Episerver to acquire Optimizely

Episerver, a privately-held company that helps brands create content-driven "digital experiences," is acquiring the experimentation and optimization platform Optimizely. The terms of the deal, expected to close in Q4 of 2020, were not disclosed. 

Creating digital experiences that are appealing to consumers and drive online commerce has become a larger part of marketing and sales in recent years. That trend has only accelerated this year, as the COVID-19 pandemic drove business to the digital sphere. 

In a statement, Optimizely CEO Jay Larson said that the combination of Episerver and Optimizely "will make experimentation a mainstream business best practice and an essential part of competing and winning customers in an online world. With the combination of creation and optimization, we look forward to building a new community of digital experience leaders."

Optimizely, a 10 year-old company headquartered in San Francisco, has more than 1,000 customers, including Gap, StubHub, IBM and The Wall Street Journal. Its platform offers digital experience optimization technologies such as AI-powered personalization and experimentation, which encompasses A/B testing, multivariate testing, and server-side testing. 

Episerver, meanwhile, was founded in 1994. In 2018, the private equity firm Insight Partners purchased Episerver for $1.16 billion, enabling Episerver's 2019 acquisitions of B2B commerce leader Insite Software and analytics and personalization provider Idio.

In a statement, Episerver CEO Alex Atzberger called the Optimizely purchase "the most significant transformation in our company's history – one that will set a new industry standard for digital experience platforms."