DocuSign Chief Quits Ahead Of Possible Flotation

The chief executive of e-signature firm DocuSign, has tendered his resignation from the company ahead of a possible public offering.

The announcement, made by chairman and chief executive Keith Krach in an internal memo published by industry journal Re/Code on Friday, follows shortly after San Francisco-based DocuSign raised more than $300 million (£195m) in a funding round that valued the company at $3 billion.

Strong growth

Deutsche Telekom contributed to that round, along with the likes of Dell, Intel, Microsoft, Google, SAP and other well-known IT companies.

DocuSign also announced a new reseller agreement with Dell earlier this month that will see Dell marketing and selling DocuSign’s product with its own new and existing deployments.

Microsoft has offered DocuSign electronic signatures in Office 365 since last year and the companyexpanded its European operations with three new data centres in 2014 too.

Industry observers have speculated that a public offering is the logical next step for the company.

DocuSign competes with Adobe and others in the market for Digital Transaction Management (DTM) products, which facilitate legally enforceable electronic signatures carried out online. The company was founded in 2003 and now has more than 50 million users worldwide for a product available in more than 40 languages and about 188 countries.

Krach noted that the company has increased in value more than 60 times in the past few years. Krach has been DocuSign’s chairman for seven years and became its chief executive four years ago.

‘Solid footing’

“With the company on such solid footing, now is the perfect time to move forward with our succession plans,” Krach said in the memo.

He said he will continue to serve as chief executive until a “long-term” successor is found, and has committed to remain “fully engaged” as the company’s chairman for at least another three years.

The executive search process has begun, with a recruitment firm having been retained for the process, Krach said.

He didn’t give a reason for his decision to step down, but noted that in three years’ time he will have been with DocuSign for a decade.

“I am excited about the opportunity to bring additional firepower into our great company,” he wrote.

Krach is one of DocuSign’s largest individual shareholders.

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