Comintelli acquires US competitor Cipher’s assets for the K360 SaaS Platform

Seeking to strengthen its US position, Comintelli, a leading software company in Market & Competitive Intelligence (M&CI), has acquired assets from American competitor Cipher related to the SaaS platform Knowledge360® (K360). The intention is to convert customers to Comintelli’s SaaS platform, Intelligence2day®, thereby growing Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR).

Comintelli will take over the Intellectual Property Rights to the Knowledge360® platform and access to the entire existing customer base. Knowledge360® will cease as a service and all customers offered a smooth conversion to Intelligence2day®.

ARR is Comintelli's most important key indicator and was SEK 21.3 million at the end of the third quarter of 2022. Cipher's K360 operation has had a slightly lower ARR compared to Comintelli. The goal of the acquisition is to take over a significant part of the K360 customer base and thereby increase Comintelli's ARR in the coming years.

The seller and buyer have agreed not to disclose the exact terms of the acquisition. The purchase price is based on customers that convert from Knowledge360® to Intelligence2day®. The acquisition is financed through loans and cash on hand. This summer, a new issue of SEK 3.5 million was carried out in order to, among other things, explore the possibilities of mergers and acquisitions. The company has received a loan of SEK 2 million from a consortium of existing shareholders. The terms have been assessed to be on fair market conditions with a 1% monthly interest rate and a 5% setup fee. The loan term expires on December 31, 2023.

Market and Competitive Intelligence is becoming increasingly important to help companies understand their business environment and prepare for the future. A recent report by the global IT analyst firm, Forrester, described the current landscape for "Market and Competitive Intelligence (M&CI) Platforms". Both Comintelli's Intelligence2day® and Cipher's Knowledge360® are included among the most significant players in the market. Comintelli has focused more on the European market, while Cipher has focused on the American market.

"Through this acquisition, Comintelli becomes a strong global player in M&CI, actively participating in the industry's consolidation. We see a positive future growth potential, where both we and our customers can benefit from advantages of scale," says Jesper Martell, CEO of Comintelli AB.

“Comintelli's and Cipher's platforms meet very similar customer needs”, said Peter Grimm, President of Cipher. “Our customers need more than just a monitoring tool, they need the ability to collect, centralize, organize, and analyze both internal and external intelligence.  And they need the means to disseminate insights to key stakeholders across a large enterprise.  As the market for M&CI platforms continues to mature, we believe our customers are best served by a platform that can deliver against these key needs with additional scale. This new combination will provide just such a platform.”

"North America is a highly prioritized market for Comintelli where we have had our own organization in the USA for several years. The acquisition of K360 assets further strengthens our position in the USA, especially in the Pharmaceutical & Healthcare and Insurance sectors," says Christian Bjersér, CEO of Comintelli’s US subsidiary, Comintelli Inc.

This disclosure contains information that Comintelli is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU nr 596/2014). The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person, on 09-01-2023 19:30 CET.