SAP Buys Behavioral Marketing Firm SeeWhy

Software giant SAP is to acquire SeeWhy, a provider of cloud-based behavioral targeting solutions with offices in the UK and US. The buy will enhance SAP's hybris real-time personalised marketing platform.

SeeWhy was founded in Windsor, Berks, UK in 2003 by Charles Nicholls, but the headquarters was later moved to Andover, MA, USA, and Scott Silk (pictured) was appointed as CEO in 2009. The firm's behavioral marketing solutions, including the flagship CORE platform, trigger marketing messages through a variety of media and based on individual customers' behavior, including 'recovery' of sales after potential customers leave sites without purchasing. SeeWhy claims its solutions 'recover more than US$500m annually in lost sales for many of the world's leading companies.'

hybris' CEO Ariel Lüdi and President and co-founder Carsten Thoma say SeeWhy's solutions are 'a natural fit with hybris and SAP and promise even higher returns for customers' investments', adding: 'This acquisition provides a fast-growing cloud business that will enable the next-generation platform for engaging customers and digital commerce.'

Silk and Nicholls said in a statement: 'The combination of SeeWhy's market-disruptive products with SAP, the industry's leader in real-time business, will allow us to reach new customers, sources of data and markets to continue our growth trajectory.'

The transaction is subject to regulatory and other closing conditions and should complete before the end of June.

Web sites: www.sap.com and www.seewhy.com .