Chicago-based G2 Crowd recently announced the acquisition of Siftery, the group’s first acquisition following a recently raised $100 million in total funding.
G2 Crowd, whose also recently announced a $55M Series C round, is revolutionizing the way businesses discover, buy, and manage software and services. More than two million users per month rely on G2 Crowd to help them find and buy the best software for their business. The platform has over 550,000 reviews, and $100M invested by IVP, Accel Partners, LinkedIn, Emergence Capital, Pritzker Group, Chicago Ventures, Hyde Park Ventures, industry leaders, and founders.
Siftery is a platform that helps businesses eliminate waste in software spending and discover new applications based on the tech stacks used by peer companies.
Siftery is headquartered in San Francisco and had raised $4.1 million from investors. Siftery’s talented team of 20 employees, led by its co-founders CEO Vamshi Mokshagundam and CTO Ayan Barua will join G2 Crowd.
Siftery data shows the number of SaaS tools used by small and mid-market businesses has more than doubled from 26 to 55 in the last three years. Since 2015, companies on average have trialled 35% more new software each year.
Siftery’s technology complements the G2 Crowd Review Platform and Marketplace, which businesses use to find, compare and purchase software.
“We’re excited to join the G2 Crowd team so we can more quickly realize our joint vision,” said Vamshi Mokshagundam, co-founder and CEO of Siftery. “By becoming part of the G2 family, Siftery’s technology can reach millions more people, continue to develop rapidly, and have a bigger impact around the world in helping to eliminate wasted and inefficient software spend.”
Now, they’ll be able to analyze, track, and optimize that spend.
For example, Siftery can uncover when a business has a case of “shadow IT”, such as when three separate teams each buys 50-seats for a software solution rather than a single 150-seat subscription at half the price. Similarly, it can spot when a company is paying for more seats than it has employees, and help make recommendations to reduce spend.
Siftery also monitors the technology that a million companies use which enable buyers to discover what technology their industry peers and competitors use. By combining the Siftery data on technology spend and stack with G2 Crowd’s product reviews, G2 Crowd will be able to uniquely recommend best-fit software to all businesses and seamlessly connect them to the best fit vendors to make purchases.
Businesses in the US and UK alone waste $34 billion each year in licensing fees for unused and underused software. This does not include lost productivity and additional expenses due to glitchy or poorly performing solutions.
“We believe that everyone in business deserves the right to reach their potential––and the only way they can do that is through a trusted marketplace that’s free to access, and is not pay-to-play,” said Godard Abel, co-founder and CEO of G2 Crowd. “Every day, new and potentially disruptive technologies and services are released into the world. Anyone who wants great software to perform at their best, from intern to CEO, should be able to quickly discover, buy, and manage the best technology for their business.