Sitecore Announces Intention to Acquire Hedgehog, Plans Expanded Support for Partner Ecosystem to Help Accelerate Digital Transformation Initiatives for Customers

Acquisition Will Speed Sitecore’s Growth and Augment Partner Capabilities with Additional Services, Support, and Training for Sitecore Experience Commerce and Sitecore Content Hub

Sitecore, the global leader in digital experience management software, announced its intention to acquire Hedgehog Development, a customer and partner-focused digital consultancy. The acquisition will accelerate Sitecore’s growth and bolster the people, technology, and services resources supporting Sitecore Solution Partners as they continue to solve customers’ most critical digital transformation challenges.

“Sitecore’s success has been built hand-in-hand with our dedicated partners. The addition of Hedgehog strengthens this community and supports Sitecore’s revenue growth, as well as the growth of our partners,” said Mark Frost, CEO of Sitecore. “With Hedgehog, we add a team that brings an innovative culture and critical front-line implementation expertise that increases our ability to scale in the key areas of services, training, and support. These new resources will improve our ability to help customers accelerate their digital transformation, maximize their Sitecore investments, and realize the full potential of important Sitecore features such as advanced personalization.”

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Hedgehog has a long history of commitment to Sitecore technology, as well as ongoing support of the Sitecore community. The company was the first agency to become an Implementation and Technology partner with Sitecore and, in 2014, was awarded the first lifetime Sitecore Partner Community Contribution Award in recognition of their landmark contribution to organizing and executing the Sitecore Virtual Summit. With an already existing deep expertise in Sitecore technology, Hedgehog will enable Sitecore and its Sitecore Solution Partners to quickly:

• Increase the scale of Sitecore Professional Services and SBOS: Hedgehog will add significant expertise to immediately broaden the capabilities of Sitecore Professional Services and SBOS as well as augment Sitecore Solution Partners’ design, strategy, and implementation services. This will help customers speed deployment time, minimize unnecessary costs, and overcome complexity in their IT environment.
• Expand developer tooling: Hedgehog is the creator of the widely-used Team Development for Sitecore Essential Suite of products, which help reduce deployment time, improve productivity, and ease implementations for Sitecore Solutions. Sitecore intends to incorporate these tools more deeply within its product offerings. In particular, partners and customers will benefit from greater access to TDS Classic, which reduces deployment time and helps ensure alignment to Sitecore best practices, and Avtor, which improves productivity and usability for Sitecore content editors and strategists.
• Enhance training capabilities: To rapidly accelerate Sitecore Solution Partners’ time-to-proficiency and simplify the path to become Sitecore experts on newer product offerings, Hedgehog’s product implementation expertise will supplement Sitecore’s education and certification programs to train, mentor, and support partners on products such as Sitecore Experience Commerce™ and Sitecore Content Hub™.
• Strengthen partner enablement programs: Hedgehog adds to Sitecore’s capacity to enable partners across geographies, particularly in areas including improved documentation and training on best practices.

“We are very excited about continuing our journey with a company that appreciates our culture, reflects our values, and shares our vision to help customers transform their businesses so they can meet the digital requirements of today and the future,” said Dan Galvez, CEO of Hedgehog. “Moreover, we value the relationships Sitecore has built with its implementation partners and we look forward to the opportunity to extend our support for the Sitecore community. Most of all, we are ready to join Sitecore to help deliver the best possible experience and outcomes for our customers and partners.”

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According to Sitecore Solution Partner EPAM, “With the acquisition of Hedgehog, Sitecore will be better positioned to help EPAM meet our customers’ complex demands by unlocking the full potential of Sitecore’s platform,” said Elaina Shekhter, CMO & head of strategy of EPAM. “We have a truly strategic digital partnership with Sitecore and a shared vision of improving and elevating a full range of digital experiences. We welcome the advisory and deep product capabilities the Hedgehog acquisition will bring to EPAM, our customers, and the entire Sitecore community.”

Sitecore’s acquisition of Hedgehog is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in June of 2019. Financial terms were not disclosed. Upon closing of the transaction, Hedgehog’s more than 80 employees will become part of Sitecore, including the Hedgehog leadership team.

CG Petsky Prunier, part of the Canaccord Genuity Group, served as the exclusive financial advisor to Hedgehog Development LLC.

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