Granicus, a provider of government software and GovDelivery, a provider of communications services for government will merge in a deal backed by private equity firm Vista Equity Partners. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The combined entity will have a client roster of more than 3,000 public sector organizations at the state, local and federal level. Together the two companies will be able to offer legislative support technology with additional communications capabilities.
The combined companies say that as part of the integration of both companies they will be making additional investments in government-focused cloud software solutions, and growing a team of government digital experts. Together, GovDelivery and Granicus will be the largest provider of cloud solutions to government in North America and the United Kingdom.
The merger is majority backed by Vista Equity Partners, a leading private equity firm focused on software, data, and technology-enabled businesses, which recently announced acquisitions of GovDelivery and Granicus. Previous Granicus majority shareholder K1 Investment Management continues to support the combined business as a minority shareholder.
The combined company will employ 375 employees with plans to continue the strong growth experienced by both companies, and will maintain operations out of offices in Denver; St. Paul, Minnesota; Washington D.C., and Crawley, U.K. The companies will continue to operate independently through 2016, with the primary focus over the coming months on merger planning and maximizing opportunities to bring additional value and benefit for customers.
The merger and investment in Granicus/GovDelivery is the latest investment coming from private equity into early movers within civic tech. Government technology provider Accela saw a $143 million investment from private equity firm Bregal Sagemount in 2015 and has used that funding to expand services and make opportunistic acquisitions of other civic startups. Accela also recently announced several changes at the executive management level aimed at taking the company to the next level. The Govtech Fund, a venture capital fund launched in 2014 is also looking for early stage investments in civic tech.
