Planview, a global leader in Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions, today announced it has completed its acquisition of Tasktop, initially announced on May 18.
“Bringing Mik Kersten and the Tasktop team into Planview will help deliver new levels of excellence to companies and industries navigating through change,” said Razat Gaurav, CEO of Planview. “By merging Tasktop’s institutional expertise in scaling software with Planview’s focus on delivering enterprise-scale visibility, we’ve created a new industry powerhouse poised to help organizations connect the business of software delivery and conduct their business transformations with unprecedented confidence and efficiency.”
The combination of Planview and Tasktop means customers work with a single, comprehensive organization with cutting-edge expertise in capabilities ranging from Value Stream Management (VSM) to Strategic Portfolio Management and Enterprise Agile Planning, among others. At a time when organizations are navigating business transformations amid a turbulent macroeconomic landscape, having a single partner that provides intelligence and visibility into the progress of those transformations helps ensure success.
According to a May 2022 Forrester blog, The Market For VSM And SPM Takes A Big Step Forward, “We see the Planview + Tasktop combination having the potential to shake up the (Strategic Portfolio Management) SPM and VSM marketplace and force it to evolve at an even faster pace by putting pressure on existing leaders in agile planning and DevOps management solutions.”
“To succeed with digital transformation, organizations must expand beyond Agile teams to portfolio-level business agility,” said Dean Leffingwell, creator of SAFe® and cofounder, Scaled Agile, Inc. “We’re headed in the right direction. With so many enterprises now deploying SAFe, and the shift from project to product described in Mik Kersten’s book gaining mind share, this new way of working and thinking is finding its way into the CEO’s office. This new paradigm is helping leaders effectively connect the strategic portfolio level with software delivery, which introduces huge opportunities for the business. It is great to see our Scaled Agile partners Planview and Tasktop coming together to help enterprises maximize and accelerate those opportunities.”
The newly combined entity affirms Planview’s leading position globally with 4,500 enterprise customers worldwide, more than 1,300 employees, and a combined FY21 revenue of approximately $400 million. Planview will continue to invest in and support the Tasktop product lines as standalone solutions in the immediate term and will evaluate product direction long term based on customer and industry feedback. As part of the transaction, Tasktop cofounder and CEO, Mik Kersten, has joined Planview as Chief Technology Officer. You can read more about the Tasktop team’s go-forward focus in Mik’s blog.
Sumeru Equity Partners, Tasktop’s lead investor, along with minority investors Elsewhere Partners and Yaletown Partners, and Tasktop’s management will be rolling part of their equity in the new combined entity and will maintain minority interest in Planview alongside its majority shareholders, TPG and TA Associates. Golub Capital provided committed debt financing and Jefferies LLC acted as financial advisors to Planview. Ropes & Gray served as legal counsel to Planview. AGC Partners acted as financial advisors to Tasktop / Sumeru Equity Partners, and Kirkland & Ellis served as legal counsel.