Contact: Thejeswi Venkatesh, Ben Kolada
In an attempt to remain relevant in the 21st century and beyond, French mailing and shipping systems provider Neopost announced on Thursday that it is acquiring its Swiss partner, GMC Software Technology. GMC provides customer communications management software that enables businesses to design and publish print and online marketing content as well as create and manage customer surveys.
By now, everyone knows that physical mail is a thing of the past. Consumers across the globe have turned to email and other digital communication methods. Unless Neopost modernizes its product line, it risks becoming obsolete. The GMC pickup is an attempt to remain relevant in a digital world. Right now, four of the five products Neopost lists on its website are postage meters, folder inserters, addressing systems and letter-opening systems. Not exactly futuristic products.
GMC’s software helps combine data from different databases to create customized communications for each customer in a dynamic manner. The software also helps measure and track customer responses to improve future communications. The Swiss company, which has had particular success in the banking and insurance verticals, generated revenue of about $45m last year (based on year-end exchange rates). The headcount-heavy firm employed 300, including 130 engineers.
Neopost hasn’t yet disclosed the price it is paying for GMC, but in the conference call discussing the transaction the company said it paid about 2 times revenue, and noted that the deal also includes a significant earnout based on aggressive revenue goals.