Jamf is now looking to work more closely with MSPs, company executives have told CRN.

"We want to continue enhance our programs around MSP to make it more palatable for them," said Gianpiero Policicchio, manager for North American channel sales at Jamf, in November. "I think we're also looking at continuing down the road of billing based on utilization, which is really the true MSP model. So we're shifting a lot of what we're doing. We've already started down this road, but I think we're really solidifying it."

Hager added that "especially when you have IT shops where all they've ever done is Windows, the notion of just outsourcing it completely to [an MSP] can seem pretty appealing. So we do see that as an opportunity."