Quintiq: The largest Philly-area software firm most people have never heard of
Tom Paine
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Bob Eastman of Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC) has written an informative blog post on Quintiq, the supply chain software firm with dual headquarters in The Netherlands and Radnor.
Eastman says Quintiq's revenue is approaching $100 million and employment has nearly doubled in the past 18 months to 700. Quintiq brings considerable brainpower to the task of helping companies solve complex logistical and scheduling issues; its CEO and co-founder, Victor Allis, earned his PhD in artificial intelligence. Quintiq not only builds software, but also incorporates sophisticated quantitative tools as well. It focuses on process and service industries, rather than discrete manufacturing.
About 40% of Quintiq's customers run on SAP, Eastman says, probably one of the reasons the company set up its North American base in the Philly area in 2005. SAP serves as a starting point for many enterprises' supply chain systems, but is often supplemented by other vertical vendors providing more comprehensive solutions for specific applications. In February, SAP acquired Pittsburgh-based SmartOps, which is much smaller than Quintiq and seems focused on a different application set revolving around discrete inventory planning. A big part of SAP's stated plans for SmartOps is to give it more real time capabilities by putting it on its in-memory HANA platform.
Largely because of SAP's presence and also because of legacy industries located here that involve sophisticated supply chain challenges, the Philadelphia area has several supply chain software firms, including Exton-based Elemica, Wilmington-based Arkieva, and Marlton-based Acsis.
Quintiq sold a 48% stake to LLR Partners and NewSpring Capital two years ago. At the end of last year, Quintiq announced it was tripling its space in the Radnor Financial Center, where CEO Allis is primarily based. Quintiq is a truly global company with several international offices, most recently announcing the opening of an office in Seoul.
Correction: An earlier version of this story mistakenly said that Quintiq received a $48 million investment from LLR Partners and NewSpring Capital. The amount of the investment was never revealed, however; only the percentage of ownership was.
