Acquisition will accelerate Zuora’s leadership in the media industry and future platform innovation

Zuora, Inc., the leading cloud-based subscription management platform provider, announced its planned acquisition of Zephr, a leading subscription experience platform used by global digital publishing and media companies. As an existing Zuora partner, Zephr’s pre-integrated solution is in use today by joint customers, and will immediately expand Zuora’s product suite.

“This is what combining Zuora and Zephr is about. We’re thrilled to welcome our fellow ZEOs into the family.”

The media and publishing industry is thriving as companies continuously roll out and monetize new digital service offerings in response to evolving subscriber demands. Zuora has established a leading position in this space, with customers including Bloomberg, DAZN, Guardian News & Media, and Penske Media Corporation (PMC). With the addition of Zephr, the combined solution will create an expanded opportunity in media and beyond.

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Zephr’s platform powers nearly eight billion requests a month, with capabilities including identity management, intelligent trials, dynamic paywalls, entitlements management, and a decision engine that helps deliver experiences that are personalized for every subscriber. When combined with data from Zuora’s Billing, Collect, and Revenue systems – tens of billions of dollars of transaction volume each quarter – the resulting solution will empower companies across industries to nurture and monetize their subscriber relationships by better understanding their behaviors, experimenting with the right digital offerings, and optimizing their digital experiences.

For companies in the Subscription Economy, the ability to quickly launch and experiment with new digital services is critical. According to research by Zuora’s Subscribed Institute, the fastest-growing media companies iterate their pricing and packaging twice as often¹ as their industry peers. But most companies are bogged down by static, outdated systems that slow down their ability to respond to changing subscriber expectations. Adding Zephr to Zuora’s product suite will give companies the agility they need to meet these ever-changing demands – ultimately driving subscriber conversion, retention, and growth.

“The winners in the media industry are those continuously innovating around new services, bundles, and offers. And where the media industry goes, other industries will follow,” said Tien Tzuo, CEO and Founder at Zuora. “This is what combining Zuora and Zephr is about. We’re thrilled to welcome our fellow ZEOs into the family.”

“Our focus has been on giving our customers the agility they need to deliver the experiences that modern customers expect – it starts from the first digital interaction, to conversion, to renewal,” said James Henderson, CEO at Zephr. “It was a clear decision to join Zuora to accelerate where our platform is headed, and empower all of our customers to nurture and monetize their subscriber relationships.”

Founded in 2018 by James Henderson and Chris Scott, Zephr launched as a subscription experience platform focused on accelerating revenue growth, with customers including News Corp, McClatchy, and Bauer. Upon closing, Zephr will become a part of Zuora’s existing product suite, alongside Zuora Billing, Zuora Revenue, and Zuora Collect. Zephr employees will join Zuora to continue advancing innovation and the success of the combined customer base.

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