Apptentive sold to KKR-backed Alchemer as customer-feedback software consolidated

Apptentive helped mobile app makers run in-app surveys and rating prompts; buyer Alchemer (formerly SurveyGizmo) aggregates customer and employee feedback for 13,000 companies including Verizon and FedEx.

$17M raised from Grayhawk Capital, Origin Ventures, Momentive (formerly SurveyMonkey), Founders' Co-op, Golden Ventures, Social Leverage, Cercano Management, Blossom Street Ventures and Seattle angels.

Robi Ganguly founded Apptentive in 2011 with Sky Kelsey, Mike Saffitz and Andrew Wooster on the belief that the ubiquity of the phone meant every company and customer could be connected in new ways. It graduated from Techstars Seattle in 2012 and grew into in-app surveys and rating prompts for brands like Alaska Airlines, Safeway and CNN, raising $17M along the way.

Alchemer, a Louisville, Colorado survey platform founded in 2006, raised capital from KKR in May 2022 in part to find a startup to acquire. In January 2023 it bought Apptentive for an undisclosed sum. Ganguly called Apptentive's most recent quarter 'exceptional' and said the company was 'sought after' by acquirers: 'The era of growth at all costs is over — today companies need to tend to their customers and keep them happy.'

Ganguly joined Alchemer's executive team as general manager of its mobile business, a majority of Apptentive's employees moved over, and Apptentive's technology began folding into Alchemer's survey and workflow platform.

Macro turned retention into the priority: Ganguly said feedback and CX matter more now that 'the era of growth at all costs is over'.

Alchemer raised KKR capital in May 2022 in part to buy — this was consolidation executed with money raised for the purpose.

Product logic closed the loop: Alchemer owned survey workflows, Apptentive owned the in-app moment, together spanning the whole customer relationship.

When your category consolidates, being 'sought after' is leverage: Apptentive sold into a platform that needed mobile reach, not to a rescue buyer.

As of the January 4, 2023 announcement, integration was beginning: Apptentive customers would gain access to Alchemer's survey and workflow products, Alchemer's customers a new way to collect mobile feedback, with Ganguly as GM of mobile and most of the team staying on.