Thoma Bravo, Sunstone Companions to amass UserTesting for $1.3B and mix it with UserZoom • TechCrunch

Thoma Bravo and Sunstone Companions introduced at this time that they’re buying buyer perception platform UserTesting for $1.3 billion in an all-cash deal. The acquirers say they plan to mix it with UserZoom, a buyer analysis firm Thoma Bravo purchased an $800 million majority stake in final April.

The corporations paid what seems to be a beneficiant $7.50 a share for the corporate, which opened buying and selling this morning at $3.86 per share.

Brent Leary, founder and principal analyst at CRM Necessities, was shocked by the worth, however says that combining the 2 corporations creates a broad platform of buyer expertise providers. “With extra interactions happening digitally, UserTesting has constructed out a pleasant platform for getting fast suggestions that enables entrepreneurs to react rapidly to the insights they’ve uncovered. And it’s a must to suppose the mixture of UserTesting and UserZoom has the chance to supply insights to a broader set of consumer experiences overlaying prospects, workers, gadgets and extra,” he mentioned.

Whereas it could appear that Thoma Bravo needs to purchase each firm with ‘Person’ in its identify, as Leary identified, combining these two corporations may present an fascinating mixture of instruments to assist perceive these customers higher with the last word purpose of delivering higher buyer experiences.

Thoma Bravo companion A.J. Rohde sees the client expertise angle as being key to this acquisition, particularly the mixed corporations. “Our acquisition of UserTesting is a testomony to our perception that buyer expertise is mission essential to organizations, and the mixed firm will probably be well-positioned to additional market enlargement, speed up innovation and supply even better insights to its prospects,” he mentioned in an announcement.

That end result stays to be seen, however the truth is that UserTesting has had a tough experience as a public firm, going public beneath its anticipated vary nearly a yr in the past when it IPOed at $14 a share — not a superb signal because it entered the general public realm. The inventory worth bottomed out at $3.43 a share on September twenty second. It needed to be a fairly good day for shareholders when this worth crossed the wire, all issues thought-about.

Not surprisingly, the UserTesting board unanimously agreed to the phrases of the acquisition and the deal is predicted to shut within the first half of subsequent yr. There’s a go-shop provision that enables the corporate to buy round and see if it may well discover a higher worth earlier than December tenth. Whereas that appears unlikely at this level given the premium on the share worth, it’s a part of the phrases of the deal.

UserTesting was based in 2007 and raised over $150 million earlier than going public final yr.