NEW YORK & LOUISVILLE, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--KKR, a leading global investment firm, and Alchemer (the “Company”), a global leader in Customer Experience (CX) and voice-of-the-customer (VoC) technology, today announced that KKR has made a significant majority investment in the Company. The investment will support the continued acceleration of Alchemer’s growth through marketing, product innovation, industry partnerships and strategic mergers and acquisitions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Founded in 2006, Alchemer is a leading provider of CX and VoC software that helps businesses collect, analyze and leverage customer and employee feedback to proactively drive better engagement, retention, and user experiences. Alchemer serves more than 13,000 global customers, including a large number of Fortune 500 companies.
“We are very excited to have KKR as an investor in Alchemer. We believe this transaction will benefit our customers and employees by accelerating our investment in Experience Management,” said David Roberts, CEO of Alchemer. “KKR shares our vision for the CX industry’s role in translating customer feedback into action, and having access to KKR’s expertise, capital and resources will put Alchemer in an even better position to deliver on this critical mission.”
The investment in Alchemer builds upon KKR’s experience investing in the software sector globally, with recent investments including Autodata, Calabrio, Cegid, Corel, Cloudera, Epicor, Exact, and OneStream, among others.
“Alchemer has built a differentiated, best-in-class platform that is helping companies form deeper and more meaningful relationships with their customers and other stakeholders,” said John Park, Head of Americas Software Private Equity at KKR. “Demand for user experience solutions is growing as companies increasingly prioritize customer and employee engagement. We believe Alchemer has the right model and team to serve this growing need and look forward to supporting its continued innovation and growth.”
Alchemer is the first investment for KKR Ascendant, a new strategy within KKR’s Americas Private Equity platform focused on investing in middle market businesses across the same sectors and themes as the broader platform.
“We see a significant and growing opportunity to use our leading platform and resources to help high-quality middle-market businesses grow, scale and create value for their customers and employees,” said Pete Stavros and Nate Taylor, Co-Heads of KKR Americas Private Equity. “With its strong fundamentals, talented management team and differentiated business model, Alchemer is exactly the type of company that we want to invest in, and we look forward to helping this great business reach new heights.”
Alchemer will implement KKR's broad-based employee ownership program, which will make all employees owners of the Company alongside KKR. This strategy is based on the belief that employee engagement is a key driver in building stronger companies. Since 2011, KKR has awarded billions of dollars of total equity value to over 45,000 non-management employees across more than 25 companies. Last month, KKR joined more than 60 organizations in becoming a founding partner of Ownership Works, a nonprofit created to support public and private companies transitioning to shared ownership models.
William Blair served as financial advisor and Perkins Coie served as legal counsel to Alchemer. Jefferies LLC served as financial advisor and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP served as legal counsel to KKR.
About Alchemer
Alchemer offers the world’s most flexible feedback and data collection platform, with twice as many question types and a low-code design that allows innovative thinkers across organizations to solve real business problems cost-effectively. Alchemer serves more than 13,000 global customers, including a large number of Fortune 500 companies. For more information about Alchemer visit www.alchemer.com.
About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR’s insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life and reinsurance products under the management of Global Atlantic Financial Group. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.
