SuccessFactors Acquires Social Business Software Maker CubeTree

UPDATED: SuccessFactors makes cloud business software that it claims is used in 8 million deployed seats in about 3,000 companies. CubeTree is a privately funded company that makes a social business platform that enables employees to communicate and collaborate in secure fashion.

Cloud software maker SuccessFactors revealed May 4 that it is acquiring CubeTree, which makes what it calls "social business software," for $20 million in stock. Other financial considerations, SuccessFactors said, could bring the final purchase total to $50 million by 2013.

SuccessFactors, based in San Mateo, Calif., makes cloud business software, called SuccessFactors Business Execution Suite, that it claims is used in 8 million deployed seats in about 3,000 companies.

In 2009, SuccessFactors signed Siemens as its largest cloud-computing deployment with 430,000 seats.

CubeTree is a privately funded company that makes a social business platform that enables employees to communicate and collaborate in secure fashion on specific projects.

Because CubeTree integrates messaging, content sharing and collaboration functions, it can be used as a basis for creating internal social networks within corporations.

"Social software is redefining the way people communicate and share ideas," said Carlin Wiegner, CEO and co-founder of CubeTree. "CubeTree's focus has always been to improve employee execution by combining social networking with tools built for enterprises.

"We now have an opportunity to integrate CubeTree's collaboration features with SuccessFactors' core applications and to engage millions of SuccessFactors users at thousands of companies with enterprisewide social networks."

Insight into employee performance using internal networks

Two-year-old CubeTree, based in Redwood City, Calif., also features a set of executive dashboards that provide insights into the how the employees of a company are executing their jobs each day.

"CubeTree is the key to unlocking workforce productivity," SuccessFactors CEO Lars Dalgaard said.

"Every CEO is interested in releasing the biggest leverage point in all organizations which exists between the functional groups  ... not being in the functional groups. CubeTree makes those connections happen and creates a sticky, daily use, digital work pad that is relevant and fun for any type of work issue across the organization," Dalgaard said.

The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of 2010. For more information, go here.

SuccessFactors also revealed its quarterly earnings on May 4.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2010, revenue was $43.8 million, compared with prior guidance of $43.0 million to $43.5 million, and compared with $35.2 million in the quarter ended March 31, 2009, an increase of approximately 24 percent year-over-year and an increase of 4 percent sequentially from the fourth quarter of 2009.

The company raised its revenue expectation for the year to $182 million, up from its previous forecast of $178 million to $180 million.

Editor's note: This story was updated to include the company's Q1 2010 financials.