TBP Spotlight – Infosys Acquires Simplus in a $200m Deal

Infosys Acquires Simplus in a $200m Deal

Deal Financials

Enterprise Value: $200-250m
Enterprise Value / Revenue: 3.0x
Revenue as of Jan 31st, 2020: $67.1m

 

Transaction Overview

  • On February 10, 2020, global leader in consulting and digital services Infosys Limited (NSEI:INFY) announced its acquisition of Simplus, a platinum Salesforce services provider.
  • This acquisition, coupled with Infosys’s acquisition of Fluido in Sep 2018, brings together deep Salesforce expertise to deliver end-to-end enterprise cloud solutions while demonstrating commitment to the Salesforce ecosystem..
  • True Blue Partners is a co-investor in Simplus

From CPQ to Digital Transformation

  • Founded in 2014, Simplus started as a boutique consulting company focused on CPQ implementation around
    SteelBrick’s offerings.
  • SteelBrick was founded in 2013 by G2Crowd founder CEO Godard Abel, originally the founder of BigMachines (acquired by Oracle for $400 million in Oct 2013). Notably, the Company was funded by Salesforce Ventures and Emergence Capital (one of the original VC investors in Salesforce).
  • In Dec 2015, Salesforce announced its $360 million acquisition of SteelBrick. As part of efforts to boost implementation services around SteelBrick’s offering, Salesforce Ventures made its first equity investment in Simplus in Q3 2016. Godard Abel has been a repeat investor in Simplus.
  • Powered by a combination of debt and equity funding with a leading customer-focused culture, Simplus pursued an aggressive growth strategy involving key hires and 7 highly strategic acquisitions.
  • A month after its final acquisition of London-based Clout Partners in Nov 2019, Simplus introduced its Digital Practice to help sales and marketing customers integrate siloed go-to-market activities into a unified, data-driven strategy.
  • Simplus was among the largest Salesforce-only implementation partners during Infosys’ acquisition announcement. With this transaction, its primary focus will be to lead digital transformation initiatives for Infosys centered around Salesforce.com offerings

Salil Parekh and Infosys’ Recent Transactions

  • Infosys has made a number of strategic acquisitions to ensure it can optimize its clients’ digital transformation journey
  • It has been active in the marketplace looking for US-based talent in Salesforce consulting services. Through this acquisition, it has obtained one of the largest independent Salesforce consulting practices with deep ecosystem relationships, talent bench, and proven leadership
  • In Sep 2018, Infosys acquired Finland-based Salesforce consulting partner Fluido for $75.8 million, strengthening its presence in Europe. Earlier in Apr 2018, Infosys acquired US-based digital marketing and consumer insights firm Wongdoody for $75 million
  • The year before, the acquisition of Brilliant Basics expanded Infosys’ digital design services network to include Europe and the Middle East.
  • This also marks a signature move of Salil Parekh, who was appointed as CEO of Infosys in Jan 2018 after a 27-year career with CapGemini that culminated as Deputy CEO and member of the Group Executive Board. Previously, in Sep 2017, CapGemini had acquired Lyons Consulting Group, a leading commerce cloud services provider on Salesforce.com.
  • This is the second Salesforce consulting partner acquisition by Infosys after Salil took over as CEO.

True Blue Partners’ Investment in Simplus

  • True Blue Partners was an early co-investor in Simplus, participating in its Series B financing together with the first equity investment from Salesforce Ventures.
  • TBP has made investments in other Salesforce ecosystem focused companies like Full Circle Insights (Force.com ISV), OSF Commerce (Commerce Cloud Consulting Partner), and more recently led a multi-million-dollar co-investment syndicate in Fonteva (Force.com ISV).
  • TBP co-investments are an important offering where the TBP organizes or participates in co-investment syndicates to fund growth financing for promising companies in enterprise software and IT services.
  • TBP organized a $23 million co-investment syndicate for OSF Commerce that included investment form Delta-V Capital and Salesforce Ventures.

Simplus Investment Rounds


About True Blue Partners, LLC
True Blue Partners is a boutique M&A advisory firm that serves lower mid-market enterprise software, service and solutions companies. It brings the rigorous strategic and financial perspective of bulge bracket firms with a company building approach and a steadfast partnership that only an independent boutique firm can deliver. For more information please visit www.truebluepartners.com or email us at info@truebluepartners.com.

TBP is a co-investor in Simplus.