Summit Partners, a global growth equity investor, has acquired MercuryGate International, an independent provider of SaaS-based transportation management system (TMS) solutions.
Co-founded in 2000 by CEO Monica Wooden and President Steve Blough, MercuryGate began with a mission to solve the most complex, high-volume transportation management challenges at an affordable price. Since those early days, the company has grown immensely. Last year, the MercuryGate TMS managed more than $70 billion of annual freight spend and supported over 300,000 daily logins from 80 countries.
“We selected Summit Partners amongst many other suitors because Summit shares our vision and commitment to extend the foundation we have built into a platform for accelerated innovation, global ecosystem enablement, and customer scale,” Wooden said. “I was looking for an investment partner that had the growth-oriented strategic and operational resources to take us to the next level, and I found that formula in Summit Partners.”
As part of this transaction, Wooden will transition into a customer-facing role as the chief revenue officer, while co-founder Blough will continue on as chief product officer. Joe Juliano, an executive-in-residence (“EIR”) with Summit Partners and software industry leader, will join MercuryGate as president and CEO and will work closely with Monica and Steve to drive growth and scale initiatives.
Juliano brings a background in both supply chain and SaaS software, as well as a demonstrated expertise in optimizing go-to-market strategies, achieving high levels of customer satisfaction and accelerating revenue growth. Prior to joining Summit’s EIR program, Mr. Juliano served as President and CEO of IQNavigator, a provider of SaaS solutions that enables businesses to source, manage, and pay contingent workforces. Previously, he was president of RedPrairie, a provider of supply chain, transportation management, and workforce management software, which merged with JDA Software, and he served as president and CEO of PrimeRevenue, a SaaS supply chain financing company. Prior to PrimeRevenue, Mr. Juliano led all commercial efforts of two publicly-traded companies: Ariba and FreeMarkets.
“Joe’s strategic vision, supply chain and transportation expertise, and track record of growing and scaling software businesses and delivering excellent customer service make him the natural choice to lead MercuryGate in our next chapter of our growth,” Wooden said. “I look forward to working closely with Joe to drive continued product innovation and deepen our commitment to our customers.”
“MercuryGate is a world-class company dedicated to serving the needs of a highly complex market with an extremely configurable and scalable SaaS solution,” Juliano said. “I’m excited to collaborate with Monica, Steve, and the MercuryGate team and to leverage Summit’s growth-oriented strategic and operational resources to build upon MercuryGate’s strong foundation and expand its global footprint.”
“With the addition of Joe’s significant experience in customer-centric growth, we believe MercuryGate has the right combination of vision, product and leadership to drive continued growth in the TMS sector, and we are excited to continue building on the momentum they have achieved to-date,” added Peter Rottier, a managing director with Summit who will join the MercuryGate Board of Directors.
“MercuryGate offers a strong product with incredibly rich functionality,” said C.J. Fitzgerald, a managing director with Summit Partners, who will also join the MercuryGate Board of Directors. “We believe the company is strongly positioned for continued growth as organizations large and small seek SaaS solutions to manage their transportation and logistics operations for improved productivity and operational efficiency.”
“We have been pleased to partner with MercuryGate’s management team and support the company through an impressive growth period,” said Alex Berzofsky, managing director, Warburg Pincus, which previously invested in MercuryGate. “MercuryGate is a clear leader in TMS software solutions and we are confident they will enjoy continued success.”
