Blackbaud to Acquire Convio
Blackbaud, a provider of software and related services for nonprofits, has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Convio, a provider of on-demand constituent engagement solutions that enable nonprofits to raise funds, advocate for change, and cultivate relationships.
Under the terms of the agreement, Blackbaud will acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of Convio for approximately $275 million. The acquisition is expected to close during the first quarter of 2012.
Marc Chardon, Blackbaud's president and CEO, said, "We are extremely excited to announce our agreement to acquire Convio, which is a significant event for both companies. We fully expect that Convio's best-in-class, SaaS-based capabilities for large events, advocacy, and federated organizations will enable Blackbaud to offer the industry's most diverse and flexible set of online capabilities on a global basis. Moreover, the addition of Convio will broaden Blackbaud's application portfolio, enabling the combined company to offer a comprehensive set of multichannel supporter engagement solutions to nonprofit organizations of all sizes."
Chardon added, "Combining Convio and Blackbaud is expected to help create one of the largest SaaS vendors with over $440 million in trailing 12 months pro forma revenue. The strength and complementary nature of our combined value proposition will position Blackbaud well to capitalize on the large and underpenetrated market for delivering innovative solutions to the nonprofit industry."
Convio's products enable nonprofit organizations to harness the full potential of the Internet and social media as new channels for constituent engagement and fundraising. Convio has more than 1,500 customers in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., including 29 of the top 50 U.S. charities. In 2010 alone, Convio's U.S. clients used its software and services to raise more than $1.3 billion online, send more than 4 billion email messages, power more than 32 million advocacy actions, and manage relationships with more than 248 million constituents.
Gene Austin, Convio's president and CEO, said, "We expect the combination of Convio and Blackbaud to provide large nonprofit organizations with the best of both worlds, the industry's strongest online fundraising solution along with market-leading CRM capabilities. Our respective solutions, areas of vertical expertise, and customer bases are highly complementary, and we have received many customer requests to integrate our capabilities over the years. We will now be able to meet this market demand and provide both of our customer bases with access to a broad and deep application suite designed specifically for nonprofit organizations."
After the acquisition closes, Austin will take on a leadership role at Blackbaud, reporting to Chardon.