Vancouver-based Tasktop has inked a definitive agreement to be acquired by fellow B2B software company Planview, which is based in Austin, Texas.
The financial terms of the strategic acquisition, which is expected to close mid-summer 2022, were not disclosed. Once the deal is complete, “the vast majority” of Tasktop’s 200-plus person team will join Planview, and Tasktop founder and CEO Mik Kersten will become Planview’s CTO.
Tasktop and Planview have spent more than eight years working together.
The move comes just over a year after Tasktop raised $126 million CAD in growth equity financing led by California’s Sumeru Equity Partners, with participation from previous investors Vancouver-based Yaletown Partners and Austin-based Elsewhere Partners. The round brought Tasktop’s total funding to about $162.5 million CAD ($130 million USD).
Tasktop offers a software platform that helps IT leaders at large companies track the effectiveness of software development and digitization efforts using value stream management (VSM), a business practice that aims to look at the software delivery life cycle through the customer experience lens. Tasktop has offices in Vancouver and Austin—where Planview, a global enterprise software firm that provides portfolio and work management solutions, is headquartered.
Planview and Tasktop have spent more than eight years working together. Kersten told BetaKit that Tasktop’s VSM business is “additive and complementary” to Planview’s leadership in enterprise agile and strategic portfolio management.
“Together, we can help our customers connect the business of software delivery by accelerating time to market, improving efficiency with unlocked capacity, and driving investment confidence, ultimately enabling you to transform your organization faster and with more confidence,” Planview CEO Razat Gaurav told BetaKit.
RELATED: With Fortune 500 clients, record revenues, Tasktop raises $126 million CAD in growth equity
Yaletown Partner Eric Bukovinsky told BetaKit that Yaletown is “very excited about the outcome,” adding that the deal recognizes “both the strategic value Tasktop set out to create for the software development process, as well as the market opportunity for digital transformation.”
Kersten founded Tasktop in 2007, based on his University of British Columbia computer science PhD thesis. He bootstrapped the startup until closing $11 million in funding from Yaletown and Austin, Texas-based Austin Ventures in 2014.
In addition to Yaletown, Austin Ventures, and Sumeru Equity Partners, Tasktop has also previously secured funding from some other Austin-based investors in Elsewhere Partners and AVX Partners.
Tasktop has spent years scaling its operations, amassing a roster of clients that include CGI, Telus Health, Wendy’s, AT&T, Best Buy, Bosch, Intel, and Comcast. In 2021, Tasktop experienced record growth, as its user base increased by 43 percent year-over-year, and the company helped firms like BMW, HSBC, Kaiser Permanente, and T-Mobile execute digital transformations.
Planview has over 1,000 employees, 4,000 customers, and 2.4 million users. The Texas company was acquired from Chicago-based Thoma Bravo in 2020 for $1.6 billion USD by a pair of other private equity firms in San Francisco’s TPG Capital and Boston-based TA Associates.
According to Tasktop and Planview, which both declined to disclose the financial terms of the acquisition, the newly combined entity will be a $400 million company with over 1,200 employees and more than 5,000 enterprise customers.
Planview described the Tasktop deal as part of its strategy to “build the future of connected work and deliver transformative solutions.” The company intends to continue to invest in and support Tasktop’s product lines as standalone solutions, while also considering other possible product directions over the longer-term.
“By joining forces with Planview, we will now have the entire solution needed for enterprises to become digital leaders and realize the success of the transformations they have envisioned,” said Kersten. “The good news is that all of the practices and tools to successfully transform, drive investment confidence, and unlock capacity exist today. The better news: these practices and tools will now be provided by a single, end-to-end solution.”
UPDATE (18/05/22): This story was updated with responses from Tasktop, Planview, and Yaletown Partners.
Feature image courtesy Tasktop.
