Private Equity Firm To Merge Three Nonprofit Software Platforms in Combined $2B Deal

Funds advised by Apax announced it reached agreements to acquire EveryAction from Insight Partners and Social Solutions from Vista Equity Partners, and those acquisitions will merge with CyberGrants, which Apax acquired from Waud Capital Partners in June.

Vista will maintain a stake in the combined business that is expected to close this quarter.

The combined transaction value for the three Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions for the social good sector reached $2 billion, which Apax cited as the largest merger and acquisition deal ever in the social good software sector.

Based in Washington, D.C., EveryAction’s omni-channel engagement platform for nonprofits optimizes interactions with supporters and prospects to raise money and recruit supporters.

Social Solutions, an Austin, Texas-based case management software platform, provides actionable, data-driven insights in order to help nonprofit and public sector customers better coordinate the delivery of essential services, measure impact and improve outcomes for those in need. Social Solutions previously acquired Community TechKnowledge in 2015 and Athena in March.

CyberGrants, headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts, offers solutions for corporate social responsibility, employee engagement and grants management to maximize the impact of corporate philanthropy.

The merger will allow the three companies to scale their offerings and improve nonprofit support by allowing nonprofits to continue to use their existing software as well as the additional options now in Apax’s portfolio. However, the joint company’s new identity is still up in the air.

“Customers will still get to work with the software and the teams they love,” Stu Trevelyan, CEO of EveryAction, told NonProfit PRO. “We are looking at branding and naming of the new company, and will talk more about that later in the year.”

Apax expects combined annual revenue to surpass $200 million, citing itself as the fastest growing and second largest — behind only Blackbaud — social good software company. Its network will include 650,000 nonprofit organizations, for-profit companies and foundations, as well as 38 million donors and volunteers.

“With Insight’s investment, EveryAction’s software continued [to] innovate rapidly, allowing customers to raise more money and build more support,” Trevelyan said. “Their investment also allowed us to acquire companies with best-in-class complementary capabilities, like DonorTrends fundraising analytics, GiveGab’s Giving Days, and Mobilize’s volunteer and event management. With the Apax-supported merger, we will have created a network of both givers and nonprofits looking for contributions, and broadened the capabilities we can provide nonprofits, through the best-in-class CyberGrants and Social Solutions products."

Trevelyan will now join forces with Erin Mulligan Nelson, CEO of Social Solutions, and Mark Layden, CEO of CyberGrants, to lead this new company.

“I’ll be taking on a broader role across the new company, working with Erin and Mark to conceive and execute strategies that allow our clients to do more good,” he said.

Apax also has had a focus on doing good since the creation of the Apax Foundation in 2006. The foundation’s efforts focus on grants and employee donations to enable social mobility in underserved communities. That, along with its enterprise software expertise, allowed Apax to identify the power these three companies could have if combined.

“All three companies are mission-driven and have leading solutions in their respective segments,” Jason Wright and Adam Garson, Apax’s partner and principal, respectively, said in a joint statement. “This combination will truly maximize their collective impact by bringing together world-class talent and products. The resulting scale and connectivity between donors and nonprofits will help reshape philanthropic giving.”

And those values align with Trevelyan’s goal moving forward.

“Our goal is to help the nonprofit community go through the digital and software transformation, so it can do more good,” he said. “I’m personally really excited to be part of an impact investment, which further aligns us with doing more good.”