K2, an industry leader in business application platforms and solutions, today announced it has agreed to accept a strategic investment from Francisco Partners, a leading global private equity firm focused on the technology sector, to support investment in K2's go-to-market initiatives and product innovation. The funding will enable K2 to further its vision of empowering its customers to optimize their business processes and seamlessly build and run their own unique business applications on premises and in the cloud. The transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of 2015.

'This investment marks a significant milestone for K2 and is a validation of our success and growth as we enter the era of Build Your Own Applications (BYOA),' said Adriaan van Wyk, co-founder and CEO of K2. 'BYOA is led by a new generation of end users who are increasingly self-sufficient and entrepreneurial around the technologies they use to solve business problems. We are pleased to have Francisco Partners on our team to help us fully capitalize on the significant opportunity for K2 in a BYOA world.'

Headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, K2 was founded by CEO Adriaan van Wyk and SVP of Product Development Olaf Wagner and today supports over one and a half million users across 1,400 customers in 80 countries. K2's growing customer list includes Fortune 500 companies Shell, Kimberly Clark, PPG, and Microsoft. K2 was recently named by Puget Sound Business Journal as one of the top cloud computing companies in 2015.

'K2 has solidly positioned itself as an innovator in providing market leading low-code/no-code solutions for rapid development and deployment of business applications across all devices,' said Brian Decker, Principal at Francisco Partners. 'We are thrilled to be working with the K2 team to extend this leadership position and expand their roster of happy customers.'

'The proliferation of mobile devices and rise of cloud applications has raised the bar for IT departments globally. K2 is helping leading enterprises worldwide rise to this challenge by enabling seamless application development,' said David Golob, Partner at Francisco Partners. 'Adriaan and the K2 management team have innovated relentlessly, and we look forward to partnering with them in the next phase of the Company's growth.'

Jefferies LLC is serving as exclusive financial advisor to K2 in connection with the transaction, and Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP is serving as legal advisor.

For more information, please visit www.k2.com

About Francisco Partners
Francisco Partners is a global private equity firm, which specializes in investments in leading IT solutions providers. Since its launch over a decade ago, FP has raised approximately $10 billion and invested in more than 100 technology companies, making it one of the most active investors in its industry. The firm invests in transaction values ranging from $50 million to over $2 billion, where the firm's deep sectoral knowledge and operational expertise can help companies realize their full potential.

About K2
K2 is a leading provider of business application platforms and solutions that empower people to build and run business apps, from the very simple to the highly complex, limited only by their imagination. The low code platform allows users to create customized business applications -- using workflows and forms -- that stretch across roles, departments, and data sources. Understanding the importance of getting the right information to the right people at the right time, K2 allows business users to make smarter, data-driven decisions, fast. In this fast-paced environment, workforces can stay focused on building and growing the business, instead of managing processes.

With its products used across the Fortune 500 and mid-market, K2 currently has more than 1.5 million users in more than 80 countries. For more information, please visit www.k2.com.