Subscription management company Zuora has agreed to be acquired for $1.7 billion

Zuora, a company that provides software for managing subscription-based services, has agreed to be acquired by private equity firms GIC and Silver Lake for $1.7 billion in cash. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025, pending regulatory approvals and customary conditions, and will take Zuora private. CEO and chairman Tien Tzuo will remain at the helm of the company.

Founded in 2007 in Redwood City, California, Zuora was established by Tien Tzuo, K.V. Rao, and Cheng Zou, who were engineers at WebEx and Salesforce, respectively. The company’s platform focuses on streamlining billing systems with a particular emphasis on subscription management. Over the last decade, Zuora has broadened its services through various mergers and acquisitions, including the purchase of Frontleaf, Zephr, and Leeyo.

Currently, Zuora offers a suite of tools for tracking subscription payments, pricing, accounting, and a marketplace of applications built on its platform. Recently, the company introduced a product designed to automate revenue reconciliation and analysis, allowing firms to assess the impact of their subscription models.

Before going public in 2018, Zuora secured $250 million in venture capital from notable investors such as Benchmark, Greylock, and Salesforce’s Marc Benioff. As of August, the company, which employs around 1,500 people, had a market capitalization of approximately $1.39 billion.

In its latest fiscal quarter (Q2 2025), Zuora exceeded expectations with adjusted earnings per share of 19 cents, up from seven cents in Q2 2024, and revenue of $115.4 million, reflecting a 7% year-over-year increase.

This acquisition follows another significant private equity deal, with Permira recently completing its acquisition of Squarespace for $7.2 billion.

Private equity mega-deals have surged this year, on track to surpass the 22-year record set in 2021. In Q2 alone, PE firms announced 122 deals worth $196 billion, marking the strongest period for private equity capital deployment since the downturn began in Q3 2022, according to EY.