That comes via the acquisition of Cartegraph, an Iowa-based firm founded in 1994 that sells cloud-based software to help government agencies, utilities and schools manage assets and associated operations including maintenance.
Clients can use the company’s products for capital planning, right-of-way permitting, service requests, safety programs, work orders and other tasks.
The deal marks OpenGov’s entry into operations and asset management for state and local governments, Matt Singer, chief marketing officer for OpenGov, told Government Technology. The deal also reportedly underscores the unicorn valuation of OpenGov.
Terms were not disclosed. The acquisition will close around Labor Day, Singer said.
DEAL DRIVERS
Other factors include the changing nature of state and local government workforces — not only via remote and hybrid work but the retirement of baby boomers — along with increasing cybersecurity concerns and ongoing replacement of older technology in the public sector.
“With this acquisition, we are bringing together two incredible, mission-driven teams to meet the needs of the public sector, now and for the future,” said OpenGov co-founder and CEO Zac Bookman in a statement announcing the deal. “There has never been a better time to modernize our nation’s governments, and we have been investing to grow the OpenGov Cloud to ensure that every government leader has the best solutions to serve the critical needs of their (and our) communities.”
BIGGER PICTURE
The Cartegraph deal involves two prominent players in the gov tech space and stands as one of many recent mergers and acquisitions in the industry. The deal reportedly gives OpenGov a valuation of $1.25 billion, as reported by Bloomberg — another sign of how hot the gov tech industry has become in recent years even as that tech workforce undergoes changes that could prove significant.
As all that happens, OpenGov — like other gov tech firms — is seeking to position itself as an essential partner for local and state agencies as they plan how to best spend that federal infrastructure money, modernize their technology and processes and deal with other trends and shifts.
More specifically, Cartegraph offers the 10-year-old OpenGov a way to win more business anchored around operations and infrastructure management for public works, utilities, parks and other facilities.
“As we sought a partner for the next chapter of Cartegraph’s growth, we looked for a team with three key components: aligned vision and values, a commitment to customer success and building modern cloud-first solutions and a desire to accelerate our current, exceptional momentum through increased investment,” said Josh Mallamud, Cartegraph’s CEO, in the statement announcing the deal.
Singer told Government Technology that OpenGov is keeping the workforce from Cartegraph, which has some 600 customers. OpenGov, with about 1,200 clients, eventually will dissolve the Cartegraph product name as that company’s technology integrates into the OpenGov platform, as has been the case with previous acquisitions.
As for this newest deal, “it’s a huge milestone for us as we create a suite of cloud solutions,” he said.
Editor's note: A sentence has been edited to clarify that OpenGov intends to rename the Cartegraph product and not necessarily the company.
