Constant Contact, a company known for providing email marketing services for small businesses, has just been acquired by one of the largest providers of hosting and other online business services. The acquisition was valued at $1.1 billion.
Endurance International is announcing the completion of the acquisition of Constant Contact firstannounced in November 2015. Both are based in Massachusetts and have deep connections with the small business community.
Gail Goodman, CEO of Constant Contact, said in an interview with Small Business Trends, “Our roots go way back. As early as 1999, when Endurance International was still called BizLand, we were part of a CEO breakfast group.”
Constant Contact was founded in 1995 as Roving Software. Back then, email was just a way to communicate with friends, but the company foresaw that email could be a useful tool in marketing. The company saw rapid growth and added new products such as Event Marketing and Social Campaigns. Constant Contact also eventually opened offices in San Francisco and the U.K.
Goodman says that by combining the two companies, there is potential to help small businesses build a contact list from day one.
Hari Ravichandran, president and chief executive officer of Endurance, agrees.
He adds, “We know that once small businesses have a Web presence, they look for other products and services that will help them to grow their business. We see an opportunity to help our growing subscriber base meet their goals through an integrated suite of solutions, and we are excited to add this talented team to our roster.”
Endurance International, founded in 1997 as BizLand, began a Web hosting business. The company grew over the years by acquiring others, such as Accel-KKR and GS Capitals.
The company’s stable of brands now includes HostGator, BlueHost, Typepad, Mojo Marketplace, SEO Gears, iPage and more.
Acquired companies have been kept operating under their original brands, as is intended to be the case with Constant Contact. In an email to friends and supporters following the announcement, Goodman announced her attention to leave the company to do some consulting and reconnect with the Boston startup community.
[“source-smallbiztrends”]
