Investment firm Vista Equity Partners agreed yesterday to acquire a majority stake in Acquia, a US-based digital experience software provider backed by e-commerce company Amazon and media company O’Reilly.
The company has not disclosed the size of Vista’s investment nor that of the stake it will receive, but people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg the deal valued Acquia at almost $1bn including debt, adding that several existing backers will retain stakes.
Acquia has built a cloud software platform that enables businesses to effectively manage their digital and web content, organise their media and content assets, and integrate online payment tools into their customer-facing offering.
Part of the product is based on the Drupal content management system and Mautic marketing automation software, both of which are open source.
Michael Sullivan, chief executive of Acquia, said: “Over 4,000 Acquia customers crave faster innovation, greater agility, and better integrations than legacy marketing cloud providers can deliver.
“Vista’s support will allow us to invest more in research and development, expand faster and get products to market quicker while also continuing to give back to the Drupal and Mautic developer communities.”
O’Reilly’s corporate venturing subsidiary, OATV, participated in a $7m series A round for the company in 2007 alongside North Bridge Venture Partners and Sigma Partners.
Acquia had raised a total of $110m as of a $50m round in 2014 featuring New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Split Rock Partners, North Bridge, Sigma Partners, Investor Growth Capital and Tenaya Capital, before Amazon added an undisclosed sum later the same year.
Centerview Capital Technology subsequently led a $55m round for the company in 2015 that also featured NEA and Split Rock Partners.
