German software giant SAP inks deal to buy Israel’s WalkMe for $1.5 billion
SAP says acquiring platform will complement its business management portfolio and help customers in the digital transformation of their business and operations
Sharon Wrobel is a tech reporter for The Times of Israel.
German business software maker SAP has inked an agreement to buy Israel’s WalkMe Ltd., a developer of a digital adoption platform, in a deal worth $1.5 billion.
Under the terms of the agreement, SAP will pay $14 per share in an all-cash transaction, or a total equity value of about $1.5 billion for WalkMe. The offer price represents a 45 percent premium to the Tel Aviv startup’s closing share price on June 4, but is lower than its market cap of $886 million.
Founded in 2011 by CEO Dan Adika, President Rephael Sweary, Eyal Cohen and Yuval Shalom Ozanna, WalkMe started as a maker of software that helps website owners and software developers create interactive onscreen guidance for users to complete complex tasks.
Traded on the Nasdaq since 2021, the startup in recent years developed a cloud-based user interface for the adoption of multiple digital assets, that is geared to facilitate software learning and improve workflows for employees. The digital adoption platform can be tailored to provide guidance to users such as software training for new apps, or to on-board new employees.
“Applications, processes, data and people are the four key elements of a successful business transformation,” said SAP CEO Christian Klein. “By acquiring WalkMe, we are doubling down on the support we provide our end users, helping them to quickly adopt new solutions and features to get the maximum value out of their IT investments.”
WalkMe’s AI and machine learning platform is layered on top of other software products, mobile apps, or websites to assist its users — employees and customers of businesses – to quickly adapt to new technologies. The platform is fed contextual information to provide tailored guidance and automate tasks in real time based on each user’s needs. It collects data analytics to track user behavior for businesses to better understand how employees use the software.
SAP said WalkMe’s platform complements its business management portfolio, which offers solutions to help customers in the digital transformation of their business and operations.
WalkMe has about 1,000 employees of which 400 are working at its corporate headquarters in Tel Aviv and the remainder at its office in San Francisco. Among its more than 2,000 clients are the US Department of Defense and some 35% of Fortune 500 companies, including IBM, Nestle, LinkedIn, Adobe and PayPal.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2024. Upon closure, WalkMe will continue as an independent entity within SAP, and will be affiliated to the software maker’s business transformation division.
SAP has been operating SAP Labs, an R&D center, in Israel since 1998, employing some 900 developers, mostly at its headquarters in Ra’anana and at another center in Tel Aviv.
The software maker is among a handful of global tech giants that in recent months have been granting cash payments to their employees in Israel to help them cope with the challenges they are facing during the ongoing war with Hamas, that erupted following the October 7 assault by the terror group on southern communities.
