Analysis: Higher Logic’s acquisition of Socious

by Ben | Feb 1, 2017 | Community Industry News, Community Products

Last week, we reported that Socious had been acquired by Higher Logic, which recently received a $55M round of private equity funding. Higher Logic co-founder Andy Steggles and I had a chat, and a Q&A from that conversation was posted to this blog. Since Socious and Higher Logic are the two largest community software vendors in the association market, I thought a little analysis of the deal would be in order. As someone who has followed these companies closely for years, I’ll also opine a bit on the deal and make some predictions. Here are some of the acquisition’s implications: Higher Logic and Socious were the market leaders. I’ve always described Higher Logic as the 800 Pound Gorilla in the association community business. Higher Logic can now boast close to — perhaps more than — 1,000 clients. Most of them are associations. Combined, Socious and Higher Logic command a huge lead over the next closest competitor focused on the association market, Small World Community from Personify (formerly Small World Labs). Despite speculation that Higher Logic would need to make a hard pivot towards the for-profit market in order to pay back their investors, the Socious acquisition reinforces Higher Logic’s commitment to the association market. However, both companies have respectable portfolios of for-profit clients. Socious and Higher Logic were both usually on the short list for online community acquisitions. Most organizations want bids from three vendors. Now two of those three slots have been reduced to one. This acquisition creates space in the market, which is a big opportunity for another online community vendor to establish a presence in the association sector. Community vendors in...

BREAKING: Higher Logic acquires Socious

by Ben | Jan 18, 2017 | Community Industry News, Community Products

The two largest online community software companies in the association market have gotten married. The companies  announced today that Socious has been acquired by Higher Logic. Check out the presser. I had a call today with Andy Steggles, Higher Logic’s co-founder about the deal. I’ll post some analysis about the deal in the coming days, but right now I’m neck deep in putting together the final touches for Community Manager Appreciation Day on Monday, January 23. Here’s a Q&A from my conversation with Andy. 1. Why did Higher Logic want to do this? The integration of Socious’ products and services will allow us to better serve the association community. This will ultimately result in more rapid innovation, an expanded set of product offerings, and even better customer service. We were planning to hire approx. 50 staff in 2017 to help manage our amazing growth. By acquiring socious, we have now just filled 37 of those positions with incredible talent that have direct, community and association experience. It also gives us a great West Coast location which we’ve wanted to setup for a while. 2. Doesn’t this limit the options for Associations? Associations still have a ton of choice for community. Most organizations use an AMS or database with engagement functionality, but everyone’s different. Some may want a best-in-breed solution that covers database, marketing automation, community, etc. Organizations which want a best in breed solution, have plenty of options (Jive, Telligent etc) but we feel that our focus on the associations is a compelling differentiator. 3. Is this the first time a community platform has acquired another community platform? To the best...