SmartBear Software announced that Francisco Partners has acquired a majority stake in the company designed to support the company’s accelerated growth. Terms of the transaction were not announced.
The investment by Francisco Partners will help support the company’s growth which has been fueled by the demand for solutions to manage the application lifecycle and the rapidly expanding API economy. Francisco Partners has a strong track record of successfully accelerating growth in technology companies by providing M&A expertise, market guidance and capital.
The acquisition by Francisco Partners marks a transition in lead investors from SmartBear’s original 2007 investor, Insight Venture Partners. During Insight’s period of investment, the company grew from a single product company for U/I testing into an industry leader in software quality tools for teams with multiple product lines and over 20,000 customers.
Justin Teague, CEO of SmartBear, said: “Their (Francisco Partners) track record for growing companies is unmatched, and they are the right fit for the next phase of SmartBear’s expansion.”
“SmartBear has built a robust product portfolio addressing the critical software test management and automation needs of development organizations,” said Brian Decker, Principal at Francisco Partners. “The company has an especially impressive leadership position in the rapidly growing API lifecycle management space with its flagship open source products, SoapUI and Swagger. We are excited to partner with Justin and the SmartBear management team as they continue to drive tremendous growth in the business.”
David Golob, Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Francisco Partners, said: “The company (SmartBear) stands at the intersection of two powerful trends in the software industry: the advent of the ‘API economy’ and the movement toward grassroots team-based and individual purchases of software in enterprises.”
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