Private equity firm Sunstone Partners has acquired and merged three ServiceNow partners to form the world's "largest ServiceNow pure play partner," the buyer says. The acquired IT service management (ITSM) consulting companies are Evergreen Systems, Cerna Solutions, and Novo/Scale. Financial terms of each deal were not disclosed.
The three ServiceNow partners have a combined 200 employees, a spokesperson confirmed to ChannelE2E. All companies will continue normal operations in their current locations, the buyer said. Among the next moves to expect: A single corporate brand and a unified executive team to lead the merged ServiceNow partners. Those moves are forthcoming, the spokesperson confirmed to ChannelE2E, though actual timing remains undisclosed.
The acquisitions continue an M&A feeding frenzy involving ServiceNow partners. Moreover, these are M&A deals numbered 68, 69 and 70 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2021. See all technology M&A deals for 2021 and 2020 listed here.
Three ServiceNow Partners Acquired: ITSM Business Backgrounds
Evergreen and Cerna Solutions are Elite ServiceNow partners. Evergreen, which has U.S. employees and an offshore team in India, has completed 4,000 customer engagements to date. Cerna's engagement count was not disclosed. Novo/Scale is a Premier ServiceNow partner that has completed over 1,000 projects focused on managed services, ITSM, ITOM, Integrations, Portal and several others.
Areas of expertise across Evergreen, Cerna Solutions and Nova/Scale include:
- Customer Service Management (CSM);
- HR Service Delivery (HRSD);
- IT Asset Management (ITAM);
- IT Business Management (ITBM);
- IT Operations Management (ITOM);
- IT Service Management (ITSM);
- NOW Platform;
- Integrated Risk Management (IRM); and
- Security Operations.
Sunstone Partners has experience in the ServiceNow partner ecosystem. The private equity firm previously invested in Fruition Partners. Computer Sciences Corp., now part of DXC Technology, acquired Fruition in 2015.
Private Equity Acquires 3 ServiceNow Partners: Executive Perspectives
In a prepared statement about the acquisitions, Mike Biggee, co-founder and managing director of Sunstone Partners, said:
"ServiceNow continues to grow rapidly and has become a vital enterprise platform that has elevated beyond IT management to delivering modern digital workflows that unlock productivity across the entire business. Bringing together these three partners will allow ServiceNow clients to have access to unmatched breadth and depth of knowledge across the platform, and the entire Sunstone Partners team looks forward to playing a role in the future success of this new enterprise."
Added Don Casson, CEO of Evergreen Systems:
"We are ecstatic to join the Sunstone Partners family—rated as one of the most founder-friendly PE firms by Inc magazine—and work alongside the brilliant minds at Cerna and Novo/Scale."
Noted Jeff Gregory, CEO Novo/Scale:
"Novo/Scale was built by ‘keeping it simple’ for our customers. It is very exciting to join Evergreen and Cerna. Our companies have focused on the customer first and by combining our complementary offerings we will provide the best and most complete ServiceNow solutions for our customers."
Concluded Matt Kite, founder and CEO of Cerna Solutions.
"Cerna’s skillsets span the entire ServiceNow Platform, but in particular we are excited to bring our GRC and Security Operations capabilities to this group and be part of the largest ServiceNow pure play partner in the space."
ServiceNow Partners Acquired: Key Financial Advisors
Multiple financial advisors helped to piece together the deal. Key influencers included:
- Drake Star Partners served as the lead financial advisor to Sunstone Partners;
- Outcome Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Evergreen Systems; and
- Clearsight Advisors acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Novo/Scale.
