Category: News

Association Technology M&A and Investment Visualization

I’m preparing for a couple of presentations on consolidation in the association technology sector (including at AMS Fest, November 13-14 in Washington, DC), and wanted to share this visualization in my slide deck of how technology companies are aligning, and which ones have taken investments. This isn’t a complete view of the activity, and covers about a two year period, but it should help you grasp the extent of the consolidation. If you’re reading this in your email inbox, download the images, or click through to see the visualization.

GrowthZone acquires BuilderFusion

GrowthZone, a leading provider of technology solutions for associations and chambers of commerce with nearly 3,000 customers has acquired BuilderFusion, an AMS tailor-made for home builders associations. Check out the press release.

BluePay acquired by First Data

Publicly traded payment technology company First Data has entered into an agreement to acquire a leading payment gateway for associations, BluePay. AMS platforms such as Membersuite, iMIS, and YourMembership all have BluePay as an option for online payment processing. First Data touts that the acquisition adds “Member Based Organization solutions to First Data’s product suite” in its press release.

ASI acquires Australian software developer IVT

In July 2017, Advanced Solutions International, developers of the widely-used iMIS association management system, announced the acquisition of Internet Vision Technologies, an Australia-based AMS and nonprofit management software developer with 160 clients.

Click here for the press release.

ASI acquired a benefits administration software company in May 2017, and received a $26M round of growth equity funding in July 2016.

Was your organization hacked by the Russians during the presidential election?

This post is a little off-topic, but I thought it might be of interest to not-for-profit and association technology executives who aspire to understand the powerful forces beyond our control that affect our organizations’ operations.

Ed Schipul is CEO of Tendenci, an open source AMS — well, frankly, the only open source AMS. Very thoughtful and techie guy, but not someone who runs in the same circles as the other AMS vendors.

My eyes widened when I read on his blog that former FBI director James Comey testified that the Russians had hacked hundreds of — and perhaps 1,000+ — nonprofits and NGOs in their efforts to sway the 2016 US presidential election.

Ed believes that some of his clients were targeted:

I can personally confirm it was in the hundreds just based on our client base. This does NOT mean they breached, but targeted? Yes.

His analysis and advice is worth reading.

Watch “Hot off the Press” at AMS Fest on Wednesday, June 7

If you like what you’re reading on theNIRD.org, you may be interested in “Hot off the Press,” a segment of AMS Fest that will be broadcast on Facebook Live at 1pm CDT on Wednesday, June 7, 2017.

There’s a strong possibility that some significant announcements will be made during this 15 minute session, and by tuning into the Facebook Live broadcast, you’ll be among the first to know about them.

Want to join the excitement? Go to Facebook, like the ReviewMyAMS Page, and then visit the ReviewMyAMS page as we go live for “Hot off the Press,” this Wednesday at 1pm CDT during AMS Fest.

MemberClicks acquires event registration tech ePly

In May 2017, AMS platform MemberClicks acquired event registration technology company, ePly. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

MemberClicks accepted a round of growth equity funding in February 2017.

CORRECTION: Recent history of association technology investments

Yesterday’s post summarizing the past year’s investments in not-for-profit association technology companies has been revised. The updates to rumored price tags for the companies were made based on information received from a reliable source. And the total investments made in association technology companies over the past year has risen to $700M based on this update.

A recent history of association technology investments

UPDATED May 17, 2017.

In preparing for my presentation at AMSFest, I went back and looked at all M&A and investment activity that has been reported so far on theNIRD.org.

Keeping in mind that what’s reported here is only what I’ve learned about (it’s likely there are more investments that haven’t been reported here), here’s what I’ve got since April 2016:

  • April 2016: Fonteva took $2M in crowdfunded venture capital growth funding
  • July 2016: Advanced Solutions International (iMIS) took $26M in private equity growth funding
  • September 2016: MemberSuite accepted $11M in venture capital growth funding
  • September 2016: Higher Logic accepted $55M in private equity growth funding
  • January 2017: Higher Logic acquired Socious. The size of the deal was not disclosed, but it was rumored to be in the $15-25M range.
  • February 2017: YourMembership was acquired by Ministry Brands. It is rumored that the sales price for YourMembership was around $230M.
  • February 2017: Higher Logic acquired Kavi. The size of the deal was not disclosed, but it was rumored to be in the $10-20M range.
  • February 2017: MemberClicks accepted a round of private equity growth funding. The investment was rumored to be between $15-20M.
  • April 2017: Abila was acquired by Community Brands. The deal was rumored to be around $290M.
  • April 2017: Aptify was acquired by Community Brands. The deal was rumored to be approximately $30-40M.
  • April 2017: Blue Sky eLearn accepted an investment from Freeman Digital Ventures. Terms were not disclosed.
  • April 2017: NimbleUser was acquired by Community Brands. The deal was estimated to be in the $15-25M range.

For those keeping score at home, that’s 12 deals for a minimum of about $700M invested in association technology companies in the past year. And those are only the deals we know about.