Both businesses have made civic engagement platforms that run 311 apps for local governments, letting residents contact officials via their cellphones to report things like potholes, broken street lights and graffiti. Rock Solid, however, is much older and more diversified — CitySourced launched in 2009, while Rock Solid has been in existence since 1997. In addition to civic engagement software, Rock Solid also makes software for governments that covers enterprise resource planning, human resources, revenue collection, accounting and more. It also serves medical and energy companies.
"The Rock Solid Technologies vision and products are the perfect counterpart to those of CitySourced," said CitySourced CEO Jason Kiesel in a press release. "Together we will be able to reach new markets in North America while delivering a truly best-of-breed product built specifically for the needs of local governments."
All CitySourced executives and employees will stay on, and together they will have a combined workforce of about 140. Kiesel will become chief product officer, while Rock Solid CEO Rick Brown will keep his role.
The merger comes after private equity firm Strattam Capital took a majority stake in Rock Solid about three months ago. Private equity companies often pursue mergers and acquisitions as a way to quickly grow the value of portfolio companies before selling them off — a strategy that has been making waves in the gov tech arena lately with companies like Granicus, CentralSquare Technologies and Accela.
