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Venture

Public SaaS Buys Private SaaS In New $540M Workday Deal

If you want to open up a mac-and-cheese restaurant, you don’t just head over to the closest Whole Foods and pick up all your ingredients in one fell swoop. You find and vet suppliers of fresh produce, cheese, and pasta, and then plan your purchase, negotiate the price, buy the goods, and handle inventory.

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That workflow is a business opportunity that saw in the market. Started by the ex-founders of an online ordering system for restaurant chains, Scout RFP helps buyers manage purchases (and the workflow around them). This week was bought by Workday, a public Pleasanton, Calif.-based company that offers enterprise software for human resources and financial services.

Scout RFP, which raised $60.3 million in known venture capital funding, was scooped up by for about $540 million, plus cash, according . It’s also worth noting that was already a strategic investor in Scout RFP.

So What?

Here’s why we care: A public SaaS company just bought a private SaaS company to make sure logistical errors don’t deprive their customers of goods – er, mac and cheese. Jokes aside, was created to help all industries, not just restaurants, with goods management. (In fact, in August 2019, saying that Scout was working toward being a public company one day).

Through the acquisition, Scout RFP now has access to Workday customers like Amazon, Bank of America, Netflix, and Chiquita (yes, the banana brand). In return, Workday’s services expand into “sourcing and supplier engagement,” per , a previous investor in Scout RFP. Beyond just that, Scout RFP claims to help with “reduction in spend” and “greater policy compliance” .

, it made a healthy $2.3 billion in subscription revenue in fiscal 2019., it said it is eyeing around $3.6 to $3.7 billion in fiscal 2020, almost a $1 billion bump.

Therefore the company buying Scout RFP, a startup that has the potential to add to that number and overall revenue growth, is not surprising; it has a big goal to meet.

So my call? Combining forces seemed within arms reach, good for the pocket, and ideal for the customers. The deal is expected to close before January 31, 2020.

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