Impartner Expands Channel Enablement Solution Offering With Acquisition Of TIE Kinetix’s TCMA Business

Impartner, a pure-play partner relationship management (PRM) and channel management platform provider, will acquire the through-channel marketing automation (TCMA) business from partner automation solutions provider TIE Kinetix.

With this acquisition, which includes TIE Kinetix’s full suite of contemporary brand control and demand generation technologies, Impartner will provide a more holistic channel management platform to help companies accelerate the performance of their channel. The sale is expected to close early in the second quarter of 2020.

Impartner will continue to support customers on the TIE Kinetix solutions, said Kerry Desberg, Impartner’s Chief Marketing Office. TIE Kinetix employees supporting its channel marketing automation business will become Impartner employees.

Impartner has expanding the capabilities it offers clients with earlier acquisitions. It acquired the referral management software vendor Amplifinity last summer,  enabling Impartner to expand its channel technology offering with a solution that automates and formalizes referral processes for lead generation at scale. In addition, Amplifinity’s incentive management technology and integrations provided a suite of payment fulfillment providers to reward referrers in a manner they prefer.

In 2018, Impartner, acquired UK-based Tremolo Software, a privately-owned enterprise-class software company that helps customers drive brand engagement. With that acquisition, Impartner added two key technology solutions to its product portfolio, including NewsOnDemand, a newsletter platform, and SocialOnDemand, a social advocacy program.

Jay McBain, Forrester’s principal analyst – ecosystems, channels, partnerships and alliances, told CMR that “Along with Amplifinity and Tremolo, the deal with TIE Kintetix further develops Impartner as a global enterprise player in TCMA.”  He added that TIE Kinetix’s “very unique deal with Google is the crown jewel of the acquisition.”

In 2018, TIE Kinetix announced an exclusive digital marketing transformation program developed and delivered in partnership with Google. The Digital Marketing Transformation for the Channel program was specifically developed for and is limited to organizations with an indirect sales channel that markets and sells their products.

In November, Impartner announced that it received $20 million in growth capital financing from Vector Capital, a global private equity firm specializing in transformational investments in technology businesses. The financing was intended to allow Impartner to further accelerate its growth by increasing sales and marketing expenditure and acquiring complementary technologies.

Consolidation Of Channel Enablement Solution Providers

Impartner’s acquisition of TIE Kinetix’s TCMA business is the most recent instance of consolidation of channel marketing and enablement solutions providers.

In 2019, E2open, a business systems solutions provider, expanded its family of channel support solutions with the acquisition of Averetek, a through-channel marketing automation technology vendor. E2open had previously acquired several channel solution providers. In 2017, the company announced its acquisition of Zyme, a channel data management company. Zyme had acquired CCI, a channel incentive management firm, earlier that year.

In 2018, E2open acquired Birch Worldwide, another incentive management company, and Entomo, a channel data management solution provider. Also acquired was Foster MacCallum, a partner assessment, skill sourcing and recruitment firm.

In February 2019, CMR reported that 360insights, a global channel incentives provider offering consumer and channel rebates, SPIFF programs, MDF & co-op ad processing and channel insights, has acquired MTC Performance, a sales incentive solutions company.