Infosys to acquire Salesforce Ventures-backed Simplus for $250 million

Infosys is acquiring Simplus, a Salt Lake City, Utah-based cloud consulting startup backed by Salesforce Ventures and other investors, in a transaction worth up to $250 million. The acquisition will enable the Bengaluru-based information technology (IT) services company to strengthen its end-to-end Salesforce enterprise cloud solutions offerings. 

Infosys will spend $200 million on the acquisition and will include contingent consideration to be paid for the acquisition of shares, which are subject to closing adjustments, the company said in a regulatory filing. 

In addition, $50 million will be paid as employee incentives and retention payments, if certain performance conditions are met over a period of the next three years, it said. 

The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2020. 

Founded in 2014 by Ryan Westwood and Isaac Westwood, Simplus is engaged in cloud-based consulting, implementation, data integration, change management and training services for Salesforce’s quote-to-cash (QTC) applications. QTC refers to the integration and automated management of end-to-end business processes on the sell side. 

“The strategic combination of scalable and agile global delivery capabilities of Simplus complements our effort to help global enterprises to transform their businesses,” Pravin Rao, COO, Infosys, said.

The Simplus acquisition, the company said, builds on the capabilities that Infosys brought on board when it acquired Finnish Salesforce consulting company Fluido in September 2018.

Simplus, which has a strong presence in the US and Australia, brings to the table solution assets, ecosystem relationships and clients from the high-tech, financial services, retail, healthcare, manufacturing and life sciences sectors. It has a presence in North America, Sydney, London and Melbourne, and has a delivery centre in Manila. 

The company, with over 500 employees globally, closed its last financial year ended January 31, 2020, with its revenue at $67.1 million. For the financial year 2019 and 2018, its revenues were $42.1 million and $16.7 million, respectively.

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"Infosys has incredible global scale and breadth, and joining forces (with Infosys) gives us a powerful value proposition to enable global digital transformations," co-founder Westwood said.

Salesforce Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of the San Francisco-headquartered customer relationship management solutions provider, first invested in Simplus in September 2016. Apart from Salesforce Ventures, Simplus has also raised capital from investors such as Kensington-SV Global Innovations, Savano Capital Partners, Cross Creek Advisors, EPIC Ventures and University Growth Fund. Simplus has raised a total of $49.3 million till date over three funding rounds and Salesforce Ventures has participated in all of them, according to Crunchbase data.