Private equity firm Thoma Bravo has acquired a stake in financial services automation company SMA Technologies, although details of ownership percentage and dollar figures were not disclosed.
This is the 873rd technology M&A deal that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2022. See over 2,000 technology M&A deals involving MSPs, MSSPs and IT service providers listed here.
SMA Technologies: Workload Automation Software Capabilities
SMA Technologies, founded in 1980, is headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company has 139 employees listed on LinkedIn.
SMA develops OpCon, an enterprise workload automation platform for financial services companies, banks, insurers, credit unions, and retailers. Workload automation and orchestration software can “eliminate manual tasks and manage workloads in business-critical operations.” The software works with numerous cloud platforms, virtualization, database management, ERP, identity management, IT service management (ITSM), and third-party operating systems.
In addition to software, SMA also offers automation consulting and managed automation services.
We don’t know if SMA in any way plans to compete against ServiceNow’s workflow automation or third-party robotic process automation (RPA) software.
SMA Technologies’ previous majority investor, ParkerGale Capital, will retain a minority stake in the software business, the parties said. When ParkerGale acquired SMA’s stake in September 2020, the software company had 600 customers in 27 countries and territories. Fast-forward to October 2022, and ChannelE2E doesn’t know if that installed base has changed significantly.
Thoma Bravo’s investment is expected to “allow SMA to significantly expand its offering of automation solutions for its clients while accelerating growth geographically and in tangential industries over time,” the private equity firm said.
Thoma Bravo invests in SMA Technologies: executive perspectives
In a prepared statement on the Thoma Bravo-SMA deal, SMA CEO Todd Dauchy said:
“SMA has been a pioneer in the workload automation space for over four decades and we are delighted to continue our journey with Thoma Bravo. With Thoma Bravo’s operational expertise and financial resources, we will be better positioned to drive global growth as we continue to provide our customers and their employees with seamless solutions to automate processes, applications and workflows.”
Adam Solomon, partner at Thoma Bravo, added:
“As the increasingly digital workplace multiplies IT workloads, SMA is mission critical in helping businesses seamlessly manage today’s complex IT environment. Todd and the SMA team have built exceptional trust by consistently delivering products and solutions that meet customers’ ever-changing needs and business priorities. We are excited to partner with a company that values innovation and operational excellence, as well as strong relationships with its customers.”
Kristina Heinze, partner and co-founder of ParkerGale concluded:
“Throughout its growth, SMA has remained a product-oriented, employee-driven software business with a laser focus on the customer experience. We are proud of what we accomplished through our majority ownership with Todd Dauchy and the SMA team and look forward to continuing to support the company in partnership with Thoma Bravo.”
Thoma Bravo: business and technology automation expertise
Thoma Bravo has extensive experience in the IT automation software market.
For example, Thoma Bravo also owns stakes in information management software provider Hyland Software and intelligent process automation provider Nintex. Those software companies, in turn, made RPA (robotic process automation) and DPA (digital process automation) acquisitions in 2020.
Thoma Bravo also owns ConnectWise, which develops business automation and IT management software for MSPs in the SMB market. Thoma also owns a minority stake in N-able, another MSP-focused software provider.