 
Infra
has been acquired by EMC
Infra Corporation was a Sydney-based leader in IT Service Management with a particularly strong product and technology position thanks to its pure web architecture and native ITIL foundation. While several of its competitors, including HP, BMC and CA are kingpins in the IT management infrastructure, Infra was able to consistently gain market share through the superiority of its solution and significant total cost of ownership benefits.
Our success is evident in the fact that we generated notable interest from numerous parties and received multiple offers for the company. With each of these offers, Stratagem acted as the lead for negotiating them to a refined and detailed letter of intent. Once the LOI was signed, Stratagem continued its dedicated service to further the due diligence process and assist in the detailed review and negotiation of the legal agreements.
Clearly, this is an industry shaping transaction as it combines the world leader in IT infrastructure with the leading technology in IT Service Management built entirely on a web and ITIL platform. The prize is a $10 billion market for IT Service Management in the throws of a huge replacement cycle.
Read
the press release
Go
to Top
 
Stampede has been acquired by Comtech Telecommunications
StampedeŽ Technologies was one of the earliest providers, and long-standing technology leaders, of WAN optimization and application acceleration solutions. Its industry leadership is validated by eight industry patents awarded the firm. Stampede was also particularly well positioned to take advantage of key growth trends in the market. For instance, as the market shifted to more browser-based applications, Stampede’s market-leading capabilities in optimizing HTTP/HTTPS traffic positioned it to win market share. Likewise, Stampede’s acknowledged strength in software-based WAN Optimization positioned it well for the exploding mobile web market.
Comtech EF Data, a subsidiary of Comtech Telecommunications Corporation (NASDAQ: CMTL), saw these and other Stampede strengths, recognizing how they could help Comtech improve its existing position in military satellite bandwidth efficiency and accelerate its ability to compete more effectively in the large commercial satellite bandwidth optimization market.
Stratagem is proud to have been able to help bring these companies together in an acquisition that clearly benefits both parties to the transaction.
Read
the press release
Go
to Top
 
CustomerSat
has merged with MarketTools
CustomerSat, a 10-year old firm, recognized by Gartner as one of a small set of leaders in Enterprise Feedback Management, had built a fast-growing, consistently-profitable, and highly-recurring SaaS business. Further, it did so on a minimum of outside capital. As a result of this track record, the company was approached by multiple players in the industry who were interested in acquiring it.
CustomerSat's founder, chairman, and CEO selected Stratagem to help the company formalize, evaluate, and optimize these and other options. Among offers from both publicly-traded and privately-traded companies, the strategic fit, personality match, and long-term opportunity led to CustomerSat's merger with MarketTools.
Stratagem led every stage of the strategic partnering process, from evaluation of options, to building financial models and presentations, to negotiating the LOIs and definitive agreement, and finally, to the detailed due diligence process. As the company continued its focus to execute on its business plan, Stratagem picked up much of the effort to shepherd this transaction through the process to completion. We are proud to have provided such a high level of service to CustomerSat.
Go
to Top
 
Astound
has been acquired by Genesys Conferencing
Astound was a Toronto-based technology leader
in web conferencing, but entered the market later than prominent
vendors, such as WebEx and Placeware, and lagged them in total capital
raised. Stratagem’s efforts over a 12-month period resulted
in a strategic investment, an OEM license (both described below)
and finally a high value company sale.
France-based Genesys Conferencing, the world’s
largest independent audio conferencing vendor, purchased Astound
in order to strategically position Genesys with an integrated voice
and web conferencing solution. The valuation at announcement was
$65M.
The Astound engagement exemplifies the value
of our unique approach, which defines strategic partnering as a
value-building process as opposed to a singular event.
Read
the case study
Go
to Top
WebVisible Receives Series A Funding from Redpoint Ventures
WebVisible (pka SME Global Solutions) is one of the burgeoning leaders in the exciting and fast growth market of local online advertising. Specifically,
Webvisible's software and services solution enables any firm with an ad sales channel that touches local merchants to easily sell, deliver
and manage online advertising. Leveraging the founders' long history in the Yellow Pages industry, the company built an admirable early lead
with customer such as Dex Media, Interland, BellSouth, Verizon and others. What they needed was money to grow their business and capitalize
on their lead in this hot market.
While the founders had a tremendous breadth of operating experience, they had virtually no experience in the venture capital arena. Stratagem
entered and led the company's entire efforts to prepare the company, market the opportunity and close the deal. Our efforts spanned writing
the business plan, designing the forecasting model, building the PowerPoint presentations, contacting the Venture Capitalists, making the
initial pitch to secure meetings, managing the meetings and follow ups, and running the process to bring competitive terms sheets to the table.
Based on our efforts, the founders were able to choose between attractive alternatives and decided to close the deal with Redpoint Ventures,
one of the premier venture capital firms with a rich history of highly successful investing.
Go to Top
FastObjects
has been acquired by Versant
FastObjects is the exclusive North American distributor of
the FastObjects database management product. Stratagem worked with FastObjects over a 7-month period to negotiate and close the sale of FastObjects to Versant Corporation (NASDAQ: VSNT), an industry leader in data management and integration software.
Initially, our negotiations were conducted with Poet Holdings, the German-based owner of the FastObjects product line. Following Poet’s merger with Versant, Stratagem led the continued negotiations with Versant through deal closure.
Go
to Top
Astound
received a Strategic Investment from Genesys Conferencing
Stratagem secured a $5M strategic
investment for Astound from Genesys Conferencing, enabling Astound
to escalate its sales and marketing efforts and continue to build
greater value in advance of a final sale.
In addition, the strategic investment
laid the groundwork for the working relationships between the parties
and enabled them to negotiate the final sale agreement without undue
time pressure – a particularly critical element for Astound
since the company was burning cash to maintain growth in a competitive
market.
We worked side-by-side with Astound’s
management to negotiate the transaction and brought competitive
bidders to the table that enhanced negotiating leverage.
Read
the case study
Go
to Top
Astound
signed an OEM licensing deal with NICE Systems
Thanks to our unique strategic
partnering process that opens the door to a variety of opportunities,
we identified and cultivated multiple partnership discussions for
Astound.
In addition to the transactions
noted previously with Genesys, our introduction and marketing enabled
Astound to complete an OEM license with NICE Systems, which provided
Astound with a mid-six-figure initial commitment bolstered by on-going
royalty payments.
Read
the case study
Go
to Top
HEDRON LLC
Merant
has acquired HEDRON LLC
Merant, a $125M software company
(publicly traded in both the US and UK until being acquired by Serena
Software in May 2004), hired us to help define and lead the execution
of its corporate development efforts.
We worked with several layers of senior management to develop and gain consensus on a comprehensive partnering plan. We identified that a key technology needed to advance Merant's strategic plan was a powerful analytics framework. After spearheading an exhaustive market search, we led the acquisition of Hedron LLC, a company with groundbreaking analytics capabilities and proven customers. The price paid by Merant was a very small fraction of that paid for the technology only 2 years previously.
Read
the case study
Go
to Top
CATALYST
SYSTEMS
Merant
has signed an OEM & joint development agreetment with Catalyst
Systems
Stratagem negotiated and closed
an OEM and joint development agreement with Catalyst Systems that
expanded Merant’s platform coverage to IBM mainframes while
also shoring up a key technical weakness in the heart of Merant’s
product line.
The mainframe product was targeted
at competing with Serena’s primary product and lucrative cash
cow. Merant’s early success with the product was almost certainly
a factor in Serena’s acquisition of Merant.
Read
the case study
Go
to Top
 ECLIPSE
SOFTWARE
JetForm
has acquired Eclipse Software
During Stratagem’s multi-year
engagement with JetForm, we helped the company to expand its product
and competitive position by leading an ongoing M&A effort. In
this instance, we evaluated software companies that could expand
JetForm’s solution onto IBM’s AS/400 platform.
Eclipse was one of the two finalists
we evaluated, with Eclipse demonstrating impressive technical capabilities
and extraordinary domain expertise for a relatively small company.
In addition to working side-by-side
with JetForm executives during the competitive evaluation, Stratagem
also led the financial analysis, advised on valuation and actively
participated in the negotiations.
Go
to Top
PROACTIVE
SYSTEMS
JetForm
has acquired Proactive Systems
In this transaction, we helped
JetForm expand its direct geographic presence in Europe and other
locations. Proactive Systems, headquartered in the UK, brought a
variety of assets to the table including complementary technology,
customers, distribution capabilities and telemarketing expertise
(to complement JetForm’s direct sales model).
We advised JetForm on the transaction,
working closely with management on the company evaluation, financial
analysis and negotiations.
Go
to Top
JetForm
received a $20,000,000 Strategic Investment from Moore
Shortly after JetForm went public,
JetForm and Moore began broad reaching discussions to explore ways
in which the companies could work more closely together.
Moore was looking to mitigate declining
sales in its $1.5B paper forms business by enabling its customers
to move to electronic forms. JetForm knew that it would benefit
from additional capital and distribution presence.
We advised JetForm during these
discussions which resulted in the strategic investment at a valuation
of 10X trailing revenues.
Go
to Top
JetForm
signed a Strategic Resale Agreement with Moore
Concurrent with the strategic investment,
the two companies signed a strategic resale agreement whereby JetForm
gained greatly expanded distribution capabilities.
As a longtime leader in paper forms,
Moore had 850 direct sales people around the world with significant
account presence in large enterprises. While greater distribution
was a powerful benefit for JetForm, significant thought and effort
went into the agreement to minimize channel conflict.
We advised JetForm during this
transaction.
Go
to Top
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS
JetForm
received Equity Investment from Institutional Investors
As a small, private company located
in Canada, JetForm was looking for additional capital and presence
to leverage its leading technology in electronic forms and workflow.
We were hired to help the company explore three primary options
to gain additional leverage: M&A, VC and a small cap IPO.
Stratagem led the efforts to explore
all three options, bringing interested parties to JetForm in each
of three option categories. The JetForm Board chose the small cap
IPO after weighing the benefits of the higher valuation versus the
risks of a small cap IPO and we continued to advise them through
completion of the offering that netted the company $5M.
Go
to Top
Eventus
has been acquired by Segue
Eventus, while an early player
in the web content management arena, was still about 12 months behind
prominent players such as Interwoven and Vignette in both customer
traction and funding. Eventus had notable customer wins and technical
advantages, but lacked the financial resources to remain competitive.
When we entered the picture, cash was basically gone.
We were hired to actively manage
possible interest from two interested parties, while bringing others
to the table, if possible. Neither of the original parties moved
beyond their previous level of interest; however, Stratagem succeeded
in bringing a handful of other parties to the table. One of those
other parties, Segue, showed significant interest and we were able
to negotiate a valuation above the asking price. We continued to
manage the negotiations and closed the transaction in only two months
from the start of our engagement.
Go
to Top
NANTUCKET
Nantucket
has been acquired by Computer Associates
Nantucket was a sole proprietorship
with a large, leading position in dBASE compilers – a lucrative
market, but declining in importance. In addition, Nantucket had
developed a breakthrough object-oriented development environment,
but lacked the resources and market presence to capitalize on it.
Because confidentiality was paramount
to the owner, we only presented the opportunity to a total of 5
potential acquirers under a very tight NDA. With only five companies
on the list, Stratagem’s carefully crafted customized pitches
were essential to this engagement. Two of the parties engaged in
a bidding war, with Computer Associates winning. The valuation was
quoted at $80M.
Go
to Top
Evolve
received $10,000,000 Investment from Sierra Ventures
After several years of development
and substantial money invested, Evolve was finally ready to ship
the first version of its revolutionary professional services automation
software. The first pilot customers were in place and initial feedback
was favorable, but at the 11th hour, unexpected roadblocks scuttled
a desperately needed funding round. The company was in a cash crisis,
just weeks away from laying off most of its staff and possible bankruptcy.
We entered and immediately tapped
a group of investment and bridge loan sources that were most likely
to move quickly. Parties in both camps stepped forward, but Sierra
Ventures was willing to provide both types of funds. It took less
than three months from initial contact to close a $10M equity investment,
with Sierra bridging the company until then. Evolve used the capital
to successfully launch its new product and to reach the IPO market
only about 18 months later.
Go
to Top
BACHMAN
Bachman
Information Systems has acquired Cadre Technologies
After a long and successful history
that included an IPO, Bachman fell on some challenging times. Its
dominant position in mainframe-based tools for modeling application
development suffered as the market increasingly moved to distributed
systems. Further, user preferences were changing from an entity
relationship methodology to that of object-oriented programming.
We were hired to help the company use strategic partnering to re-ignite
growth and enhance the company’s competitive position.
We began by collaborating with
the executive team to identify and profile possible expansion categories
and companies within those categories. We then cross-referenced
the profiles against Bachman’s own strengths and weaknesses.
We introduced Cadre as a candidate because Cadre would offer an
immediate financial boost, plus provide an exciting new object-oriented
modeling solution. The deal doubled Bachman’s size but only
resulted in 20% dilution to existing shareholders. The deal, valued
at $40 million, was very well received with Bachman’s share
price increasing 22% on the announcement, adding roughly $40 million
to its market capitalization.
Go
to Top
Prodea
Software has been acquired by Platinum Technology
Prodea was one of the early leaders
in business intelligence solutions that enabled enterprises to slice
and dice marketing information in large SQL databases. We worked
with Prodea on several projects over a 15-month period, including
the divestiture of a groundbreaking workflow solution.
The culmination of our work was
advising Prodea on the $36 million acquisition by Platinum, a company
known for its aggressive acquisition style. We provided Prodea a
fairness opinion to its shareholders.
Go
to Top
Relia
has been acquired by Computer Associates
Realia was one of the two market
leaders for distributed COBOL application development systems and
long admired for the power and speed of its solutions. When we met
Realia’s two founders, they were at a critical juncture in
the company’s corporate development. The company had been
internally funded, but to take the company to the next level, the
founders knew they needed to bring in outside funds. Thus, they
needed to decide whether to accept the dilution of ownership and
control by raising money, or find a buyer that could provide immediate
liquidity. Stratagem advised on their options and they elected to
seek a buyer.
In addition to introducing Realia
to several potential buyers, we assisted in the negotiation of the
transaction, which provided the founders with immediate liquidity
and additional upside based on the future success of the product
line.
One of Realia’s founders,
Marc Sokol, enjoyed great success as a CA employee, receiving several
promotions and eventually running product strategy for distributed
systems. Marc is now a leading venture capitalist at JK&B Capital.
Go
to Top
SCO
completed a Private Plaement with Vertex & Others
Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) was
the leading supplier of UNIX operating environments for Intel-based
systems during the time we worked with the company. SCO hired Stratagem
to help it raise a mezzanine round of capital to fund the company
until its IPO. In addition, some shareholders were looking for immediate
liquidity.
Because SCO had already substantially
tapped out the US investor market at rich valuations, this was a
particularly challenging engagement. We introduced the company to
several capital sources, concentrating on late stage investors in
Europe and Asia. Our efforts uncovered Vertex, a venture capital
fund with significant ties to the Singaporean government, as the
investor who led the investment round. We completed this round of
funding, which was the last before SCO’s IPO.
Go
to Top
 
Geodesic
Systems has been acquired by Veritas
We represented Geodesic Systems
in a two-stage partnering deal: a strategic financing from Precise
Software (see below) and subsequent sale to Veritas Software.
Geodesic developed and sold an
innovative and highly technical runtime application service level
management solution. Precise, and subsequently Veritas, were interested
in Geodesic’s unique and patented solution because it could
proactively repair applications, in contrast to traditional reactive
monitoring.
Veritas completed the purchase
of Geodesic after its acquisition of Precise. Due to the specifics
of the transaction, the deal was structured as an asset purchase.
Go
to Top
Geodesic
Systems has received a Strategic Investment from Precise Systems
In the first of a two-stage partnering
deal, we secured $3M in strategic capital from Precise Systems along
with an OEM license agreement and a downstream purchase option.
Because Geodesic sold a highly
technical solution, the way we positioned the opportunity for partners
was both critically important and particularly challenging. Nevertheless,
we won audiences for Geodesic with the “who’s who”
of leading development tool and service management companies. Demonstrating
the value of our “never say die” philosophy, Precise
rejected our overtures on two separate occasions before finally
embracing the value of this partnership.
Go
to Top
Recipio
received a $12,000,000 Strategic Investment
from OmnicomGroup, NBCi, and Others
Recipio hired Stratagem to identify
and court a variety of financial and strategic investors. The company
had just begun shipping an innovative solution that leveraged the
power and scale of the Internet to help large companies manage their
brands. As with many young companies, they sorely needed new funding
and strategic partners to accelerate revenue growth at a critical
juncture.
Omnicom’s Rapp Collins division,
one of the leading ad agencies focused on interactive channels led
the $12 million round also providing Recipio with strategic distribution
benefits. Likewise, NBCi was another prominent investor in the round
and became a customer to help manage audience reaction to its shows.
Go
to Top
 
Trapezo
has been acquired by Perfect Commerce
Trapezo developed and sold a solution
to automatically distribute, maintain and optimize sales and marketing
content on eCommerce partner websites for notable customers, such
as DELL, Compaq and CNET.
Stratagem was hired for the engagement
and actively led the acquisition by Perfect Commerce, which purchased
the company to facilitate partnerships between manufacturers and
their suppliers.
Go
to Top
Pacer
Software has been acquired by NetManage
Pacer was one of the long-standing
leaders in connectivity software for Macintosh-to-host environments.
In addition, Pacer had a rich solution for collaborative workgroups
and knowledge sharing that provided much of Lotus Notes’ functionality
without the administration costs and usability challenges.
Although the Macintosh platform
was already in decline within corporate environments, we persisted
until we found an attractive home with AGE*Logic, another privately
held provider of communication solutions. AGE*Logic was subsequently
acquired by NetManage, providing liquidity to Pacer’s shareholders.
Go
to Top
Aldus
has divested SuperCard to Allegiant Software
Aldus, the kingpin of the desktop
publishing phenomenon of the late 1980’s, acquired Silicon
Beach Software, a successful developer of Macintosh products, including
SuperCard, a hypertext publishing tool. While SuperCard was a powerful
solution that foreshadowed Internet navigation as we know it today,
the product did not fit within Aldus’ strategic direction
and domain expertise.
Aldus hired Stratagem to divest
the SuperCard business. We found a home for the SuperCard product
and employees at Allegiant Software, and provided Aldus with a notable
offset to the cost of its Silicon Beach acquisition. Allegiant subsequently
went public with SuperCard as its principal asset.
Go
to Top
ConsultLink
has been acquired by Exigen
ConsultLink was in the enviable
position of having built the largest Internet database of consultants
just as the Internet began to explode. In addition, the company
began to monetize this asset by acting as the intermediary in consulting
engagements. The company, while still fledgling, attracted the attention
of one of the Internet’s early public companies, which was
using M&A to build its market position.
ConsultLink hired Stratagem to
assist in the negotiations with this party and, if possible, to
immediately bring alternatives to the table. Through our negotiations,
we were able to raise the initial company’s offer by roughly
50%, and bring two other bidders to the table, each of which substantially
outbid the initial prospect. We completed the deal with Portera,
a division of Exigen, who provided both the highest bid and the
most attractive deal structure for ConsultLink.
Go
to Top
 INSTITUTIONAL
INVESTORS
Novadigm
received an Equity Investment from Institutional Investors
When we met the company, Novadigm
was barely out of the development stage with aspirations to establish
itself as a leader in the management of distributed systems in large
enterprises. Novadigm’s technical challenges were large, but
the company had successful initial deployments with beta customers.
Management believed they had a significant market opportunity, but
needed capital to leverage its early mover advantage.
Novadigm hired Stratagem to assess
and cultivate a variety of fundraising and strategic capital options.
We succeeded in providing the company with a triumvirate of options
from which to choose: M&A, strategic capital and financial capital.
Novadigm’s Board chose the financial capital route, and leveraged
the investment deal we delivered to become a healthy, NASDAQ-listed
company until its eventual acquisition by its long-time strategic
partner, Hewlett-Packard.
Go
to Top
EXTENSION
TECHNOLOGIES
Extension
Technologies has been acquired by Hewlett Packard
Extension Technologies was a small
company with a breakthrough solution that provided corporations
with low-cost remote network access solutions. The company elected
to find a strategic buyer rather than raise additional funding and
hired Stratagem for this engagement.
The company’s patented technology
had broad-reaching value, but it was clear that the company’s
marketing message was falling short. Stratagem streamlined the company’s
messaging and customized marketing materials to position the opportunity
most effectively for each prospective partner. Thanks to our contacts
and targeted marketing efforts, we were able to secure a dozen meetings
with decision makers at the leading internetworking vendors, including
Cisco, IBM and many others. The eventual bidding came down to Intel
and a division of HP, with the latter ending up winning.
Go
to Top
Strata
has received a Strategic Investment from Evans & Sutherland
Strata was one a leading participant
in the 3D graphics and visualization business with a significant
share of the Macintosh market. The company hired Stratagem to help
raise the capital it needed to expand the business and to bolster
its leadership status.
During our search and discussions,
we recognized that Evans & Sutherland, a graphics industry pioneer,
needed a way to move its powerful technologies and market position
to open systems and mass marketing. Based on a long set of discussions
to determine the best course of action, the companies agreed to
pursue a strategic investment and technology sharing agreement.
We advised Strata throughout the transaction.
Go
to Top
Cognitech
Corporation has been acquired by Maximizer
Cognitech was a prominent player
in the sales force automation market with its highly regarded Sharkware
product. Further, the company had moved the product beyond being
a desktop tool to a true client/server solution with an SQL database
architecture. The development process was a costly one though, putting
the company in a serious financial bind.
Cognitech elected to find a buyer
for the company and hired Stratagem for this engagement. After an
extensive all out effort, and in spite of negotiating from a position
of weakness, we successfully closed a sale to Maximizer. This deal
not only saved the company from impending bankruptcy, but provided
the investors with a profit on their invested capital as well.
Go
to Top
 
Numerical
Design has licensed technology to Adobe
Numerical Design Ltd. (NDL) is
one of the pioneers in 3D visualization software and its technical
founder is credited with popularizing many of the 3D technologies
now pervasive with firms, such as Pixar.
As part of our broad effort to
expand the distribution and reach of NDL’s technologies, we
approached several leading mass-market graphics firms. This deal
with Adobe involved the NDL building a custom product, which became
Adobe Dimensions. Adobe then acquired the product outright from
NDL. In addition, we introduced NDL to several other potential partners
and helped the company close technology licensing deals with Autodesk
and Asymetrix.
Go
to Top
 
Diamond
Head Software received a Strategic Investment from Hummingbird
Diamond Head Software (DHS) was
a leading document imaging and storage management firm with over
2000 clients. In spite of its successes, customers increasingly
viewed DHS’s technology as a component of a larger document
management solution. This prompted DHS to consider its strategic
alternatives.
DHS hired Stratagem to explore
a variety of strategic partnering options with the leading players
in document management other synergistic sectors. We were successful
in structuring and closing a deal with Hummingbird’s PC Docs
division that provided DHS with three valuable assets: a strategic
investment, a joint development agreement and strategic distribution
of DHS products. Hummingbird later acquired all of DHS’s imaging
business.
Go
to Top
 
Thinkfree
has been Acquired by Haansoft of Korea
Thinkfree was the developer of
a 100% Java-based office suite with a very high degree of compatibility
with Microsoft Office. Recognizing the small number of potential
buyers in the desktop office productivity market, Stratagem expanded
the scope of prospects to include Java-centric enterprise software
vendors and overseas firms.
We were successful in closing an
all cash sale to Haansoft, a public Korean software company and
the #1 provider of office productivity software in Korea.
In addition to closing the company
sale, we cultivated partnership opportunities with a top tier enterprise
software company and two notable retail software firms. We successfully
negotiated terms with Haansoft to provide Thinkfree shareholders
with additional downstream consideration from these partnerships.
| 
