Workiva

In August 2008, Workiva Inc. was formed as WebFilings LLC in California by six entrepreneurs.[7]

Martin Vanderploeg was a co-founder of EAI and served as CTO and Executive Vice President until they were acquired in 2000 by UGS Corp,[8][9][10] and is now a division of Siemens, the German technology multinational.[1]

Workiva's primary product is Wdesk, a cloud-based enterprise software-as-a-service platform that enables companies to collect, manage, report and analyse critical business data in real time.[11] Wdesk also allows companies to manage and file financial and compliance documents to regulatory agencies.[12]

The Wdesk platform integrates information from disparate content formats, including spreadsheets, presentation documents, emails and other unstructured data, into a single cloud-based report.[13][14]

In July 2014, the company's name was changed to Workiva LLC, and was converted into a Delaware LLC in September 2014.[15]

The company went public in December 2014 and with an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: WK).[16]

Deloitte's 2015 Technology Fast 500 survey of fastest growing technology companies in America Workiva ranked fiftieth among all software companies.[17] In the DevOps Excellence Awards 2019, Workiva won Best Software-Defined Product.[18]

In May 2019, Workiva opened offices in Frankfurt, Germany, and Paris, France.[19] The company also has offices in Amsterdam and London, 12 U.S. cities, and two Canadian cities.[20]

Workiva’s product Wdata allows users to connect large datasets of information to the Workiva platform.[21] It was designed to improve the usefulness of Wdesk.[21]  Wdata connects data from enterprise resource planning, governance risk and compliance platforms, and other third-party, on-premise systems and cloud applications.[22]

Wdata was named the technical innovation of the year by The American Business Awards in June 2019.[23] In September, Workiva updated the Wdata platform to include automatic updates, approval workflows, finance and accounting connectors, risk and control integration, and improved controlled access tools.[22] The company also integrated its platforms with BlackLine, a producer of financial close software.[24][25] The integration allows accountants to connect and transfer data between the two companies.[24] Later in September, Workiva established a partnership with FloQast, a financial close management software company.[22][25] The two offer a reporting and compliance solution for private companies, as well as for companies to use before and after they issue an initial public offering of stock.[22][25]

In March 2020, Fortune included Workiva on its annual list of “Best Workplaces in Technology”, making it the company’s third year on the list.[26] Workiva was also added to Fortune's 100 Best Places to Work list for the second year in a row in 2020 (#58).[27]

In April 2020, Workiva launched W for ESEF.[28] It is a solution to help European companies comply with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) requirements for European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) reporting.[28] W for ESEF was made available in 23 European languages.[28] Companies can use the solution to build reports, tag data, and compile the final ESEF submission package.[28]

In November 2020, Workiva appointed COO Julie Iskow to the board. She was named one of the 50 most powerful women in tech in 2019.[29][30][31]

In May 2021, Workiva announced that Jill Klindt, previously senior VP, treasurer and chief accounting officer at Workiva, had been named CFO.[32] In May, the company updated its cloud platform to help companies with Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) reporting.[33]

In July 2021, the company became the first SaaS company to enter the United Nations’ Global Compact CFO Taskforce.[34][35] A few months later, in August 2021, Workiva made its first acquisition when it acquired OneCloud, which provides integration platform as a service software.[36][37]

In December 2021, Workiva acquired AuditNet, a global audit content and services provider.[38][39]

In February 2023, Workiva announced that President and Chief Operating Officer Julie Iskow was appointed to succeed Marty Vanderploeg as CEO, starting April 1st.[40]