- Financial details: a BRL 1.86 million amount will be paid at the closing of the deal, for about 92% of RD Station’s share capital;
- Brazilian company TOTVS is the largest retail management platform in the country;
- RD Station is a SaaS platform that focuses on marketing automation and CRM solutions;
- RD Station will lead the business performance unit of TOTVS’ business-to-business ecosystem.
Brazilian company TOTVS, the largest retail management platform in the country, announced on Tuesday that it has acquired 92% of the digital marketing SaaS platform RD Station‘s share capital for BRL 1.8 billion.
Valuing the RD Station at more than BRL 2 billion, the transaction is Latin America’s largest in the SaaS industry to date, both companies announced. According to Redpoint eventures, an investor at RD, the union of two pioneering and leading companies in the technology market is an unprecedented milestone to highlight the potential of the software market in Latin America.
“The union validates the potential of the Latin American software market where companies of all sizes have an urgent need to modernize their operations and use new technology to fight inefficiencies and accelerate growth. RD Station started in Florianópolis and became one of the best SaaS operators on the planet. Their flagship event gathered more than 10,000 people every year to discuss the subject and their products are used by more than 25,000 customers across 20 countries,” Manoel Lemos, managing partner at Redpoint eventures, added.
“It was an incredible journey with incredible entrepreneurs who transformed online businesses in Brazil through Digital Marketing, and who built one of the main SaaS companies in the country,” said Astella Investimentos, RD’s backer.
“This acquisition is the largest private software M&A transaction in the country and expands TOTVS‘ capabilities in the Business Performance segment,” says Dennis Herszkowicz, CEO at TOTVS.
From Florianópolis, RD Station will remain operating independently with its products and services and will lead the business performance efforts of TOTVS’ business-to-business ecosystem.
Founded in 2011 by Eric Santos and four other partners, RD Station expects to hit net revenues of BRL 206 million in 2021, an average compound growth of 46% since 2016, the SaaS marketing company informed.
With the acquisition, Santos remains at the head of the company, focused on RD’s international expansion roadmap and on growing the operation as the leading player in Brazil.
“TOTVS is the largest technology company in the country, with maximum governance and indisputable financial capacity. We found the company to be the ideal partner to come with us in the next cycle, as they recognized the impact we generate on the ecosystem, the value of our product and business model and the strength of our corporate culture,” added Santos.
As for financial details, a BRL 1.86 million amount will be paid at the closing of the deal.
“We have a lot to learn from a company that has always been a reference in its nearly 40 years of foundation, which also from the beginning sought to help other companies organize their management to go further,” said Pedro Bachiega, RD’s co-founder.
“The move is still another major investment for RD, which will bring us peace of mind for the operation and to invest in the expansion of our business.”
RD Station has two products: RD Station Marketing, a marketing automation tool, and RD Station CRM, aimed at the sales area, which controls and organizes the commercial process of medium and small companies.
In December, TOTVS also announced the acquisition of Tail Target, a data management platform, with solutions aimed at the digital transformation of marketing and sales, using data science and machine learning.
(Updated at 5:10 pm to add investors’ quote)
