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Canadian Survey and Application Review Provider Extends SurveyMonkey’s Global Reach, Product Base and Team.
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Online questionnaire company SurveyMonkey, acquired smaller Canadian rival Fluidware to help persuade more corporate customers to pay up. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Fluidware, established in Ottawa in 2008 by co-founders and co-CEOs Eli Fathi and Aydin Mirzaee, is the provider of software solutions FluidSurveys and FluidReview. FluidSurveys is an online tool that allows individuals and organizations from around the world to create fully-customized surveys, collect data from respondents and analyze results in real-time. FluidReview is a centralized solution that makes it easy for organizations to collect, manage and review applications and submissions online, including scholarships, grants, fellowships, calls for proposals and business plan competitions.
SurveyMonkey acquired three other survey tools (Precision Polling, Wufoo, and Zoomerang) as well as a stake in the UK-based Clicktools, and in 2011 it acquried another competitor, MarketTools from private equity firm TPG. MarketTools transferred most of its assets to SurveyMonkey in exchange for a minority stake.
In that deal, SurveyMonkey has held off the need for an initial public offering by raising more than $1 billion in debt and equity from TPG and a range of other private investors, including Spectrum Equity.
“This highly complementary acquisition will extend SurveyMonkey’s global reach, particularly into the attractive Canadian market where Fluidware is an industry leader, ” said Dave Goldberg, SurveyMonkey CEO. “We look forward to working alongside the talented Fluidware team as we continue to execute on our strategy to attract new customers, access new territories and leverage leading technologies that help further our mission of helping our customers make better decisions.”
“We are thrilled to be joining forces with SurveyMonkey, the global leader in the category and the creator of one of the first consumer software-as-a-service products, ” said Mirzaee. “As part of SurveyMonkey’s unrivaled product portfolio, FluidSurveys and FluidReview will benefit from superior resources and support, including a proven management team with more than 15 years of operating experience. We will be able to accelerate and scale the development of innovative software solutions that empower customers worldwide.”
SurveyMonkey intends to maintain Fluidware’s office and infrastructure in Ottawa. Additionally, there will be no change in the location of Fluidware’s customer survey data. It will continue to be stored in Canada, and protected by the same Canadian standards that were in place before the transaction. Fathi and Mirzaee will each have a role in the combined company.
SurveyMonkey has over 250 employees as of mid-2013.
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