The deal will enable the human insight platform to go private and combine with user experience insights solutions provider UserZoom
Thoma Bravo and Sunstone Partners to acquire UserTesting. (Credit: Tumisu from Pixabay)
UserTesting, a US-based on-demand human insight platform, has agreed to be acquired by Thoma Bravo and Sunstone Partners in an all-cash deal worth around $1.3bn.
Headquartered in San Fransisco, UserTesting has developed a platform that taps into the global network of real people and produces video-based recorded experiences. The platform enables anyone in an organisation to directly ask questions, listen to what users say, understand the meaning, and gauge what it’s actually like to be a customer.
As per the terms of the deal, shareholders of the publicly-listed UserTesting will be paid $7.5 per share.
Upon completion of the deal, Thoma Bravo and Sunstone Partners plan to combine UserTesting and UserZoom. In April 2022, Thoma Bravo acquired a majority stake in UserZoom, a provider of user experience insights solutions, at a valuation of $800m.
The combination of UserZoom’s multi-method research capabilities, research repository, and proprietary benchmarking methodology with UserTesting’s enterprise-scale experience testing platform, proprietary contributor network, and customers is expected to build better product, employee, customer, and brand experiences.
Thoma Bravo senior partner A.J. Rohde said: “We are excited to bring together the complementary expertise of UserTesting and UserZoom to create a leading, integrated solution that delivers real-time, data-driven feedback to organisations globally.
“Our acquisition of UserTesting is a testament to our belief that customer experience is mission critical to organisations, and the combined company will be well-positioned to further market expansion, accelerate innovation, and provide even greater insights to its customers.”
UserTesting’s CEO, Andy MacMillan, will head the combined company.
MacMillan said: “We are pleased to partner with Thoma Bravo and Sunstone Partners to build upon our award winning Human Insight Platform to further innovate in the CX space and continue to serve a growing number of teams and use cases.
“We are confident that this transaction—joining two complementary players in the customer experience space to form a new private company—offers the most compelling value creation for all of our stakeholders, and is a testament to the value of human insight, the UserTesting platform, our talented team, and loyal customer base.”
The deal, which is subject to approval by UserTesting’s shareholders, regulatory approvals, and other conditions, is anticipated to close in H1 2023.