Two Foodservice Tech Companies Merge
iTradeNetwork Inc. (ITN), a leader in on-demand e-business solutions for the food industry, and Instill Corp., a spend-intelligence solutions provider for the foodservice industry, agreed to combine forces.
The merged company would create the food industry's leading supply chain network, and will be uniquely capable of delivering a complete supply chain solution to both the retail and foodservice channels, the companies said in a statement.
Under the terms of the transaction, Robert Bonavito, founder and CEO of Pleasanton, Calif.-based iTradeNetwork, will serve as CEO of the combined company. San Mateo, Calif.-based Instill will operate as a separate division of iTradeNetwork. Bot h companies will retain their senior leadership teams.
"Over the past decade, ITN and Instill have built leading positions in providing collaborative workflow software solutions and spend-intelligence solutions to the food industry," Bonavito said. "We believe our consolidated customer base will experience a significant multiplier effect in terms of incremental value creation through the combined solution offerings of ITN and Instill."
Customers of the merged privately-held companies will experience the expanded suite of solutions and analytical tools required to reduce food costs, increase operating margins, identify new revenue opportunities and collaborate with all supply chain trading partners, the companies said.
The merger was, in part, facilitated by Accel-KKR, a technology-focused private equity investment firm, which in December 2007 acquired a majority equity stake in iTradeNetwork to help accelerate the future growth of the company, according to the companies merging. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.