AvePoint

Early Years: 2001 to 2014

AvePoint was founded by Xunkai Gong and Tianyi Jiang after they coded the first AvePoint solution in a public library in Somerset, New Jersey in 2001. Jiang described that his experience in the north tower of the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks as a key catalyst driving him to become a software entrepreneur.One of the company's key milestones was during a 2003 TechEd Microsoft conference session where SharePoint 2003 was unveiled for the first time. After receiving many audience questions regarding an inability for the company to migrate their content to the new solution, Jiang stood up and announced that DocAve was able to migrate to the new platform.The company was listed in the 2013 Deloitte Fast 500 of the fastest-growing companies in the world, and in Inc. magazine's 2014 "Inc. 500|5000" list of the fastest-growing companies in America.In 2013, AvePoint's DocAve 6 product was named "Best of TechEd" and the company was named a finalist in three categories in the Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards: Collaboration and Content Partner of the Year, Office/SharePoint App Developer Partner of the Year, and Public Sector Partner of the Year – Public Safety/National Security.In the 2014 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards, AvePoint was named the winner of the Public Sector Partner of the Year — Public Safety/National Security category and was a finalist in the Office and SharePoint App Developer Partner of the Year category.The company was backed by investors Goldman Sachs and Summit Partners, which acquired minority stakes in AvePoint in 2014 and 2007, respectively.

SaaS Conversion and Channel Expansion: 2014- 2020

Starting in 2014, AvePoint made a major change to its technology and business models, converting its perpetual license model to a Software as a service model. After being initially challenged by the ongoing costs of the SaaS model and need to adjust partnerships and engagement models, AvePoint's cloud platform would expand across 14 global data centers, with quarterly releases, 24/7 support and ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation. Today AvePoint is one of the largest solution providers in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, supporting more than 7 million cloud users, including a quarter of the Fortune 500.In 2019, AvePoint expanded its support of Managed Service Providers and their small to medium sized customers via the channel with agreements with global distribution partners such as Ingram Micro, Synex Systems Corporation, Tech Data and others. The company aims to add 40,000 managed service provider partners by 2022.In January, 2020 the company announced a $200 million Series C investment led by TPG Sixth Street Partners, with additional participation from prior investor Goldman Sachs and other unnamed investors. The round brought the total raised to $294 million to date.

Initial Public Merger Announcement and De-SPACing: November 2020- July 2021

In November 2020, AvePoint reached a deal to go public through a merger with blank-check company Apex Technology Acquisition Corp.. The transaction valued AvePoint at $2 billion and kept AvePoint co-founders Tianyi Jiang and Kai Gong as CEO and Executive Chairman respectively. The new company will be named AvePoint and will trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol AVPT once the deal closes in the first quarter of 2021.At the time of the announcement, AvePoint disclosed that it expects to generate approximately $148 million in total revenue for the year ending December 31, 2020, which would be an increase of approximately 26% over 2019 revenue. Out of more than 200 public software companies, AvePoint is one of 5 with annual revenue around $150 million, a growth rate of about 30% and positive EBIT margin of about 20%.

Life as a Public Company: July 2021- Present

On July 2, AvePoint became a public company listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker AVPT. AvePoint received approximately $492 million in gross proceeds, consisting of Apex's $352 million of cash held in trust following de minimis public stockholder redemptions and $140 million from an ordinary share private investment in public equity , excluding transaction fees. The PIPE was anchored by investors including but not limited to Federated Hermes Kaufman Small Cap Fund, Franklin Templeton, Phoenix Insurance Limited and Singapore-based global investor EDBI.