In separate deals, two Thoma Bravo portfolio companies have acquired RPA (robotic process automation) and DPA (digital process automation) software companies.
Thoma Bravo is a major private equity firm that backs such IT management, business automation and cybersecurity software companies as Barracuda, ConnectWise, SolarWinds and Sophos.
Dig a little deeper, and you'll notice that Thoma Bravo also owns stakes in information management software provider Hyland Software, and intelligent process automation provider Nintex. Those software companies, in turn, are making RPA and DPA acquisitions, respectively.
- The first deal involves Hyland buying Another Monday
- The second deal involves Nintex buying K2 Software Inc.
These are M&A deals 420 and 421 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2020.See the full M&A deal list here.
Private Equity and RPA Software: Why the Interest
The deals may signal private equity's accelerated march into the fast-growth RPA market, where brands such as Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, UiPath and Microsoft Power Automate frequently dominate headlines.
RPA software allows businesses to write code and bots that rapidly automate tasks across multiple departments — from IT service desks to HR, finance, customer support and more. Much of the RPA software industry focuses on enterprise customers. Still, RPA may even eventually catch on in the SMB market as MSPs seek to further automate internal and customer operations.
Demand for RPA software is surging. Global RPA software revenue is projected to reach $1.89 billion in 2021, up 19.5% from 2020, according to Gartner.
Hyland Acquires Another Monday: More RPA Details and Perspectives
The Hyland-Another Monday deal closed in August. Another Monday is a German-based robotic process automation (RPA) software developer. More than 60 Another Monday employees have joined Hyland, a spokesperson told Crains Cleveland Business.
In a prepared statement about the deal, Bill Priemer, president and CEO of Hyland, said:
"Adding RPA to Hyland's content services platform extends and augments our low-code process automation offerings, enabling a next level of digital transformation to all of our customers,. We look forward to getting to know our Another Monday colleagues, welcoming our new customers and partners to the Hyland community and incorporating this powerful technology into our existing solutions."
Added Hans Martens, CEO of Another Monday:
"The RPA market is an exciting and challenging space with rapid growth and a vast number of possible applications that organizations can easily combine and integrate for better and more flexible business processes support. We see Hyland as the best fit to embed our RPA technology into their powerful automation platform, to truly implement easy, end-to-end automation for everyone."
Hyland will continue to support Another Monday's current solutions and customers as it integrates the technology into existing platform offerings, the buyer says.
Nintex Acquires K2 Software: More DPA Details and Perspectives
Nintex, meanwhile, completed its K2 Software Inc. acquisition on October 14, 2020.
K2 offers developer tools that modernize applications and automate workflows. The company's customer base spans more than 1.5 million users in roughly 84 countries, including 30 percent of Fortune 100 companies, the company says.
Instead of competing head-on against RPA companies, K2 typically partners with them.
K2 is Nintex's third acquisition since Thoma Bravo became the company's majority investor in early 2018. Upon closing this transaction, Nintex will serve more than 10,000 customers including approximately 50 percent of the Fortune 500 and will generate over $200 million in annual recurring revenue, making Nintex one of the largest independent software vendors for process automation, the company says.
In a statement about the K2 acquisition, Nintex CEO Eric Johnson said:
"We are excited to be bringing together leading innovators in the digital process automation software market. Upon closing, Nintex and K2 customers and partners will benefit from an even broader range of process management and automation solutions. The combination of our respective development teams will further accelerate our pace of innovation in this growing market."
Added K2 CEO and President Evan Ellis:
"We are looking forward to delivering even greater value to our K2 customers by joining forces with Nintex. Combining Nintex's solution portfolio with K2's complementary technologies will further enhance what commercial enterprises and government agencies can achieve through the power of digital process automation."
Financial terms were not disclosed.
