Former founder of WooThemes Sells Conversio for Over $6.7m

TechInAfrica — Adii Pienaar, a South African entrepreneur, who previously helped launch WooThemes before the acquisition with Automattic for a reported amount of more than $30 million, has recently announced that his startup, Conversio has been acquired. The acquisition was done by the CM Group for a reported amount of more than R100 million (over $6.7 million).

CM Group is a Nashville-based firm that has a family of global marketing technology brands. According to an article in May by The Nashville Post, the firm noted the latest annual revenue of approximately $6.3 million employs more than 700 employees.

Pienaar, who founded Conversio in 2014, made the announcement in a blog post earlier this October that his startup will rebrand to become CM Commerce.

Conversio claims to simplify e-commerce email marketing, allowing clients to “meaningfully” connect with customers from their “inbox to the shopping cart and beyond, automatically”.

However, the investor, who took part in a 2015 angel investment round in Conversio of over $500,000, whose name was undisclosed, said the startup was acquired for over R100 million.

Read also: These SA Founders Successfully Sold Their Startups to A Silicon Valley Firm

Pienaar said he would be staying on with the startup’s current 12-member team based in the US, Canada, and Europe. “I will still be leading the product and team,” he said.

While he said he had no plans to relocate to the US, he would not reveal for how long he would be staying at CM Group. He also added that this forms part of the terms and conditions of the deal, which he cannot reveal.

Pienaar said the deal came about as CM Group was looking for a product that services the area of e-commerce, and Conversio fulfills the need.

In 2008 Pienaar started WooThemes, a maker of themes and plugins for microblogging site WordPress, with Magnus Jepson and Mark Forrester.

According to a statement, the Cape Town-based startup, with its sister site WooCommerce, was sold in 2015 to a web development company, Automattic, in a deal measured to be worth more than $30million.

Source: ventureburn.com