BOSTON, MA (Sept. 21, 2022) — Apptopia Inc., the leader in real-time app competitive intelligence, today announced the appointment of Steve Swad to the position of President and Chief Operating Officer. Swad brings 20 years of operational experience at the executive level, which will accelerate the company’s growth.
He is responsible for improving company wide business practices and processes to enable scale, developing and implementing world class customer success practices, strengthening the company’s business analytics, and helping the company strategically deploy its capital. In line with Apptopia’s recent $20 Million Series C round, Swad will also lead the company’s M&A and data acquisition strategies in order to continue providing best-in-class service to its customers.
Swad comes to Apptopia’s executive team with an impressive resume. Most recently he was the CEO of Benefitfocus, one of the largest B2B SaaS platforms that delivers simplified benefits administration to employers, health plans and brokers. In another former role, he was the CEO of Rosetta Stone, where he led its transition from CD’s to mobile, extended its SaaS product to the employer and K-12 markets and expanded its product portfolio to include highly successful and effective reading technology. He also has significant financial experience, previously serving as the CFO of AOL, Vox Media, and Turner Broadcasting. This experience plus this ability to assemble and develop world class, high performing teams will be paramount in guiding Apptopia through a period of significant product investment and company growth.
“Steve is an invaluable addition to our leadership team. His expertise and leadership will meaningfully help us to focus and scale, said Jonathan Kay, CEO and co-founder of Apptopia. “He has the ability and desire to mentor senior members of the team so that the company is operating at its fullest potential.”
Swad has spent more than a decade working at the executive level of B2B SaaS technology companies. His expertise in B2B SaaS business model transformations and M&A, positions him to manage an ongoing data acquisition strategy for the company, which will result in answering more high impact questions for Apptopia customers.
“Apptopia impressed me with its passionate people, product and engineering capabilities and their relentless dedication to listening to customers and making improvements based on that feedback,” said Steve Swad, President and COO of Apptopia. I knew right away that I wanted to lead that effort toward business acceleration, and I am excited to say that we are already on our way.”
Apptopia has grown materially since the beginning of 2022. Headcount is up 40%, and annual recurring revenue has continued to break company records, underlining a core operating principle of providing value and insight to our customers. The company continues to expand its customer base and hire talent. Apptopia proudly is a product led organization and maintains a majority of its team in product, engineering and R&D.
“We are thrilled to see this match. Not only will Steve lift up operational leadership with his experience of scaling software businesses, but the combination of Jonathan and Steve at the helm makes for an excellent team” said Michael Avon, Managing Partner at ABS Capital Partners.
Apptopia is the leader in real-time competitive intelligence. Brands and financial firms use our platform to generate insights across mobile apps and connected devices. Powered by machine learning technology, we collect and analyze billions of complex data points to surface critical business signals. Leading brands including Visa, Target, and Microsoft rely on Apptopia to better understand consumer behavior and intent across app-based devices to gain a competitive advantage. Financial analysts access our data analytics via the Bloomberg Terminal to generate revenue estimates, monitor consumer engagement across devices, and gain insight into competitive positioning.
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