All this comes more than a year after KKR, a private equity firm, bought SOVRA, then known as mdf commerce, which launched in 1996.
The moves, announced Monday, put government technology veteran Tom Spengler — a co-founder and CEO of Granicus who more recently worked for a private equity firm — in the chief executive seat at SOVRA.
The company, which offers a marketplace program and other procurement services and tools, also said it has bought Canada-based Ontopical. The government market intelligence firm provides alerts about bids and quotes and others procurement opportunities — in part via artificial intelligence.
SOVRA did not say how much it paid for Ontopical, founded in 2017 and which has raised nearly $5 million, according to Crunchbase.
Meanwhile, SOVRA has sold “six non-core business units” to two companies.
Valsoft, another Canadian firm, this one focused on “vertical SaaS acquisitions,” according to a statement, has bought Polygon, The Broker Forum and Carrus. A similar but unnamed company bought Jobboom, KCentric and Orckestra.
Terms were not disclosed.
Products and services sold by those units include management software for the auto parts industry, online job listings and e-commerce tools.
“These strategic moves signal a sharpened focus on serving state and local governments in both the U.S. and Canada,” Spengler told Government Technology during an interview that combined phone and email. “We are doubling down on our commitment to the public sector.”
SOVRA also will launch an “AI Center of Excellence,” he said.
The goal: bring more innovation and automated features to the company’s platform, which in turn would help bring more efficiency to government procurement, he said.
“The bottom line for customers is that this means we are putting more resources and attention on public-sector procurement solutions, meaning we will be a more focused and innovative partner,” Spengler said. “We look forward to delivering better tools to simplify sourcing, expand vendor access and drive improved procurement outcomes.”
With Spengler’s appointment as CEO, Luc Filiatreault, who held that job for six years, moves to what the statement calls “an advisory role” and a seat on the board.
Spengler became a SOVRA board member in 2024, after leading Granicus, working as CEO for civic engagement firm Rock Solid Technologies — acquired by Granicus in 2022 — and jobs at Hewlett Packard and other companies.
According to the statement, SOVRA was attracted by Spengler’s experience with “strategic planning, product-market fit, go-to-market execution, capital raising and long-term scalability for startups and growth-stage ventures.”
Spengler credits Filiatreault with setting up the company for more growth in the coming years and helping SOVRA transition to a private company under the ownership of KKR, a private equity firm.
“We are entering a new phase of growth that requires specific and deep expertise to scale our public-sector platform,” Spengler said. “Given my experience in the gov tech sector, it was a natural fit for me to move from my board member capacity into the CEO position.”
KKR bought SOVRA in spring 2024.
Private equity firms, a major and growing force in gov tech, typically seek to cash in their investments within a decade. That can result in time-clock pressure for companies backed by such investors, but Spengler says that's not the case with SOVRA.
“We are really in the early innings [with KKR], so there is no pressure to exit,” he said.
The new world at SOVRA offers the latest example of the robust health of the gov tech market in 2025 — one marked by significant investments and acquisitions, along with the growing possibility of a relatively rare public offering.
