Workday Snaps Adaptive Insights Off the IPO Market

After filing for an initial public offering earlier this year, business planning software maker Adaptive Insights has caught the eye of human resources software firm Workday.

The wedding ring: About $ 1.55 billion of cash for all of Adaptive’s outstanding shares, the two firms announced Monday—more than double the expected market value of $ 705 million that Adaptive would have achieved had it gone public Thursday.

“Adaptive Insights is an industry leader with its Business Planning Cloud platform, and together with Workday, we will help customers accelerate their finance transformation in the cloud,” said Workday CEO Aneel Bhusri in a statement Monday.

Workday’s offer is also a reason for several venture firms that backed Adaptive with $ 176 million in investment to cheer. Now Workday is paying nine times that, a payment that turns Onset Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, and Bessemer Venture Partners, Adaptive’s largest shareholders, into the largest beneficiaries of the deal.

For Workday, it’s the firm’s third acquisition this year—and likely its largest ever by dollar value. In June, Workday acquired machine learning firm Rallyteam, and deep learning firm SkipFlag in January—both for undisclosed amounts.

Shares of Workday slipped slightly Monday, falling less than a percent to $ 123 per share.