This Research Note examines what’s behind the acquisition of UK-listed company, SmartSpace Software by visitor management software firm, Sign In Solutions, agreed by the shareholders on 18th April 2024. We review the bidding war started by Skedda, assess the terms of the offer, and highlight the respective businesses in workplace management solutions.

Competing Bids

On 12th December 2023, Smartspace Software said the board was considering Skedda Holding's latest GBP £25 million 82p per share takeover offer, having rejected a previous approach at a lower price.

Founded in 2013, Skedda is a Melbourne Australia-based provider of a space management and scheduling platform, serving over 12,000 customers and nearly two million users. The company competes specifically with SwipedOn, the New Zealand-based subsidiary of SmartSpace Software, which offers visitor management software. Backed by private equity, Skedda reports 54 employees on LinkedIn, with a 218% 2-year growth in headcount.

On 22^nd January 2024, Smartspace Software PLC received an indicative proposal for a potential 90p per share takeover offer by Sign In Solutions, owned by private equity firm, PSG. Skedda dropped out of the bidding in February 2024.

On 14^th March, SmartSpace Software confirmed their agreement for a potential 90p per share cash offer, valuing the entire share capital at approximately GBP £28.35 million.  Shareholders voted 97% in favor of a takeover at a meeting on 18^th April 2024.

SmartSpace Software revenue, y/e 31st January 2023 was reported as GBP £5.06 million, so the deal represents in the region of a 5.6x revenue exit multiple.

SmartSpace Software

Founded in 2000, SmartSpace Software Plc is a Bury St Edmunds, UK-based provider of workplace management software for smart buildings and commercial spaces. Their Saas-based software includes visitor management, desk management, meeting room management and analytics solutions.

The operating brands of the Group comprise Space Connect, SaaS meeting room and desk booking and SwipedOn, SaaS visitor management, and desk booking.

Our 2022 article on SmartSpace Software indicated the strategic move since 2018 which has lead to the momentum in its visitor management platform. Group strategy has shifted to focus on diversification into the self-serve and mid-range markets targeting small to mid-size customers who can deliver fast growing recurring SaaS revenue at higher margins.

Sign In Solutions

Sign In Solutions is a Florida-based visitor management software company which has been actively acquiring businesses in the workplace management software sector over the last three years.

Their first acquisition, Sign in App is SwipedOn’s main UK competitor. Further acquisitions include Sign In Enterprise (formerly Traction Guest), Sign In Compliance (formerly ThreatSwitch), Sign In Workspace (formerly Pronestor), Sign In Central Record (formerly SCR Tracker), and Sign In Scheduling (formerly 10to8), expanding its reach to more than 60 countries and 17,000 sites worldwide.

The Sign In Solutions offering aims to support midsize enterprises with a suite of cloud-based visitor management, workforce security, appointment scheduling and compliance checking tools to manage visitors and contractors across sites such as schools, offices and sports grounds. Their vision is to go beyond traditional visitor management, combining the comprehensive software and real-time analytics businesses need to mitigate risk.

This consolidation reflects an increasing trend in the visitor and workplace management software sectors for acquisitive growth enabled by the financial backing of private equity firms and accelerated by the growth in hybrid working models.

This article was written by Daphne Tomlinson, Senior Research Associate at Memoori.