Enterprise software firm Citrix Systems is buying Slack competitor Wrike for $2.25 billion in a move to boost its collaborative work management offerings.
Wrike offers an all-in-one platform for remote workers that incorporates elements such as planning, workflow management, and project management and can be integrated with business apps such as Salesforce, QuickBooks and Workday.
Wrike’s more than 20,000 customers include Walmart, Nickelodeon, Google, Dell, and Airbnb.
Citrix, which has been seeking to become a major collaboration player, said it had agreed to acquire the company from private-equity firm Vista Equity Partners, which bought Wrike only two years ago for a reported $800 million.
“The addition of Wrike’s cloud-delivered capabilities will accelerate Citrix’s business model transition to the cloud and strategy to become a complete SaaS-based work platform addressing the needs of various functional groups within the enterprise,” Citrix said in a news release.
According to VentureBeat, both Citrix’s core Workspace service and Wrike “are essentially built with the distributed workforce in mind.” Demand for collaboration software has surged as the coronavirus pandemic has forced companies to shift to remote work.
“While Citrix already develops cloud-based products that allow employees to work remotely and keep in touch with their colleagues, integrating collaboration software such as that developed by Wrike would allow the company to go one step further,” ITPro said.
The combined company would serve more than 400,000 customers, according to Citrix. Wrike’s competitors include Slack, Trello, Asana, and Basecamp.
“A leader in multiple categories of workplace technologies, Citrix offers end-to-end offerings to enable and empower the modern workforce,” Wrike CEO Andrew Filev said. “By joining hands with Wrike, Citrix will now be able to offer a complete solution that optimizes productivity across all aspects of work.”
Wrike is expected to have approximately 30% stand-alone growth to between $180 million and $190 million in unaudited SaaS annualized recurring revenue in 2021, with the opportunity to accelerate growth over time under Citrix’s ownership.
“Together, Citrix and Wrike will deliver the solutions needed to power a cloud-delivered digital workspace experience,” Citrix CEO David Henshall said.
Citrix via Flickr