News

Insight Venture Partners has agreed to acquire Episerver, a provider of transformative digital experiences. The price of the transaction puts Episerver at a valuation of $1.16 billion. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year. Episerver is a portfolio company of Accel-KKR.

PRESS RELEASE

IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Episerver, the company transforming digital experiences, today announced it has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by Insight Venture Partners, a New York based global private equity firm focused on high-growth investments in the technology sector, in a transaction valuing Episerver at USD $1.16 billion. On the heels of what the company coined its “Year of Hyper Growth,” Episerver expects this transaction to propel its global growth strategy and market presence, and dramatically expand adoption for its Digital Experience Cloud platform.

“Episerver is at the center of a global digital transformation market that IDC expects to reach $1.7 trillion through 2019 and is expertly helping businesses of all sizes to digitize, optimize and personalize customer experiences,” said Deven Parekh, Managing Director at Insight Venture Partners. “As a firm that specializes in partnering with innovative software companies we’ve made a significant commitment to accelerate growth. Episerver is the perfect addition to our portfolio, and we look forward to working with the talented team on the next phase of this incredible opportunity.”

“By bringing together Episerver’s digital experience platform and energized team with Insight’s focus, scale and experience, we have created a formidable combination that will help mid-sized to large enterprises alike in elevating their customer experience,” added Ryan Hinkle, Managing Director at Insight Venture Partners.

“Our vision has always been to empower our customers to move faster and bring their ideas to life. By marrying intelligent content, commerce, and marketing campaigns on a single platform in the cloud, and backed by our global partner ecosystem, we’re proud to have helped so many organizations accelerate the time to value from their digital transformation initiatives,” said Mark Duffell, President and CEO of Episerver. “We’ve been fortunate through our long-term partnership with Accel-KKR to deliver on our vision and in so doing grow Episerver to its current stage and market position. We believe that this new and exciting partnership with Insight Venture Partners will provide us with the ability to accelerate our product roadmap, expand our sales and marketing efforts, enhance our partner program, and ultimately grow our brand.”

“We are extremely proud of the leadership position Episerver established under our ownership. We knew that Episerver had world-class products and people when we made the investment. Accel-KKR worked to augment the leadership team, make a number of strategic acquisitions, help build out a stronger channel and significantly grow SaaS revenue,” said Jason Klein and Dean Jacobson, Managing Directors of Accel-KKR. “We are excited by what has already been accomplished, by the additional value that has been created for customers and partners and we look forward to seeing continued success for Episerver as part of Insight Venture Partners’ portfolio,” added Tom Barnds and Greg Williams, Managing Directors of Accel-KKR.

The transaction, in which Episerver worked with advisors Goldman Sachs and Lazard, Houlihan Lokey acted as special advisor to Accel-KKR, and Insight Venture Partners was advised by Evercore is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018, subject to the waiting period under the HSR Act and customary closing conditions.

About Episerver
Episerver empowers digital leaders to easily create standout experiences for customers – everywhere they engage, and always with measurable business results. The Episerver Digital Experience Cloud unifies digital content, commerce and marketing in one platform, including omnichannel solutions for smart personalization and intelligent campaigns. Founded in 1994, Episerver has offices in the US, UK, Sweden, Australia, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, Singapore, Vietnam and the UAE. For more information, please visit www.episerver.com

About Insight Venture Partners
Insight Venture Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology and software companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 1995, Insight currently has over $20 billion of assets under management and has cumulatively invested in more than 300 companies worldwide. Our mission is to find, fund and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on growth expertise to foster long-term success. Across our people and our portfolio, we encourage a culture around a core belief: growth equals opportunity. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit www.insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners

About Accel-KKR
Accel-KKR is a technology-focused investment firm with $4.0 billion in capital commitments to its current funds. The firm invests in software and IT enabled businesses well positioned for top line and bottom-line growth. At the core of Accel-KKR’s investment strategy is a commitment to developing strong partnerships with the management teams of its portfolio companies and a focus on building value through significant resources available through the Accel-KKR network. Accel-KKR focuses on middle-market companies and provides a broad range of capital solutions from minority-growth investments to buyouts, recapitalizations, divisional carve-outs and going-private transactions. The firm has offices in Menlo Park, Atlanta and London. For more information, please visit www.accel-kkr.com