Edenred Acquires Reward Gateway for £1.15 Billion

France-based employee fintech firm Edenred has acquired Reward Gateway, an employee engagement company headquartered in Boston, for £1.15 billion ($1.39 billion) from funds managed by Abry Partners and Castik Capital.

The joining of the two global offerings will provide end-to-end employee services, from digital employee benefits, employee savings, and recognition and rewards programs, to wellbeing and corporate social animation solutions. Reward Gateway’s platform will also become available in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Romania, and Spain—markets where Edenred operates.

Edenred is a digital platform for services and payments, connecting 52 million users and 2 million partner merchants in 45 countries through 1 million corporate clients. Headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux, a commune in the southwestern suburban area of Paris, Edenred offers specific-purpose payment solutions for food (such as meal benefits), incentives (such as gift cards), mobility (such as toll, parking, and commuter solutions), and corporate payments (such as virtual cards).

Reward Gateway, founded in 2006 in the UK and now headquartered in Boston, is a fast-growing company and a major software-as-a-service (SaaS) employee engagement platform provider with more than 4,000 customers and 8 million employees. In the UK and Australia, where Reward Gateway is the market leader, the employee engagement space represents a combined £1.9 billion in revenue, with the market expected to grow by more than 10% per annum. And in the US, where Reward Gateway has started building a position, the market is worth £4.5 billion in revenue.

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The acquisition of Reward Gateway marks a major milestone for Edenred as it seeks to become a world-leading and global platform for employee benefits and engagement, a position reinforced by its recent acquisition of the GOintegro platform in Latin America.

As part of the deal, Reward Gateway will join the employee benefits division within Edenred under the leadership of Arnaud Erulin, COO of employee benefits. Nick Burns, global CEO of Reward Gateway, will stay on and lead the business. The transaction is expected to close in the coming days.

Enghouse Systems Agrees to Purchase Lifesize

Canadian software and services company Enghouse Systems has entered into an agreement to acquire Lifesize, the Austin, Texas-based provider of video conferencing and omnichannel contact center solutions, and all its assets and brands, including Kaptivo, ProScheduler, Serenova, and Telstrat.

The Asset Purchase Agreement (APA) is the first in a series of strategic actions that Lifesize is taking to reorganize its capital structure for the benefit of customers, partners, employees, and other stakeholders. To this end, Lifesize has filed voluntary, pre-negotiated petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Laredo Division.

Throughout its sale and financial reorganization process to secure an owner with a long-term commitment, Lifesize will operate as usual. For that purpose, the company is finalizing $5 million in debtor-in-possession financing from its existing lender. The financing, in addition to its existing working capital facility and upon approval from the Court, will provide liquidity to support the company’s day-to-day operations during the Chapter 11 process.

Financial details of the acquisition have not been disclosed, and Enghouse has given no indication of what it intends to do with Lifesize products and its 4K video solutions. Headquartered in Markham in Ontario, Canada, Enghouse provides vertically focused enterprise software solutions focusing on contact centers, video communications, healthcare, telecommunications, public safety, and the transit market. The company has no external debt.

The agreement remains subject to higher or better offers in accordance with bid procedures and deadlines, as well as court approval.

Axim Fringe Solutions Group Acquires Perks Showcase

Axim Fringe Solutions Group, the Las Vegas, Nevada-based provider of employee benefits and engagement solutions, is acquiring Perks Showcase, the employee communications and engagement platform headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Financial details of the transaction are not available, but the acquisition, which will integrate the Perks Showcase platform with Axim’s suite of fringe benefits solutions, aims to create an all-inclusive employee engagement experience intended to drive employee satisfaction, productivity, and loyalty while also helping organizations attract and retain top talent.

Key features of the combined offering from Axim and Perks Showcase include personalized benefits for healthcare, retirement plans, and wellness programs; strategic communications that incorporate videos, chat bots, and live events across text, email, push, and other mediums; full enrollment cycle support for employees, and real-time answers to facilitate troubleshooting and navigation; and comprehensive analytics to help organizations better understand employee engagement behavior. 

HelloTeam Secures $10 Million in Funding

HelloTeam, the Boston-based provider of a performance management and employee engagement platform, has successfully raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Grand Oaks Capital, the investment firm of billionaire Tom Golisano. HelloTeam will use the new funds to expand its capabilities in helping companies tackle the issue of employee retention confronting many workplaces today. The platform’s features include peer-to-peer recognition, employee rewards, automated performance reviews, and employee surveys, among others.

The new capital infusion brings the HelloTeam total funding to nearly $17 million. Previous funding includes a $3.5 million seed round led by Underscore VC, with participation from Osage Venture Partners and VentureForGood.

One client, business intelligence provider Onyx CenterSource, says the HelloTeam solution helped reduce turnover and has saved the company more than $4 million every year. Other HelloTeam clients are wellness services provider Massage Envy and in-store media solutions company Mood Media.

Kustomer Spins Out of Meta and Raises $60 Million

Kustomer, the provider of a conversational customer relationship management (CRM) platform, raised $60 million in a new financing round after it was spun out of Facebook parent company Meta, which had acquired Kustomer in 2022. The latest funding was led by original investors Redpoint Ventures and Battery Ventures, with additional participation from Boldstart Ventures. 

Kustomer CEO and co-founder Brad Birnbaum says the new path forward for the company includes modernizing the Kustomer interface, bringing new generative AI advances to products, and furthering the company’s CRM capabilities to fuel the next generation of personal, contextual experiences.

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Meta closed its acquisition of Kustomer in February 2022.  Kustomer then joined the Meta Business Messaging Group to help transform communications through modern messaging channels. While at Meta, Kustomer expanded Its international offerings, broadened its capabilities with AI, and deepened its integration with Meta channels Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger.