Technology

Posted on May 8, 2019 by staff

Former receptionist’s tech start-up acquired by US firm

Technology

A former receptionist who founded her own tech company has described its acquisition by a US counterpart as a ‘game-changer’.

Sheffield-based SaaS company Receptive Software was founded in 2015 by Hannah Chaplin and Dan Dukeson and became a market-leading product demand intelligence platform helping B2B product managers and customer success teams capture, prioritize, and report on customer feedback and feature requests.

Now it’s been acquired by product cloud company Pendo, who will turn Receptive’s Sheffield offices into its European development centre.

In a blog on Receptive’s website Chaplin wrote: “Today marks a huge moment in the life of Receptive. We are very proud to announce that Receptive is now a part of Pendo.

“We are bringing these two companies together to offer the most complete and integrated platform of tools that product-led organizations need to make better product decisions, communicate product direction, and deliver better product experiences.”

As for the future she added: “We will remain the same team, but as part of Pendo. Over the summer we’re going to be creating some really exciting, initial integrations between the two products.”

The acquisition is the latest step in a remarkable rise for Chaplin, who went to work on the reception desk of a software company after leaving school. She found her way into product management and four years ago fulfilled her ambition to start her own company when she launched Receptive.

She said: “Pendo and Receptive have a rare and powerful vision match where qualitative feedback meets quantitative analytics for unprecedented insight into product impact and customer success. We couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to help bring to life such a big, bold vision for product-led organisations.”

Todd Olson, co-founder and CEO of Pendo, said: “Receptive is a perfect complement to our vision and our company culture. By adding demand intelligence to the Pendo product cloud, product-led organizations will have a 360 degree view of the user, the account, and the revenue impact of product decisions. This is a game-changer for product teams.”

The Receptive acquisition follows Pendo’s September 2017 acquisition of Israel-based Insert.io. Pendo’s development center in Herzliya, Israel now employs nearly 40 people.

Financial terms of the Receptive deal were not disclosed.