Citrix acquires SaaS collaboration management software company Wrike for $2.25 billion

 When enterprises accelerate the pace of digital transformation, going to the cloud is the first step, so last year, the new digital infrastructure became the new rallying cry, and almost all enterprises are accelerating their infrastructure implementation deployment with information technology as the core. We can see that whether it's a company selling servers, a company selling networks, or a company selling the entire data center solution, they are all making a lot of money. So, going into the cloud computing 3.0 era, what is the next mainstream trend? The answer is SaaS!

　　On the surface, it seems that although cloud computing is at the forefront of the times, SaaS is still close to the fire. Unbeknownst to us, SaaS companies that have already won the favor of customers are moving in the dark and welcoming the brightest moment before the dawn. This is evidenced by the latest acquisition by Citrix Systems, Inc. On January 19, 2021, Citrix announced that it will acquire Wrike for $2.25 billion in cash, with a purchase agreement now signed.

　　Wrike, part of Vista Equity Partners, a U.S. private equity firm headquartered in San Jose, California, has more than 1,000 employees, provides solutions for approximately 18,000 customers worldwide and is a recognized leader in SaaS collaborative work management, ensuring teams and dispersed employees can plan, The addition of Wrike to Citrix will drive the growth of Citrix's existing business, in addition to better enabling Citrix's cloud business. Unaudited annual recurring revenue (ARR[1]) for its SaaS business is expected to increase by about 30 percent to $180 million to $190 million in 2021.

　　The combination of Wrike's innovative work management solutions, which streamline the process of collaboration and work execution, will provide employees with more tools to work efficiently and securely from any location. Wrike's cloud delivery capabilities will help Citrix transition more quickly to a cloud business model and create a complete SaaS-based work platform to meet the needs of functions across the enterprise.

　　At Citrix, the combined company will offer customers a better value proposition through complementary solutions, unlocking new revenue opportunities across its existing customer base and newly partnered enterprise sourcing decision centers, including marketing, professional services and human resources. Together, Citrix and Wrike will serve more than 400,000 customers in 140 countries. In addition, upon closing, Wrike will be integrated into Citrix's strong partner ecosystem, creating new opportunities within the ecosystem that will create additional value for customers.

　　In addition to PTC's acquisition of Wrike, there have been several other large acquisitions in the SaaS space, including: Salesforce's acquisition of Slack (a chat software developer) for more than $27 billion; PTC's acquisition of Arena Solutions, a SaaS product lifecycle management solution; e-commerce SaaS company LightCloud Technologies' wholly owned acquisition of PTC acquired Arena Solutions, a SaaS product lifecycle management solution; e-commerce SaaS company LightCloud acquired "Deeply Intelligent"; Ali acquired mainland restaurant SaaS provider "Delicious"; Weimeng acquired SaaS "King of Convenience Stores" Haiding, and so on. Various dazzling mergers and acquisitions have made the already lively SaaS market more interesting.