Highspot joins Seismic’s rival in the software giant’s marketing space – GeekWire
Seattle-based company Highspot plans to merge with Seismic in a deal that will bring together the two biggest players in sales and monetization software.
The companies announced Thursday that they have signed a definitive merger agreement. Once the transaction closes, the combined company will operate under the Seismic name and be led by Seismic CEO Rob Tarkoff, who was hired in October. Highspot founder and CEO Robert Wahbe will join the combined company’s board of directors.
Permira, the private equity firm that has backed San Diego-based Seismic since 2020, will remain the controlling shareholder. The companies will operate independently until the deal closes. The platforms will “continue to be supported thereafter,” according to a press release.
The agreement effectively places Highspot under Seismic’s leadership and brand. Additional terms were not disclosed. We followed up with the companies to learn more about any potential workforce impacts and where the combined company will be headquartered.
The merger brings together two longtime competitors in the income support market. Their software is designed to help sales, marketing, and customer success teams manage content, training, analytics, and operations.
“There is a growing need for technology that better connects sales strategy to execution and helps organizations drive revenue performance at scale, especially in today’s go-to-market environment,” Tarkoff wrote on LinkedIn.
In a press release, Wahbe said the deal will allow the combined company to “advance the revenue landscape” by providing clients with “new strategies” and “more actionable insights.”
Highspot is one of Seattle’s most prominent business software companies and has raised $650 million since its launch in 2011. It holds the No. 1 spot on the GeekWire 200, our list of privately held tech companies in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, and employs more than 1,000 people, according to LinkedIn data.
The company’s recently disclosed value was $3.5 billion by 2022, when it raised $248 million.
Highspot was decommissioned twice in 2023 during a major tech downturn.
Highspot estimates 2022 comes at the peak of the software boom. Since then, business financing has tightened and prices across the technology spectrum have been reset. PitchBook noted that many once-high-flying “unicorns” have seen their prices drop below the $1 billion mark as money becomes more concentrated. Established software companies are also under scrutiny amid the AI boom.
IB Capital Group and D1 Capital Partners led the Series F round for Highspot in 2022. Other backers include ICONIQ Growth, Madrona Venture Group, Salesforce Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, and Tiger Global Management.
Wahbe is a longtime employee at Microsoft, where he spent 16 years equipping sales teams with the knowledge needed to create customer platforms. He founded the company in 2011 with former colleagues Oliver Sharp and David Wortendyke.
Seismic, founded in 2010, is best known for its Seismic Enablement Cloud. It has reached an estimate of $3 billion by 2021 and serves about 2,000 customers worldwide.
Highspot’s clients include Compass, Nasdaq and Stripe. The company said in November it has more than 40 customers with 5,000 sales representatives each. Its largest deployment has exceeded more than 50,000 end users.
