Acquia Continues Rapid Growth with Plans to Acquire Widen

Today Acquia announced that we have agreed to acquire Widen, a recognized leader in digital asset management (DAM) and product information management (PIM) solutions. We’re delighted to welcome Widen employees and customers to Acquia and to introduce the company’s solutions to thousands of customers worldwide. 

This is Acquia’s fourth and largest acquisition in the past two years and will help us accelerate development of the industry’s only open digital experience platform.

Widen solutions will make it simple for Acquia Open DXP users to add brand and product content to any digital customer experience and manage it at scale. The company’s focus on managing content and the marketing workflow surrounding rich media and product information complements Acquia’s and makes Widen an ideal fit.

Over the past year and a half, organizations across nearly every industry have undergone digital transformation to respond to new ways of doing business and delivering services. We’ve heard from our customers that their top response to this challenge has been creating volumes of content that can be quickly composed into personalized digital experiences, based on the interest and preferences of individual customers. 

In a recent survey Acquia conducted of 800 marketers globally, we learned that 45% have implemented a DAM solution in the past 18 months alone to help manage the flow of rich media across their organizations.

Acquia dominates our industry in ability to manage textual content across organizations and websites. With the acquisition of Widen, we enhance our ability to infuse that content with assets such as graphics, videos, charts and graphs, presentations and PDFs, brochures and sell sheets, and memes and social images. We will immediately invest in tightly integrating the Widen DAM with Acquia Open DXP, and in accelerating Widen R&D to rapidly bring the combined solution to Acquia customers.

The Widen PIM, built on the Widen DAM, is unique in the industry and will become another strategic differentiator for Acquia Open DXP. The ability to manage product information such as size, color, weight, dimensions, materials, SKUs and more—and to enhance product info with marketing copy and media such as video demos—is critical to organizations across sectors including retail, healthcare, education, technology, telecom and more. 

Widen’s focus on technical innovation is matched by its commitment to customer satisfaction. A stellar 95% renewal rate among its 700 enterprise customers sets the company apart. Customers include brands like household appliance leader Dyson, Carnival Cruise Line, Crayola, major sports merchandiser Fanatics, Progressive insurance and optics technology leader Zeiss.

Widen’s investment in their people matches our own, and creates a strong cultural fit that is a highlight of this acquisition. Acquia has hired 500 people so far this year and plans to continue this rapid pace. We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Widen’s employees and to make the company’s home base of Madison, Wisconsin, a new Acquia center of excellence. 

We look forward to continuing to invest in our customers, employees and Acquia Open DXP together.