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Growth Brings Kyriba To a San Diego HQ

Kyriba, a fast-growing software company that helps finance executives manage their companies’ assets, is scouting out new headquarters in the UTC area. The company announced in February that it would shift its HQ from New York City’s financial district back to San Diego, where it has a 120-person office just off of Towne Center Drive.

Just a year ago, Kyriba had 50 employees in the same offices. The rows of desks have gotten closer together as the company has boosted its headcount.

Kevin Bryla
Jean-Luc Robert

Kyriba’s newly-hired chief marketing officer, Kevin Bryla, said that number should reach 200 by next year. The company currently has 24 open positions in San Diego.

“We have a new office that’s going to increase our square footage considerably in UTC,” he said.

A spinoff of French finance company XRT, Kyriba’s U.S. headquarters have been in San Diego since CEO Jean-Luc Robert took the helm in 2003. It opened its New York offices in 2008, where it primarily held its sales and finance functions.

“There was a sense that New York as a headquarters was a little bit closer to our customers and the financial markets. As the years have passed, it became abundantly clear that San Diego offered access to talent,” Bryla said. “As the company has grown and gone out to hire, we’ve found (San Diego) to be a rich market. We’ve found that we’re able to find and source people here, or if we find people in other parts of the world, they’re very excited to come here.”

Bryla said the company hopes to make the move in June. At Kyriba’s current offices, space is getting tighter as the company hires more developers, marketing and human resources professionals.

First Chief People Officer

Companywide, Kyriba plans to boost its employment from 700 to 1,000 in the next year. To help with that effort, it hired its first chief people officer, Tina Figueroa, in August.

Bryla, for his part, joined the company in December. He previously headed up marketing and communications for ADP before moving to San Diego a year ago.

In his role, he will work to add and retain Kyriba’s customers, which have grown from the hundreds to the thousands.

“Once you get that momentum and that critical mass, things happen,” Bryla said. “That’s why I joined — you don’t see waves break like this very often, so you want to take it.”

CEO: Jean-Luc Robert

Revenue: More than $110 million in 2018

No. of local employees: 120

Investors: Sumeru Equity Partners, BPI France, HSBC, Daher Capital, Iris Capital, BRED Banque

Headquarters: UTC

Year founded: 2000

Company description: Kyriba makes cloud-based treasury and risk management software for midsize to large companies.

‘A Little Boom’

Last year, Kyriba grew business by 40 percent, passing $110 million in revenue. This year, the company plans to do it all again.

The company currently has more than 2,000 clients, including Fortune 500 companies such as Qualcomm Inc., Symantec, Expedia and Spotify. It primarily helps companies with cash and risk management. For example, Bryla explained, Kyriba’s solutions let executives see how much in cash and assets they have available at any given time, across the world.

Bryla said part of Kyriba’s growth could be attributed to Robert’s strategy; while most companies would be satisfied with 20 percent or 30 percent growth, Robert keeps pushing for 40 percent to 50 percent.

Part of it is also being at the right place at the right time.

“A big part of the population still uses excel spreadsheets. They’re just adopting this technology for the first time,” Bryla said. “So this is a little boom in the treasury tech space.”

According to a 2017 report by the International Data Corp., large corporations are expected to shift from older back-office systems to cloud-based software. While 17.8 percent of treasury management software was cloud-based in 2017, that number is expected to increase to 29.3 percent by 2021.

A Market Leader

IDC lists Kyriba among three market leaders in cloud-based treasury and risk management software. Its two main competitors are Florida-based Fidelity National Information Services and German software company SAP SE.

Its strengths are in appealing to larger enterprises and midmarket companies. Kyriba’s main challenge will be to convince companies at the smaller end of that spectrum that its services are worth the cost.

“Although the SaaS model offers more price elasticity for less complex organizations, many midmarket CFOs continue to struggle with the business justification for treasury technology,” the report stated.

Kyriba currently has a large presence in the U.S. and France, and is working to grow its business in Brazil, Germany, Singapore and Japan, Bryla said. The company is also working on offering more services to its clients; it recently acquired Scottsdale, Arizona-based risk management software company Fireapps for an undisclosed amount.

“We have long-term, high-growth ambitions,” Bryla said. “We hope and fully expect that growth rate will continue for multiple years to come.”

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