B2B SaaS acquisitions are exciting, and the milestone acts as a catalyst for change in any business.
For some companies, an acquisition is a way to grow an existing business and maybe even add a SaaS offering. After all, there’s a reason making an acquisition shows momentum in the market. (Publicizing the deal also provides a chance to showcase newly-expanded capabilities and gets you in front of new potential investors, segments and customers. You can find more on that in our “Guide to Announcing the Acquisition of Another Company” ebook.)
Other SaaS and B2B tech companies look to acquisition as a means of exiting. For example, cloud migration company Velostrata came to PANBlast looking to differentiate offerings by positioning the company as a key migration and mobility partner for multiple cloud platforms — including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Partner (GCP) and Microsoft Azure. In doing so, the brand also sought to increase awareness not only among potential customers and partners but also investors. The company was snapped up by Google to further the search giant’s Google Cloud Platform (GCP) less than six months into our engagement.
As a PR agency working with B2B SaaS brands, we’ve seen both ends of the acquisition story. The desired outcomes (and, as a result, PR tactics) look different each time, but one aspect remains consistent: PR’s ability to reach the desired audience.
So, what were the SaaS acquisition stories making news this year? Here’s a look at over 50 B2B SaaS companies that were acquired during the first half of 2021:
SaaS Companies Acquired in 2021
- A Cloud Guru to Pluralsight
- Advicent Solutions acquired by InvestCloud
- Agari acquired by HelpSystems
- Altus Technology acquired by Momentum Telecom
- Ascent Business Technology Inc acquired by TraqIQ
- Bazaarvoice acquired by Thomas H. Lee Partners
- Blue Yonder acquired by Panasonic
- Bold360 acquired by Genesys
- Boomi acquired by Francisco Partners
- Boomi acquired by TPG
- Cedato acquired by EX.CO
- Changepoint acquired by Planview
- Chargeback acquired by Sift
- Chorus.ai acquired by ZoomInfo
- Clarizen acquired by Planview
- Clause acquired by Docusign
- Cloudvirga acquired by Stewart
- CoConstruct acquired by Buildertrend
- ContractRoom acquired by Mitratech
- DialogTech acquired by Invoca
- Divvy acquired by Bill.com
- Docsend acquired by Dropbox
- Ekata acquired by Mastercard
- Exponea (acquired by Bloomreach) acquired by Bloomreach
- Gigster acquired by Ionic Partners
- Greenhouse Software acquired by TPG
- JAGGAER acquired by PwC France
- Kenna Security acquired by Cisco
- Kount acquired by Equifax
- Lingotek acquired by Straker Translations
- MindTouch acquired by NICE Systems
- Mobile Solutions acquired by Brightfin
- Mya Systems acquired by StepStone
- Nuxeo acquired by Hyland Software
- PactSafe acquired by Ironclad
- Qualtrics acquired by Silver Lake
- QuanticMind acquired by Centro
- Reflektive acquired by Peoplefluent
- Reward Gateway acquired by ABRY Partners
- RSG Media acquired by Naviga
- Scalyr acquired by SentinelOne
- Second Street acquired by Upland Software
- ShowingTime acquired by Zillow Group
- Sparkcentral acquired by Hootsuite
- Sqreen acquired by Datadog
- SupplyFrame acquired by Siemens
- SyncHR acquired by PrimePay
- Talentcube acquired by Phenom
- Targetprocess acquired by Apptio
- Terafina acquired by NCR
- The Marlin Company acquired by Appspace, Inc.
- thinktank.net acquired by Accenture
- TradingScreen acquired by Francisco Partners
- Utilant acquired by Majesco
- Wrike acquired by Citrix Systems
- Zaius acquired by Optimizely
- Zipwhip acquired by Twilio
B2B SaaS Acquisitions Scoring Media Coverage
Despite acquisitions being a great way for SaaS companies to showcase momentum, it can be challenging to stand out from the noise.
As with other announcements, pairing data and thought leadership with an acquisition announcement can help SaaS companies generate more media interest.
Here’s a look at a few companies that scored noteworthy headlines and top-tier media coverage around acquisitions of SaaS brands:
- Talentcube to Phenom – In February, Phenom made its third acquisition in six months, acquiring Talentcube, a holistic video recruiting platform. Phenom also scooped up My Ally — a B2B SaaS company focused on implementing AI to optimize recruiting — and HR service provider Endouble in 2020. In addition to securing trade coverage around the announcement, Phenom’s videoconferencing tool was mentioned in a Wall Street Journal article about the SaaS company and its customer Southwest Airlines several months later.
- DocSend to Dropbox – In March, Dropbox acquired DocSend for $165 million. According to reporting by TechCrunch, acquiring DocSend — which allows customers to share and track documents using a secure link — gives Dropbox’s platform an end-to-end, secure document-sharing workflow.
- PactSafe to Ironclad – Ironclad, the #1 contract lifecycle management (CLM) platform for innovative companies, acquired PactSafe, the leading clickwrap transaction platform (CTP), to create a new standard for business contracting, to include digital acceptance of online transactions. The acquisition was Ironclad’s first, and the CEO’s comments on how the move related to consolidation in legal tech helped land a feature in Insider.
- Chorus.ai to ZoomInfo – In the most recent acquisition on our list, ZoomInfo acquired Conversation Intelligence leader Chorus.ai in July for $575M. TechCrunch covered the announcement in a piece titled, “ZoomInfo drops $575M on Chorus.ai as AI shakes up the sales market.” The article goes beyond only reporting the news, including a quote from ZoomInfo’s CEO and speculating on future financial exits in the Conversation Intelligence space.
Who else is making moves in 2021? Have a notable B2B SaaS acquisition you’d like to see added to this list? Tweet us and let us know.
Disclosure: This list includes current and former PANBlast clients.