The deal will merge DemandStar with Bonfire, GTY’s existing e-procurement unit.
“With the acquisition of DemandStar, we have assembled two leading companies in their field to deliver the most robust eProcurement solution to address the increasingly critical function that government procurement teams play within the agencies and communities they serve,” said TJ Parass, CEO of GTY, in a statement. “This acquisition sets the precedent for future mergers and acquisitions initiated by GTY as we continue to focus on expanding the breadth and depth of our portfolio across public administration and civic engagement.”
Both Bonfire and DemandStar offer something similar to customers: a digital process for government to conduct procurements, and a marketplace to connect vendors with those opportunities. As such, their merger will bring together a client base without much overlap — according to the statement, Bonfire has about 650 government agencies on board; DemandStar has about 1,300 and together they will have more than 1,900.
The combined network will also reach about 500,000 suppliers.
GTY, after spending close to four years on the stock market, went private via an acquisition by GI Partners in July. GI paid about $426 million total for the company. DemandStar is the first acquisition announced since that time.
DemandStar is one company that saw significant growth during the pandemic, with government agencies suddenly finding themselves in need of a way to conduct procurement for items they weren’t used to buying, and to do so quickly.
