Sumeru Equity leads $100 million funding in Canada-based Tasktop

Tasktop Technologies Inc said on Thursday it had raised $100 million in a funding round led by technology-focused private equity firm Sumeru Equity Partners.

The company, which makes software-development tools, said existing investors and company management also participated in the round, but did not reveal the valuation at which the funding was raised.

Tech startups have seen their valuations soar, thanks to a boost in their business from remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic and a simultaneous boom in the stock market that pushed buyout prices in the U.S. to a record high in 2020.

Meanwhile, private equity fundraising in the U.S. dropped 37% to $203.2 billion in 2020, as investors grew cautious over whether these PE firms could deliver significant returns.

Cloud computing firm DigitalOcean and online learning platform Coursera Inc, both companies which saw a surge in demand due to stay-at-home orders during the pandemic, went public recently and are trading above their debut prices.

Tasktop has earlier raised $32 million in funding, from investors including venture capital firms Austin Ventures and Yaletown Venture Partners, among others, according to data from Pitchbook.

Vancouver, Canada-based Tasktop offers a platform that allows companies to shorten the time to market their products and quicken their software development. Its customers include AT&T, BMW Group and GE Aviation, a subsidiary of U.S. conglomerate General Electric.

As part of the latest deal, two managing directors from Sumeru Equity, Jason Babcoke and George Kadifa, will also join Tasktop’s board, the company said.