GovDelivery sold for $153M
By
Nick Wakeman
Vista Equity Partners makes a $153 million deal to buy government communications platform provider GovDelivery.
Vista Equity Partners, the investor that helped Raytheon form ForcePoint, has acquired GovDelivery for $153 million.
GovDelivery provides governments with digital solutions, helping agencies engage with citizens, conduct training and build communities around data.
GovDelivery was owned by the investment group Actua Corp., which bought the company in 2009 for $19 million, according to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. The company claims that revenues have grown 600 percent since then.
The company currently has about $50 million in revenue, compared to $9 million in 2009.
Vista was the owner of Websense, which it sold to Raytheon in 2015. Vista retained an ownership stake in the new entity which was later renamed ForcePoint. It is focused on the commercial cyber market.
Vista primarily invests in software companies and GovDelivery is one of the rare pure government investments it has made.
“What sets GovDelivery apart is its success helping governments reach more people through its platform,” said Patrick Severson, board member and principal at Vista. “We see effective communications as an increasingly strategic function and were impressed by the extraordinary value and unrivaled security that GovDelivery brings to its clients in this fast growing area.”
Scott Burns, CEO and co-founder of GovDelivery, will continue to lead the company. He founded the company in 2000.
He told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that Actua will get about 90 percent of the $153 million, and he and other employees with stock will share the rest.