Research and development management platform Ones secured RMB 300 million, or USD 46.5 million, in a Series B1 and B2 round, adding new investors like XCV, SoftBank, and Source Code Capital to existing shareholders 5Y Capital, China Growth Capital, and Vision Knight Capital.
Founded in 2015, Ones provides eight products to manage the entire R&D cycle for major corporate clients. In 2020, the company acquired well-known Chinese workplace collaboration platform Tower to expand its business footprint and reach more small and medium-sized enterprises.
Ones benchmarks itself against global leaders like Australian firm Atlassian, which has a market value of over USD 60 billion and acquired project management platform Trello in 2017 for USD 425 million. To reach a similar level, Ones has to diversify its business, according to founder and CEO Wang Yingqi. Trello brought 12,789 new customers to Atlassian in 2018, and another 2,500 new customers in 2019, yielding an overall revenue bump of 33%, according to the company’s financial reports. Wang hopes that Ones’ acquisition of Tower can provide a boost like Trello did for Atlassian.
Ones’ current product matrix fosters collaboration between engineers and project managers, while enhancing creativity and efficiency, speeding up clients’ iterative R&D. “The software industry requires advanced management concepts and tools. Ones will continue to focus on the software development and management track to promote the rapid development of China’s software industry,” Wang said. Ones has been endorsed by major companies in a variety of industries including Xiaomi, China Telecom, SAIC, and China Merchants Bank.
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36Kr Connection features translated and adapted content published by 36Kr. This article was originally written by Wang Yutong for 36Kr.
