Q2 M&A Review

Breaking down notable transactions from the past quarter

Happy Friday Founders & Friends!

We are back with another Weekly Bloom! As Q2 is wrapping up next week, we wanted to highlight some notable software acquisitions that have occurred over the past few months.

April

Thoma Bravo set to buy SailPoint for $6.1 billion

• It was announced in early April that Thoma Bravo will acquire SailPoint Technologies for $6.12 billion, strengthening its portfolio of cybersecurity investments which include Proofpoint and Sophos.

• This deal highlights the heightened interest in the security software market.

KKR set to buy cybersecurity firm Barracuda

• Only a few days after the Sailpoint acquisition announcement, KKR announced its plan to buy cybersecurity firm Barracuda Networks from Thoma Bravo.

• Investment in cybersecurity has jumped in recent months as remote workforces companies to ramp up spending in the sector.

May

Bow River Capital Makes Investment in ProductPlan

• In early May, Bow River Capital; a Denver-based alternative investment manager announced their growth investment in ProductPlan.

• Founded nearly ten years ago, ProductPlan develops cloud-based product management systems across all industry verticals and all sizes of organizations.

June

Cornerstone to acquire SumTotal

• Cornerstone OnDemand, an HR SaaS provider, backed by Clearlake Capital, has announced they will acquire SumTotal, a human capital management SaaS provider, from Skillsoft.

• The transaction is worth approximately $200 million and will help bolster Cornerstones strength in the HR software space.

Broadcom agreed to buy VMware

• Broadcom has agreed to buy VMware for about $61 billion, in a deal that would be the second-biggest acquisition announced so far in 2022.

• Broadcom has made significant investments in the enterprise software space in recent years buying CA Technologies for $18.9 billion in 2018 and Symantec’s cybersecurity arm for $10.7 billion in 2019.

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What We’re Reading and Listening To…

🎥 Specificity, SaaS, and SEO

📚 5 Interesting Learnings from HashiCorp at $400,000,000 in ARR

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News from the Industry: deals, deals, and more deals 💰

SaaS valuations slide for late-stage deals

Riverside sells Brookson to People2.0

Tech layoffs at private companies are putting employee equity in limbo

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Favorites from the Ecosystem

Investors👇…..

Sandy Kory @sandykory

The Inflation Story isn’t all bad Technology is still deflationary The tech built last year is a little easier to build this year

Shomik Ghosh 🇺🇦 @shomikghosh21

Clearest indication of the software buying experience changing across use cases and buyer personas Many more public companies increasingly have a bottoms up, end user adopted motion Powerful chart from @OpenViewVenture 👀

Founders👇…..

Austen Allred @Austen

As startups grow there is extremely strong pull into what I call the death spiral of bullshit. More people -> more teams -> more buy-in required -> more meetings -> being persuasive rewarded more than building -> builders leave -> nothing gets done

Andrew Gazdecki @agazdecki

Build relationships with customers and listen to them. Remember you're building your startup for them and they have the feedback you need to hear.

Operators👇….

Will Cannon @iamwillcannon

Cold Email Crash Course: 1. Short subject line 2. Personalized first line 3. Who are you? (Get to the point) 4. What can you offer? 5. Ask for a micro-commitment (NEVER a sale) 6. Follow up 2-4 times

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About Bloom Equity Partners

Bloom Equity Partners is a lower mid-market software-focused private equity firm, leveraging deep operational and commercial experience to create enduring market value for the benefit of our investors, founders, and their companies.