Portt acquired by British software and services provider Advanced 

Another Australian procurement tech company has received major backing, with Portt being acquired by British software and services provider Advanced. 

Portt, the fastest growing provider of SaaS procurement, contract and supplier management solutions in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) boasts clients including NSW Health, Ministry of Education and Super Retail Group. 

Portt’s team, with offices in Sydney and Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam manages more than 63,000 private and public sector suppliers across ANZ. 

The company has a fast-growing user base of more than 9000 customers.  

The deal evolved from a partnership with Advanced in the UK public and private sectors.

Portt is an intelligent procurement, contracts and supplier management platform helping customers streamline processes and unlocking the strategic potential of procurement and commercial teams. It is tailored to fit the specific requirements of each customer. 

Global procurement software in for a bumper year

The global procurement software application market is predicted to grow by 17% this year – a value of US$14bn. 

Contract lifecycle management and spend analytics are predicted to enjoy the fastest growth at 20%, as organisations look to streamline costs and be more efficient post-pandemic. 

As well as doubling its footprint in Australia, the acquisition extends Advanced’s Spend Management capability centred around eMarketplace and builds on the recent acquisition of CloudTrade, a data capture and document automation solution, to handle the entire contract lifecycle, further strengthening Advanced’s Spend Management offering as well as its overall composable ERP suite comprising Finance, Spend and People management solutions delivered through its recently launched unified cloud application platform, MyWorkplace.

Chris Holmes, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Portt said the acquisition was a proud moment for the company founded in 2010.  

“We are extremely proud of what we have achieved with Portt. As a rapidly growing sourcing, contract, and supplier management platform, Portt believes heavily in the strength of innovation to drive value for the customer,” he said. 

“Being part of the Advanced family allows us to be a part of a best-of-breed financial and spend management software organisation, with our world class procurement technology, delivering a force multiplier to customers. We’re incredibly excited about working with Advanced to deliver real outcomes and value across the UK and ANZ procurement ecosystem.”

Fellow Co-CEO and Co-Founder Andre Pinkowski said the two companies complemented each other perfectly.

“The cultural fit between our two businesses is excellent – Advanced share many of the same philosophies as Portt around staff and investing in their development,” he said.  

“The acquisition will amplify what Chris and I have already worked hard to achieve, and we are confident that our people will jump at the great opportunity that exists being part of a larger organisation who share our values.”  

Andre said expansion beyond ANZ to the UK was a logical one. “The combination of Advanced’s strong UK presence with ambition to grow in ANZ, and our solid footprint in ANZ with ambition to expand to the UK makes it a win win,” he said. 

Also read: ICT Spend to hit $100 billion.

Commenting on the acquisition, Gordon Wilson, CEO of Advanced said: “The integration of their technology will allow our combined customers to realise greater business efficiencies and productivity within their teams, proactively driving business improvement and growth”  

This acquisition represents another significant step in our growth and international expansion strategy, He said the focus now would be building out a complete ERP offering comprising financial, spend and people management across the UK and ANZ.