Vista Equity Partners Acquires Majority Interest in DevOps Leader Sonatype

Partnership to Accelerate Global Growth and Innovation for Automating Open Source Governance and Software Supply Chain Hygiene

Sonatype, the company that scales DevOps through open source governance and software supply chain automation, announced it has signed a definitive agreement to receive a majority investment from Vista Equity Partners (“Vista”), a leading investment firm focused on empowering and growing enterprise software, data and technology-enabled companies that are reinventing industries and catalyzing change. The partnership with Vista will allow Sonatype to further fast-track growth and enhance its Nexus product portfolio. Several of Sonatype’s existing investors will retain a stake in the company.

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“Vista’s standing as the preeminent investment firm and their commitment to growth and innovation perfectly aligns with our passion for helping businesses build software faster and more securely,” said Wayne Jackson, CEO of Sonatype. “This acquisition is a testament to our outstanding team and clear validation of our vision, strategy, and execution in empowering developers to leverage the power of open source, while optimizing the hygiene of their software supply chain.”

Sonatype has been one of the fastest growing companies in North America, with annual revenue growth close to 250% over the past three years. More than 60 of the Fortune 100 companies depend on Sonatype’s Nexus products and OSS solutions to automate the modern software supply chain including, 8 of the top 10 US and European banks, 8 of the top 10 US credit card companies, 7 of the top 10 US tech companies, and 4 out of 5 U.S. Armed Forces.

Sonatype is the world’s premier provider of open source health and hygiene data, called Nexus Intelligence. This data is aggregated from a vast number of public and private sources utilizing sophisticated machine learning and artificial intelligence. It is then curated with human expertise and infused into a suite of Nexus products to help software engineering teams make better decisions, innovate faster, and rest comfortably knowing that their applications always consist of the highest quality open source components.

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“Open source tools are an invaluable resource that enable companies and developers to keep up with the demand to deliver software applications at a rapidly accelerating pace,” said Patrick Severson, Principal at Vista Equity Partners. “Wayne and his team have built an impressive business and an innovative portfolio of products that empower software development teams to continuously innovate responsibly and with the highest quality and most secure open source across every stage of the digital supply chain. We are pleased to partner with Sonatype as they continue to grow their company in the large and rapidly expanding DevOps market.”

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Sonatype, and King & Spalding LLP and Morrison & Foerster LLP served as the company’s legal advisors. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Vista, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor to the firm.

Sonatype is the leader in software supply chain automation technology with more than 300 employees, over 1,000 enterprise customers, and is trusted by over 10 million software developers.  Sonatype’s Nexus platform enables DevOps teams and developers to automatically integrate security at every stage of the modern development pipeline by combining in-depth component intelligence with real-time remediation guidance.