Emergence is proud to announce the acquisition of ServiceMax by GE. We were very fortunate to have partnered with the amazing team at ServiceMax as the lead investor from the beginning and wanted to share some of the key milestones along the way. ServiceMax was recently recognized as the leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for field service management and one of 25 companies selected as the "Next $1 Billion" company by Forbes.

That prognostication by Forbes came true with the recent announcement of the acquisition of ServiceMax by GE for $1 billion (includes net cash). A Brief History

Emergence has been pursuing an investment thesis around the mobile enterprise for many years now. The basic thesis is that new SaaS applications, enabled by mobile devices, would empower the 80% of the global workforce of deskless workers with new productivity tools and applications. We also believe cloud platforms offered by Salesforce, and now others like Amazon, Google and Microsoft, enable new companies to get to market faster and more capital efficiently. ServiceMax combined these two major trends and took advantage of both mobile and cloud platforms to transform the way field service was delivered for some of the largest and most successful industrial companies in the world.

In 2008, ServiceMax (then called Maxplore) won the first Force.com developer contest, sponsored and judged by Emergence Capital in partnership with Salesforce. Emergence led a $2 million Series A investment, partnering with founders Athani Krishna, Hari Subramanian and Sam Mukherjee and joined the Board as the first investor. With the support of the founders, we were able to attract the former VP Global Sales at SuccessFactors (another Emergence portfolio company), Dave Yarnold, to join the company as CEO. Dave worked closely with the founders to build a world class team and an enterprise product and services offering. ServiceMax went on to raise over $200 million in six rounds of equity financings from Emergence and a great set of co-investors and strategic partners including Salesforce, PTC and GE. Dave and team brought the enterprise DNA that allowed the company to close deals with some of the largest industrial companies in the world such as GE, Siemens, Schneider Electric, Pitney Bowes and Tyco among many others.

GE comes calling

The company enjoyed six straight years of compounding 100% growth and became the acknowledged leader in the industry. When GE explained their vision for GE Digital and their transformation from an industrial to a digital company, ServiceMax seemed like a natural fit for their bold ambitions. Like most great M&A outcomes, we were not looking for a buyer when GE expressed interest. We built and funded ServiceMax with the intention of growing a successful independent, public company. GE made a compelling case for the potential of the combined companies to accelerate impact and we soon came to terms on a great outcome for GE, for management and for shareholders.

A huge congrats to Dave, Athani, Hari, Scott, Rick and the entire ServiceMax team that made it all happen. Nothing makes us happier at Emergence than helping founders turn their dreams into reality and building leaders in their industry. It makes it extra special to work with great leaders like Dave Yarnold now for the second time building a billion + SaaS business together. We are so proud of the eight year journey with ServiceMax and look forward to seeing their tremendous impact now as part of GE Digital.