Salesforce.com Acquires ClickSoftware

Deal Financials

Implied Enterprise Value ($m): $1,400.0

Transaction Overview

• On August 7, 2019, Salesforce.com announced its acquisition of ClickSoftware Technologies, a global leader in AI-powered field-service and workforce management software provider headquartered in Burlington, MA.
• Salesforce began talks to acquire ClickSoftware in January 2019, but the deal was cancelled in late February as the two parties failed to agree on valuation, which was believed to be between $1-1.5 billion at the time.
• ClickSoftware was a publicly traded company for over 15 years before being bought out by tech focused private equity firm Francisco Partners for $438 million in July 2015 at 3.52x LTM Revenue.

Salesforce Investing Billions to Build Out Field Service Lightning

• ClickSoftware’s signature mobile workforce management solution, Click Field Service Edge, leverages AI to power automated decision-making throughout the service lifecycle for over 15,400 customers globally.
• In 2016, Salesforce launched Field Service Lightning under the Service Cloud umbrella, offering users a 360-degree view of the customer with predictive insights.
• With ClickSoftware, Field Service Lightning users will be able to more easily automate worker assignments and manage other aspects of processes in services sectors.
• In April 2019, Salesforce announced its $225 million acquisition of its remaining 86% stake in MapAnything, another automated field service management software provider. MapAnything specializes in map-based visualization and route optimization solutions.
• Notably, the acquisitions of MapAnything and ClickSoftware cements Salesforce’s commitment in going head to head with Microsoft in the field service solutions space, following Microsoft’s acquisition of FieldOne in July 2015.
• Salesforce’s acquisition of ClickSoftware puts into question the future strategy for ServiceMax, a Force.com native Field Service provider acquired by GE and then divested to Silverlake.

Spectacular Exit for Francisco Partners

• Approximately 18 months ago, Francisco Partners hired new CEO Mark Cattini. Mark was formerly the CEO for Autotask Corporation, a SaaS company providing a business management platform for IT service providers.
• Francisco Partners generated a 3.2x increase in Enterprise Value through this transaction and likely many more times that return on equity capital invested.

Relevant Field Service Management Transactions

TBP was NOT an advisor to this transaction.