QAD buys connected workforce platform Redzone for $1bn

QAD, a portfolio company of Thoma Bravo, has acquired Redzone, a connected workforce solution platform, for approximately $1 billion, strengthening the former’s idea of the adaptive enterprise.

The transaction follows the US-based QAD’s acquisition of Livejourney in December 2022, and marks the second for the company in the last two months.

With the acquisition, QAD now has a complete end-to-end solution to help manufacturers transform productivity and frontline engagement to address the challenges of increasing input costs, labor shortages, and wage inflation.

Anton Chilton — QAD CEO said: “We believe the emerging connected workforce space is the most transformational area of technology for manufacturing companies.

“As we assessed the market for the category leader, it was evident that not only is Redzone the #1 provider globally but also the pioneer of the category and the one who continues to define it.

“And the Company’s financial performance speaks to its market leadership: profitable since inception, SaaS revenues growing 35 percent organically, and a clear path to being the first connected workforce solution in manufacturing to achieve $100 million revenue run rate this year.”

The Miami, Florida-based Redzone is a connected workforce solution in manufacturing and helps over 1,000 plants and 300,000 frontline workers worldwide achieve productivity gains.

In 2020, Redzone received a growth equity investment from Summit Partners.

Peter Stefanski — Thoma Bravo partner said: “The acquisition of Redzone, with its impressive growth trajectory in a large, unpenetrated $40 billion market, demonstrates our commitment to advancing QAD’s vision and to further building its leadership position in the broader industrial software universe.”

Barclays acted as financial advisor to Redzone and Wilson Sonsini served as legal counsel while Kirkland and Ellis acted as legal counsel to QAD and Thoma Bravo.

Livejourney offers a real-time process mining and predictive modeling solution to discover, monitor and improve business processes.

In 2021, Thoma Bravo acquired QAD, which offers next-generation manufacturing and supply chain solutions in the cloud.