Divine Buys CRM Developer Synchrony

Venture capitalist turned software conglomerate Divine Inc. continued its acquisition spree Tuesday, announcing that it had bought privately-held customer relationship management software maker Synchrony Communications Inc.

The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, represents a departure of sorts for Divine, which has made a name for itself by acquiring distressed public companies at fire sale prices. In Synchrony, Divine buys an upstart, fast-growing—though not yet profitable—private company.

Cincinnati-based Synchrony develops multi-channel customer service, sales and marketing software, built on a Java 2 Enterprise Edition platform. Some of its technology is used in the PeopleSoft Inc.s PeopleSoft 8 CRM suite.

Technology from Synchrony and another recent Divine acquisition, eshare Communications Inc., will be the foundation for Divines customer interaction management technology offerings, said Divine officials, in Chicago. Company officials said the customer interaction management offerings would then be able to integrate with the content management and e-commerce software Divine has acquired.

Last week Divine completed four previously announced acquisitions, including its purchases of eshare, Open Market Inc., Intira Corp. and MarchFirst Corp.s HostOne application hosting unit. Synchrony is the twelfth software, services or investment company that Divine has acquired, or announced plans to acquire, since February.

Divine was formed two years ago as Divine Interventures Inc. after Andrew “Flip” Filipowski had sold his previous company, Platinum Technology International Inc., which he had bought more than 70 companies. Divine Interventures originally set out to form a network of startup companies that it had invested in, all centered around business-to-business e-commerce.

As the tech market soured and stock prices plummeted, CEO Filipowski and the company found it to be a lot easier and cost-effective to just buy existing companies at low prices.