The economy may be slowing, but that doesn't seem to be a problem for Adaptive Planning, which develops web-based business performance management (BPM) software. This week, Adaptive Planning announced a $10 million venture capital round. Its investors include RBC Venture Partners, Cardinal Venture Capital, Monitor Ventures, and ONSET Ventures.

Adaptive is in a hot industry. Other players in the space have already agreed to massive buyouts, notably SAP (NYSE: SAP)'s acquisition of BusinessObjects and IBM (NYSE: IBM)'s purchase of Cognos.

Adaptive's focus is primarily on the small- to mid-sized market (SMB) space. "We think the market opportunity is wide open," said William Soward, the CEO of Adaptive Planning, in an interview with me. "By using subscriptions and an on-demand platform, we think we have a strong competitive position."

Another key: Adaptive Planning has a usable free version, which has been a great vehicle to upsell prospective customers.

Interestingly enough, Adaptive Planning may actually thrive in the slowing economy. "Our software helps companies improve their forecasting, reporting and budgeting," said Soward. "Such things are important in getting efficiencies from a business."

If you want to check out other VC deals, visit DealProfiles.com.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Adaptive Planning: A cure for the recession blues? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.