Saskatoon-based SaaS startup Vendasta has acquired San Francisco-headquartered Broadly for an undisclosed price. Broadly provides a customer engagement platform for small-and-medium businesses (SMBs).
The deal marks Vendasta’s fourth acquisition in the last couple of years.
The acquisition also marks an acceleration of strategic growth plans for both startups, introducing Broadly’s significant base of customers to the full range of products available through Vendasta’s marketplace while giving its channel partners access to the former’s end-to-end platform.
“Both companies take a user-first approach and I’m excited about the additional products and services Broadly’s customers will have access to,” said Mindy Lauck, CEO of Broadly.
Vendasta offers cloud-based commerce software for companies that provide digital products and services. The Saskatchewan startup, founded in 2008, connects over 60,000 channel partners to almost six million SMBs, helping those firms find and buy software.
For its part, Broadly aims to help companies forge more meaningful relationships with customers through online engagement tools, including payment processing and review requests.
“This acquisition will bring our industry-leading marketplace to Broadly customers while also giving Broadly access to Vendasta’s R&D expertise to continue to refine the core product,” said Vendasta CEO Brendan King.
The Yesware deal in October 2022 was Vendasta’s third acquisition in the past year and a half, since the company paused its initial public offering plans and raised $119.5 million CAD in venture funding in May 2021 after investor demand for new tech listings cooled. Vendasta’s acquisition of Yesware also came a couple of months after the company laid off over 30 of its approximately 700 employees in August 2022, joining a growing list of tech companies cutting costs and reducing staff amid poor market conditions.
Vendasta purchased artificial intelligence-powered automated scheduling software firm CalendarHero in 2021, and in 2022, Vendasta bought search, display, and social advertising tech company MatchCraft.
Broadly has raised a total of $20.6 million USD to date through four funding rounds. The startup acquired About.me, an online platform that allowed users to create and maintain a self-curated page. Broadly carried out the acquisition for an undisclosed amount in 2019.
Vendasta celebrated its 15th year of business in January, and has offices in Canada, the United States, and India.
Feature image courtesy Vendasta.