• First buy under new corporate development head
• Sees backlog of sale candidates from 2025 market uncertainty
• Pioneer in low-code, no-code has been backed by Vista Equity since 2019

Quickbase, a Vista Equity-backed artificial intelligence operations platform, has a strong list of potential targets, said Matthew Person, senior vice president of corporate development.

On 2 December, Quickbase acquired Juiced Technologies, its first deal since 2023 and the first under Person. Person (pronounced Peer-son), was brought in by Vista to head up corporate development about 18 months ago “to help with inorganic growth strategy and M&A activities,” he said. Person had worked in that role for several other private equity-owned companies.

Boston-based Quickbase, which was founded in 1999 and has more than 750 employees, is a provider of low-code and no-code platforms for enterprise customers to develop proprietary software applications. The company’s mission is to optimize workflow for employees, from desk-based to “deskless,” he said. Future targets can focus on workflow automation tools and resources to enhance day-to-day operations and replace manual procedures with digital solutions, he said. Person declined to disclose target size but said he welcomes ideas about opportunities.

“We have a robust origination engine and are well-versed in the landscape. We are in dialogue with many companies,” Person said.

M&A activity in the space has mirrored that of other sectors, he said. The year started slow due to macro-economic factors such as the tariffs, but activity has picked up in the third quarter, with more stability around tariffs and lower interest rates. Person said he expects a lot more activity next year due to the backlog of transactions from early 2025.

Vista Equity reportedly made a USD 1bn majority investment in Quickbase in January 2019. Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe retained a minority stake. In 2023, Mergermarket reported that the company was exploring a sale with Morgan Stanley but a deal was never announced. The company was expected to be marketed off roughly USD 100m EBITDA, the report said. The company noted in a press release in March 2023 that it clocked USD 200m in revenue in 2022.

Person declined to comment on Quickbase’s exit strategy or timing, as well as its financials.

Quickbase is unique in that it works across multiple “physically complex industries,” including field services, construction, professional services and manufacturing, he said. Other horizontal players include Airtable and Monday.com, he said. Vertically focused players include Procore, Nemetschek and Trimble. Oracle also has a product, he said.

Person said he was reviewing several potential acquisition targets when he decided to approach Juiced, which was a longtime partner of Quickbase. The deal came through reciprocal conversations, he said. Juiced provided plug-ins to the Quickbase platform around messaging solutions, intelligent document generation and electronic signatures, he said.

He declined to comment on the timeline for the Juiced acquisition or the size.

Future targets are most likely to be based in the US though the company has locations in Bulgaria, a location acquired through an acquisition, and India. If it acquires outside the US, it is more likely to be in English-speaking countries, he added.

Quickbase wants to leverage its pioneering position in the no-code, low-code app building space to help companies build agentic solutions without code, and this could inform its M&A strategy, he added.

In addition to Fastfield (2023), Quickbase has acquired Merge Mobile (2023), MCF Technology Solutions (2022) and Cloudpipes (2019).

Quickbase focuses on empowering people to solve real business problems, with AI as a tool. In October, Quickbase announced a new suite of AI tools designed to empower deskless workers and help organizations connect field and office operations in real time.

Prior to joining Quickbase, Person built and led corporate development for TA Associates-backed Green Street Advisors and Blackstone-backed International Data Group, according to his LinkedIn bio. At IDG, he executed six transformative acquisitions.