E-sourcing veteran Scanmarket buys contract specialist Symfact to bolster CLM, risk management and S2C

The e-sourcing veteran Scanmarket today announced the acquisition of Symfact, a vendor focused on contract lifecycle management (CLM) and risk management. It’s a deal that can help Scanmarket with its source-to-contract (S2C) plans and expand its artificial intelligence capabilities.

Both procurement technology companies participate in Spend Matters’ SolutionMap rankings. Scanmarket is ranked specifically in the Sourcing category, and Symfact is solely in the CLM category. SolutionMap views the S2C category as a suite of strategic capabilities that include several categories: Sourcing, CLM, SXM and Analytics. So adding contracts clearly bolsters Scanmarket’s S2C plans. In February, Scanmarket acquired MIA Data to add to its spend analytics capabilities.

Denmark-based Scanmarket, founded in 1999, cited market expansion as a goal in acquiring Symfact, which is based in Switzerland and has 22 employees, according to a press release.

“This acquisition is a strategic move that underpins Scanmarket’s ambition to become the leader in the procurement marketplace and to expand Scanmarket’s product portfolio and geographical market reach,” Scanmarket CEO Betina Nygaard said in the release, which noted that the deal strengthens Scanmarket’s German-area coverage as well as North America, with an additional office in Canada.

Symfact, founded in 2002, also provides GRC that can help address today’s complex risk environment, as procurement, finance and legal organizations seek to address governance, risk and compliance more strategically.

Spend Matters analyst Nick Heinzmann wrote that Symfact “offers a well-tested CLM solution that also links to other GRC-related apps (e.g., legal entity management, third-party risk management). This of course extends well to procurement, as suppliers also are third parties that need to be managed for many risks, which makes Symfact an interesting potential partner for buy-side CLM beyond its legal/GRC roots.”

Spend Matters Founder Jason Busch said this deal is part of the “incredibly large volume of transactions in the procurement technology market as 2021 races to an end.”

He also sees how the deal will affect Scanmarket in this sector.

“Symfact brings additional CLM capability to Scanmarket as well as adjacent support for GRC, third-party risk and IP management, and will help the Nordic-based provider stand out in an increasingly crowded sourcing market in Europe and North America,” Busch said. “The addition of 175+ Symfact customers will help fuel up-sell/cross-sell as well, no doubt. We congratulate both parties on the transaction and look forward to covering the combination in more detail.”

In the coming days, look for Spend Matters PRO analyst coverage of this deal and how it affects the procurement technology market.

To learn more now about these vendors, read our PRO analyst research:

• Scanmarket: Vendor Analysis, 2020 Update (Part 1) — Background & Solution Overview [PRO]
• Scanmarket: Vendor Analysis, 2020 Update (Part 2) — Product Strengths and Weaknesses, Tech Selection Tips [PRO]
• Scanmarket: Vendor Analysis, 2020 Update (Part 3) — Competitors and Market Overview, Analyst Summary [PRO]
• Symfact: Vendor Analysis — Solution Overview, Strengths/Weaknesses, Company SWOT, Tech Selection Tips [PRO]
• The Symfact customer experience: What Makes It Great (Contract Lifecycle Management SolutionMap analysis) [PRO]