Software delivery platform Harness has acquired the assets of Armory, a continuous deployment startup built on top of the open source Spinnaker project. The acquisition price was about $7 million in cash. Armory had previously raised more than $82 million, including a $40 million Series C round led by B Capital in late 2020. Other investors include Lead Edge Capital, Insight Partners, Crosslink Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Mango Capital, Y Combinator and Javelin Venture Partners.
Key Takeaway
Harness has acquired the assets of Armory for $7 million in cash, aiming to provide continuity of service to Armory’s existing customer base while integrating Armory’s technology into its own products and innovating with the help of experienced Armory engineers.
Continuity of Service
Harness will hire many of Armory’s employees and continue to support existing Armory implementations. CEO Jyoti Bansal emphasized that the acquisition is primarily an asset deal. While hoping that many of Armory’s customers will migrate to the Harness platform over time, he also stressed the commitment to help Armory’s existing customer base.
Market Trends
This acquisition follows wider trends in the enterprise software ecosystem, where businesses favor end-to-end solutions over single-point solutions to consolidate and reduce expenses. According to Bansal, the current economic climate favors DevOps solutions, but it’s challenging for single-point solutions to compete.
Future Plans
Harness may integrate some of Armory’s technology into its products and plans to innovate with the help of experienced Armory engineers. Bansal expressed the desire to build an enduring company that will eventually go public, drawing from his previous experience with Cisco’s acquisition of AppDynamics for $3.7 billion right before it was scheduled to IPO.