AppDirect Inc. has snagged $50 million from investors to bring the one-click purchase model that Apple helped popularize on mobile devices to cloud services in the enterprise. The capital infusion tops off a wave of industry interest in making it easier for organizations to consume technology.

It was only a week ago that EMC introduced a native application catalog for its latest converged appliance in a response to similar moves from competitors such as HP. But while it has become difficult to find an enterprise vendor that doesn’t offer some sort of homegrown spin on the App Store, few extend their catalogs beyond their portfolios and fewer still can match the selection offered by AppDirect.

The startup provides access to thousands of services through its marketplace, which allows organizations to give employees the freedom to purchase the services they need on-demand without asking for approval but still maintain the necessary degree of control to keep everything in order. The platform enables administrators to vet an application before making it available to employees and regulate who accesses what depending on factors such as organizational role.

Equally importantly, AppDirect enables centralized management of subscriptions across multiple vendors and handles billing mostly automatically based on the consumption parameters inputted into the system. That’s an invaluable convenience in large enterprises with thousands of knowledge workers each using multiple services, who would otherwise buy applications directly and thereby make it practically impossible to accurately track down usage.

Organizations are flocking to AppDirect. The company claims to have seen its revenue double over the past year, growth that the new funding is meant to help sustain amid mounting competition from other marketplace operators.

Existing backer Mithril Capital Management, the venture fund of PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, led the $50 million round. Foundry Group, iNovia Capital and StarVest Partners also chipped in along with a couple of new angel investors, bringing the startup’s total raised to a hefty $110 million. AppDirect has pledged to spend the new funds on expanding its global presence, particularly in Asia and Latin America.

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