New acquisitions in this latest M&A roundup include three stateside buyouts and one involving two German-based providers in human capital management (HCM). There is also news on the funding front with the Florida-based creator of a customer data platform (CDP). Details follow.
Personio Acquires EX Platform Back
Personio, the Munich, Germany-based provider of cloud-based human resources (HR) management and recruiting solutions for small and medium businesses (SMBs), has acquired Back, the provider of an employee experience (EX) collaboration and automation platform headquartered in Berlin, for an undisclosed amount.
The deal will help Personio develop its People Workflow Automation, a software category to help organizations connect tools and teams to drive productivity, which the company announced last year when it hit a valuation of $6.3 billion. Added to a funding round in January 2021, the total funds raised by Personio now amount to more than $500 million.
The Personio HR software is an all-in-one tool that can be used for human resources, recruiting, and payroll. Back’s software, meanwhile, helps teams to process employee requests and automate responses to recurring questions through conversational ticketing and via channels such as Slack and Microsoft Teams. Back said its platform helps teams save time to focus on more important tasks while improving the HR experience of employees, particularly for remote and hybrid working.
CleverTap Signs Agreement to Acquire Leanplum
CleverTap, the Silicon Valley-based creator of a customer retention platform that integrates app analytics and marketing to help customers increase user engagement, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire San Francisco-headquartered Leanplum, a customer engagement firm that helps brands personalize and optimize customer touchpoints online.
Financial terms of the transaction were not available, but the union will enable both companies to help digital brands increase customer retention and lifetime value by personalizing user experience for relevance and contextual scale in real time.
The acquisition will boost the CleverTap customer base to a total exceeding 1,200, scattered across more than 100 countries, and will provide the company with development centers in North America, Europe, Latin America, India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. The deal is expected to close in 2Q 2022.
Zoom to Drive Contact Center Expansion with Acquisition of Solvvy
Zoom Video Communications, the San Jose, California-based technology provider of video telephony and online chat services, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Solvvy, the developer of a conversational AI and automation platform for customer support also based in California, in the city of San Mateo.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but together Zoom and Solvvy aim to offer elevated customer service experiences to a global enterprise base, working to capitalize on new opportunities in contact center and customer support.
The recently launched Zoom Contact Center is an omnichannel contact center platform optimized for video with a suite of channels that includes video, voice, SMS, and webchat. Adding the proprietary technology of Solvvy will provide Zoom customers with an automated contact center that helps answer customer questions and solve issues, improving overall CX. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of Zoom’s fiscal year 2023 around August 2022.
Salesforce Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Troops.ai
Salesforce, the cloud-based company from San Francisco that provides customer relationship management (CRM) software and applications, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Troops.ai, a major provider of a revenue communications solution for improving sales velocity, forecasting, visibility, and collaboration across teams. Upon the closing of the acquisition, New York City-based Troops will become part of Slack, a Salesforce company and the creator of a messaging program designed specifically for the workplace.
The Troops team has spent more than seven years designing tools that deliver insights in real time from systems of record like Salesforce to systems of engagement like Slack, bringing together the information and actions that customer-facing teams require to close new deals and support existing customers.
Financial terms of the acquisition were not available, but the acquisition is expected to close in 2Q of Salesforce’s fiscal year 2023 ending July 31, 2022, subject to customary closing conditions.
Fulcrum Lands $5 Million in New Funding
Fulcrum, the St. Petersburg, Florida-based developer of a mobile data collection platform that lets users build custom mobile apps based on survey form and inspection reports for deployment to mobile devices, has landed $5 million in new funding, bringing the total amount it has raised to $7 million.
Led by angel investors, the new funding will help Fulcrum accelerate its CDP technology roadmap and add new personalization capabilities for high-impact digital engagement to serve the company’s growing roster of enterprise customers.
The Fulcrum CDP simplifies and automates customer personalization, using artificial intelligence (AI) to help companies identify and respond in real time to customers, and is aimed at increasing engagement and conversion rates. The company reported growth in sales last year of 230% while also expanding its team by 250%.
Author Information
Alex is responsible for writing about trends and changes that are impacting the customer experience market. He had served as Principal Editor at Village Intelligence, a Los Angeles-based consultancy on technology impacting healthcare and healthcare-related industries. Alex was also Associate Director for Content Management at Omdia and Informa Tech, where he produced white papers, executive summaries, market insights, blogs, and other key content assets. His areas of coverage spanned the sectors grouped under the technology vertical, including semiconductors, smart technologies, enterprise & IT, media, displays, mobile, power, healthcare, China research, industrial and IoT, automotive, and transformative technologies.
At IHS Markit, he was Managing Editor of the company’s flagship IHS Quarterly, covering aerospace & defense, economics & country risk, chemicals, oil & gas, and other IHS verticals. He was Principal Editor of analyst output at iSuppli Corp. and Managing Editor of Market Watch, a fortnightly newsletter highlighting significant analyst report findings for pitching to the media. He started his career in writing as an Editor-Reporter for The Associated Press.
