NetSuite acquires most of Verenia, the CPQ and CRM vendor

In a brief statement, Oracle revealed that it would acquire the NetSuite business of Verenia, the CPQ and CRM vendor. The full statement says:

“On January 4, 2022, Oracle announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Verenia’s NetSuite CPQ business. This acquisition will bring NetSuite customers native configure, price and quote (CPQ) functionality to enable fast and accurate guided selling. Verenia’s non-NetSuite CPQ and CRM product lines and customers are retained by Verenia LLC.”

Jason Maynard, SVP Global Field Operations at Oracle NetSuite, in a LinkedIn post commented, “Happy New Year. We’re kicking off 2022 with the exciting news that we are broadening the suite. Today we announced the acquisition of Verenia to expand our category into CPQ (configure, price, and quote). This acquisition will bring NetSuite customers native CPQ functionality to enable fast and accurate guided selling.”

Victorio Pellicano, founder and CEO of Verenia, stated in a longer post stated: “I am humbled to announce that after nearly 10 years of leading the #CPQ category and making manufacturers, NetSuite customers, and – most importantly –  Verenians, happy, Verenia has entered into an agreement with one of the greatest tech companies the world has ever known – Oracle – to sell its NetSuite CPQ business.”

He then added, “I’m looking forward to starting the next chapter together with you at Oracle NetSuite!”

The inference is that Pellicano himself will join Oracle NetSuite as part of the deal. What this means for customers not on the NetSuite platform and using Verenia is unclear.

What is NetSuite buying

NetSuite is buying the full suite of Verenia intellectual property on the NetSuite platform. For NetSuite, it gains a sophisticated 3D product visualisation CPQ solution. Will it become SuiteCPQ? Currently, that is unclear. Oracle also made it clear that it is reviewing the current Verenia roadmap.

Verenia CPQ is a mature product and will certainly uplift the NetSuite features in this area. Another question is what it will do with the Verenia CRM. This module was developed by Verenia and launched at Suiteworld 2019.

Pellicano believes Verenia CRM is more sales leader friendly than the NetSuite CRM interface, rather than the finance friendly interface that NetSuite had at that time. It will be interesting to see how much of the Verenia IP is integrated into NetSuite and what the next NetSuite update will include from the Verenia stable

The acquisition has echos of the acquisition of KBMax by Epicor and sees further consolidation in the CPQ market. In a recent interview with Enterprise Times Bo Gyldenvang, CEO at Tacton noted this trend.

So why did Verenia sell? Its growth seems to have stalled in recent months. Certainly, it has made few announcements over the last year. It’s most recent was in January 2021, according to its website. It is perhaps not the exit that Pellicano hoped for, but it seems good one for customers and staff alike.

Enterprise Times: What does this mean

Potentially this is good news for Verenia customers and NetSuite customers. The question for many will be whether the pricing will change for the solution. CPQ is likely to remain a separately costed item and help pay for the acquisition.

The Verenia Configurator CPQ for NetSuite will likely become a SuiteApp. The bigger question is whether Guided Selling for NetSuite will also become a separate module or enhance the existing NetSuite CRM. The latter might be a good move as it would help the company compete better on CRM focused deals.

With no significant announcement from NetSuite about their intentions, there is more to learn from this story. Enterprise Times has contacted NetSuite to find out more. Neither party disclosed the terms of the deal nor when it would close.

It is Oracle’s third acquisition announcement in as many weeks. The first was Cerner which hit the headlines worldwide. Then there was an announcement about Federos which also gained some coverage. However, the Verenia one almost slipped through unnoticed.