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Periscope Holdings Acquired by E-Commerce Company for $207M

Periscope, which offers e-procurement technology to the public sector, will join a global e-commerce vendor under the deal. The company is 20 years old and recently helped Oregon launch a statewide procurement portal.

Shopping cart infront of laptop
Daniela Hartmann/Flickr CC
Periscope Holdings, a 20-year-old company supplying e-procurement technology to state and local government, will be acquired by mdf commerce for about $207 million.

The deal, part of a hot streak of mergers and acquisitions in gov tech this year, will bring Periscope Holdings under the umbrella of a publicly-traded global firm that marked about $85 million in revenue last year. Mdf commerce offers e-commerce, procurement, supply chain and marketplace technology to a wide range of customers functioning in business-to-customer, business-to-business and business-to-government roles.

“Together, with our combined operational strengths, I am convinced we can accelerate the transformation of the public-sector e-procurement industry,” said Brian Utley, Periscope’s president and CEO, in a press release. “Mdf commerce shares the same values we do, allowing us to continue the tradition we have for excellent service, deep expertise and an environment our employees want to be a part of.”

Periscope’s solutions use AI to help connect more relevant vendors to government RFPs, and to help agencies compare pricing more easily. The company was behind Oregon’s new statewide procurement marketplace.

By all accounts, procurement technology has been in high demand in the public sector during the COVID-19 pandemic as government agencies across the country have found themselves scrambling to purchase necessary items — oftentimes items they’ve never had to procure before — faster and cheaper than usual.

The companies expect the deal to be completed in the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2022. Parthenon Capital Partners, an investor in Periscope Holdings, will retain a stake after the deal.