By Spencer Feingold

SurveyMonkey, the survey software company, is set to acquire the Dutch technology company Usabilla for $80 million as part of its first major expansion since going public last year.

The acquisition accelerates SurveyMonkey’s goal of expanding into Europe and into the enterprise feedback market, the company’s president, Tom Hale, told Cheddar on Tuesday.

“We saw them and they saw us. It was a match made in heaven,” Hale said.

Based in Amsterdam, Usabilla is a Voice of Customer (VoC) technology provider that works with brands to collect and analyze real-time user feedback and customer experience. Usabilla clients include major companies including Lufthansa, Vodafone, Tommy Hilfiger, and Toyota.

SurveyMonkey was founded in 1999 with its first create-your-own online survey service. Today, the company has over 17.5 million active users globally and more than 850 employees. It began trading on the Nasdaq stock market in August 2018, although it has experienced fluctuating stock prices following the expiration of its post-IPO lock-up period.

“One of the express reasons that we went public was to have a currency so we can make acquisitions,” Hale added.

“There is a lot of opportunity for SurveyMonkey to be sold to the Usabilla base,” Hale noted. But the “revenue synergy,” as Hale put it, goes both ways.

"SurveyMonkey's global reach in over 345,000 organizations, strong brand recognition, and sales expertise will accelerate our growth in new markets and verticals," said Usabilla CEO Marc van Agteren in a press release.

SurveyMonkey will acquire Usabilla with a mix of cash and equity. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2019.

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