Enterprise sales enablement solutions company Savo Group has announced its acquisition of Raleigh, NC-based software rival KnowledgeTree. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The move reflects the company’s larger revamp after the instatement of new CEO Jason Liu. The 18-year-old company has dropped some of its products and updated core software which helps enterprises manage and distribute materials to keep their salesforce on the same page. Under Liu, Savo has also refocused on larger clients as opposed to small and midsize businesses and plans to move its corporate headquarters in Chicago.
"We got to profitability last July and stabilized the customer base," Liu said. "Now we're growing double digits. Two years ago, we were shrinking and losing money."
The CEO indicates that the sales-enablement software market is growing at 40% to 50% per year as the firm competes with VC-backed rivals such as Seismic and Showpad.
KnowledgeTree will provide Savo with access to machine learning and integrations with file-sharing platforms like Dropbox and Box, along with providing reach into new markets as over 30% of its sales come from outside the U.S. Savo says the acquisition will bring the best predictive analytics product in the space as it expands the firm’s domain expertise from both a tech and practitioner standpoint.
Liu says Savo currently generates between $25 million and $50 million in revenues per year. Customers include Dell Technologies, Citrix, Rockwell Automation, McKesson, and a handful of locally based businesses such as Northern Trust, TransUnion and Walgreens Boots Alliance. After cutting the number of employees down from 250 to 200 in order to boost R&D spending by 40%, Liu will add more sales and marketing staff.
Savo has raised a total of $84 million in funding, including a $35 million investment from Goldman Sachs in 2014.
