Yellowfin acquired by B2B software specialist Idera

Yellowfin was acquired by Idera Inc., the parent company of 30 B2B software vendors.

Financial terms of the acquisition, finalized Jan. 28, were not disclosed.

Yellowfin, founded in 2003 and based in Melbourne, Australia, is an analytics vendor with more than 3 million end users. Its wide-ranging platform's advanced capabilities include embedded analytics, natural language processing and data storytelling.

Its most recent platform update, unveiled in December, featured a new natural language query tool, data governance and application programming interface capabilities, and an updated mobile app experience.

Idera, meanwhile, was founded in 2000 and is based in Houston.

The company owns brands focused on three divisions -- data tools, developer tools and DevOps tools -- and has more than 50,000 customers worldwide. Yellowfin will become part of Idera's developer tools business, joining Apilayer, Embarcadero, Filestack, Froala, FusionCharts, LANSA, Sencha, UltraEdit and Whole Tomato.

By becoming part of Idera, Yellowfin hopes to reach a broader customer base, founder and CEO Glen Rabie said in a release.

Similarly, Atanas Popov, general manager of Idera's developer tools business, said in an email to TechTarget that Yellowfin had been seeking strategic partners to accelerate its growth -- particularly in the U.S. -- and the acquisition will enable Yellowfin to reach more potential customers.

"The deal provides scale and resources for continued growth," he said. "Idera is one of the larger private software companies in the U.S. with multiple brands, opening collaboration and cross-sell opportunities."

In particular, he noted that some Idera brands will mesh well with Yellowfin.

FusionCharts will provide new visualization options for the Yellowfin platform; WhereScape will provide the opportunity to build in automation capabilities; and Idera's developer tools businesses can accelerate the development of Yellowfin's embedded analytics features.

Yellowfin is a recognized visionary in the BI space with an outstanding set of products. However, it lacks the scale of some of its competitors. That is no longer the case.

"Idera brings significant resources and stability to the business," Popov said. "Yellowfin is a recognized visionary in the BI space, with an outstanding set of products.

"However, it lacks the scale of some of its competitors," he continued. "That is no longer the case. Idera also could bring new features and capabilities through Yellowfin's new sister brands."

Meanwhile, Yellowfin was an attractive acquisition target for Idera because of its application development capabilities in particular, according to Popov.

Given the scale Yellowfin inherits by becoming a subsidiary of Idera, and the advanced embedded analytics capabilities Yellowfin adds to Idera's portfolio, the deal is a good one for both companies, according to Donald Farmer, founder and principal of TreeHive Strategy.

"Tellingly, Idera describes Yellowfin as a 'next-generation' embedded data analytics and business intelligence platform' and it's going into Idera's developer tools business," he said. "We can see a strong emphasis there on Yellowfin's embeddable features enabling Idera to build out a complete stack, with Yellowfin complementing WhereScape, Embarcadero and Qubole. This is a great acquisition for Idera."

Meanwhile, by joining forces with Idera, Yellowfin will no longer have to fight on its own for market share against bigger competitors such as Microsoft's Power BI, Tableau and Qlik, which are backed by large parent companies.

"It's tough for a small company to compete under those conditions," Farmer said. "Yellowfin did mighty work with very innovative features. This acquisition enables them to focus more on their innovation and less on trying to support every platform a customer may request."

Farmer added that Yellowfin customers shouldn't worry about any significant changes to the vendor's platform now that it's part of Idera.

In fact, it should inspire confidence.

"For Yellowfin customers, this should bring stability and confidence to their future plans and -- no doubt after the dust has settled from the acquisition -- more innovation to come," he said.

Popov similarly said Idera values Yellowfin's innovative culture and hopes to accelerate the analytics vendor's growth rather than stifle it.

"Idera places significant value on great products, and Yellowfin is a perfect match," he said. "We have deep [independent software vendor] and [system integrator] relationships that will accelerate Yellowfin's growth. We like the path that Yellowfin is on, and our goal is to continue on it, faster."

DC Advisory acted as the sole advisor to Yellowfin during its sale to Idera.