Last week an item came up on ComputerWire called “Lombardi Gears Up for IPO.”  Wow, did I like doze off and somehow wake up back in 1998?  OK, revenue is up 200% over 2005, but Dataquest reports 2005 software revenue at $18 Million, so since when do $50 Million software companies do IPOs?  Maybe that Bubble 2.0 thing is real.

I think IPO is an unlikely exit for Lombardi’s investors – as well as for Savvion and Appian, the other two private BPMS pureplays in the same revenue and growth ballpark – but even a minor buzz about BPM in the financial pages is great news, because it shows the BPMS idea is really beginning to take off.

But still I felt obligated to at least contact Lombardi and ask if it was true.  Here’s what I found out from the unnamed official in his secret undisclosed location.  They have been growing rapidly – 2006 is 3x 2005, and the installed base (reported to be 100 customers) has doubled in the last year.  They’ve been contacted by investment bankers but haven’t retained any.  They’ve been approached by major software companies as well.

Here is the interesting part.  To succeed they say they need to establish a global footprint, which means adding products, adding headcount – they want to get to 200 by the end of 2007 – and they will ultimately “need to take the company public to raise the capital necessary to establish that global footprint.”  OK, they’re feeling super confident, but I still don’t buy the IPO exit. $50-100 Million is still no-man’s land for a public enterprise software company. Acquisition by a bigger fish is still more likely.