April 2019 SMB Software News Recap
Each month we report on news and updates for the companies in the SurePath SMB Index — a basket of publicly traded software and technology companies that serve the SMB market.
Acquisitions and Divestitures
Constituents of the SurePath SMB Index were busy with earnings season this past month, but there were still some acquisition announcements worth highlighting.
GoDaddy acquires Sellbrite and launches GoDaddy Marketplaces — GoDaddy had been working in partnership with Sellbrite to power GoDaddy Marketplaces, a new feature making it easier for SMBs to list products across Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Jet and Walmart.com, when M&A discussions escalated. This “try before you buy” process is quite common in the B2B software industry and our own Josh Scherman discusses the importance of partnership before M&A in his article here.
Eventbrite acquires Ticketea — Eventbrite’s first acquisition as a public company is Ticketea, a Spanish event technology platform and ticketing provider. The acquisition expands Eventbrite’s global footprint and adds technical talent to their existing workforce as the company looks to support Ticketea’s aspiration of being the leading European mid-market ticketing solution.
New Product Launches
There were several new product launches announced by constituents of the SurePath SMB Index in Match.
Intuit delivers faster payments to solve SMB cashflow issues — QuickBooks announced the ability for small businesses to get paid the next day from ACH payments easily and affordably, ensuring SMBs can improve cash flow no matter the payment they accept.
Shopify launches new retail hardware — The new hardware includes Shopify’s Tap & Chip Reader, Dock, and Retail Stand, designed from the ground up with merchants and customers in mind, to deliver a better Shopify experience for brick and mortar stores.
Paycom releases Direct Data Exchange — Paycom announced the release of Direct Data Exchange, the industry’s first comprehensive management analytics tool giving employers insights into efficiencies gained through employee usage of HR technology.
Ceridian expands Dayforce Payroll to Australia and adds new features — Ceridian’s payroll capabilities will now be available to the Australian market with the launch of Dayforce Payroll. In addition, the company’s flagship platform has added some new functionalities including Dayforce Benefits Decision Support, Dayforce Assistant, and Dayforce On-Demand Pay.
Shutterstock launches “View in Room” AR for Mobile — The latest update to the iOS application includes a new “View in Room” button that allows users to access their phone’s camera and virtually position any of Shutterstock’s 250 million images against the wall in a room of their choosing.
Other SMB Index News
In other news…
Intuit accelerates timeline for carbon reduction and renewable energy targets — Intuit is on track to surpass three core sustainability goals, achieving 100% renewable electricity, reducing its carbon footprint of its facilities by 80%, and reducing total operational footprint by 50%, more than three times faster than originally projected when the company set its goals in 2016.
Lightspeed announces new credit facilities with CIBC — Lightspeed has entered into new credit facilities with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce including a $25 million demand revolving operating credit facility and a $30 million stand-by acquisition term loan.
Shutterstock renews distribution agreement with The Associated Press — The three-year deal continues to give Shutterstock customers access to approximately 3,000 images daily, from breaking news to red carpets to live sporting events, as well as provides access to iconic news images from the vast AP Archive.
Activity in the SMB space outside of our SMB Index
The SMB software market is large…a lot happens outside of our Index as well.
SolarWinds acquires Samanage, an Israel-based cloud management platform for SMBs, for $250M
Squarespace acquires Acuity Scheduling, an appointment management platform
Vimeo acquires Magisto, a rival VC-backed online video creation platform
PrismHR acquires AgileHR, a provider of cloud-based talent management software
PagerDuty raises over $200M in IPO
Zoom raises nearly $350M in IPO
Jumia, a Berlin-based African e-commerce platform, begins trading on the NYSE
Slack S-1 is released as they plan to list directly on the NYSE
Pinterest S-1 is released to the public as the company eyes near term IPO
Bonusly, an employee recognition and rewards platform, raises $1.5M Seed round
Klaviyo, an email marketing software platform, raises $150M Series B
Avail, an online property management solution for independent landlords, raises $2.5M Series A-3
Back Office, an automated bookkeeping platform for SMBs, raises $1.8M Seed round
Airbase, a spend management platform for SMB finance teams, raises $7M Series A
Happy Returns, a provider of return and logistics solutions, raises $11M Series B led by PayPal
FullStory, a customer experience analytics platform, raises $32M Series C
Lattice, an employee performance management platform, raises $15M Series B
AskNicely, a customer feedback platform, raises $10M Series A
Divvy, an expense management platform, raises $200M Series C
ManyChat, a messenger marketing platform, raises $18M Series A
Perkbox, a London-based employee experience platform, raises £13.5M
Pana, a corporate travel software solution, raises $10M Series A
Bill.com, a back office and payment management platform for SMBs, raises $88M
BentoBox, a restaurant website builder, raises $16.4M Series B
The story behind QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping services
Wave and Visa to launch cash flow management solution for SMBs
