Jamf Publicly Files IPO Plans Amid Growth In Apple Enterprise Management

The maker of Apple device management software reported that revenue jumped 39 percent in 2019.

Apple device management software maker Jamf has publicly filed its intentions for a planned initial public offering, citing 39-percent revenue growth in its business last year.

Jamf, which did not share a target number of shares for the IPO, in January had made a confidential filing of plans to go public, Bloomberg reported at the time.

[Related: Apple's Business Boom: 5 Takeaways From JNUC 2019]

Revenue for the Minneapolis-based company totaled $204 million in 2019, up from $146.5 million the year before, Jamf disclosed in its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. First-quarter revenue reached $60.4 million, up 37 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Jamf reported a net loss of $32.6 million in 2019 and $8.3 million in Q1.

The public filing comes just days after the announcement of Apple's acquisition of Fleetsmith, a Jamf competitor.

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

Jamf reports having more than 40,000 customers and managing more than 16 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 has been 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."