Riding enterprise wave, SugarCRM ends 2012 up 60 percent in revenue

The year-end numbers are in for SugarCRM, the California-based customer relationship management company, and they're looking good.

The company said it closed 2012 with revenue growth of 60 percent over 2011 and a doubling of subscriber seats as it hitched a ride on a wave of global expansion.

The company added new customers Fahrzeug-Werke Lueg AG, Yellow Pages Group (New Zealand), Bishop-Wisecarver Corporation, Despegar.com, Informa Research Services, Inc. and Asana Wellness to its rolls in the fourth quarter; it added several more (Bray International, Natural Balance Pet Foods, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Renault Sport among them) before that.

In the second quarter of last year, the company received an influx of $33 million in funding to fuel its enterprise expansion; given its year-end results, which includes 250 percent growth in that segment, it appears that the strategy has begun to take hold. 

SugarCRM has also been bulking up on channel partners, adding 21 in the fourth quarter for a total of 130 new additions in 2012, across six continents. And that doesn't include its ongoing relationship with IBM, with which it is increasingly integrated.

The biggest challenge for CEO Larry Augustin? Making sure his company and its platform bend and not break under the stresses of rapid scaling. Since that also happens to be a key selling point of his product, let's hope he can walk the talk.