WP Engine acquires competitor Flywheel

The managed WordPress hosting company WP Engine has announced that it will acquire Omaha-based Flywheel as it looks to build out its small business offerings.

While financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, WP Engine's CEO and chairperson, Heather Brunner, revealed to TechCrunch in an interview that the company did have to raise a small amount of capital from its existing investors to finance the deal.

In a statement announcing the acquisition, Brunner explained why the two companies are a good fit, saying:

“This powerful combination furthers our vision to be the most relied upon platform for WordPress. Our continued investment in WordPress, our shared values and culture, our enterprise-class technology and support, our community of agency partners and most of all our people will be a powerful driver to bring our customers’ breakthrough digital experiences to life.”

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Flywheel

Flywheel was founded in 2012 by Dusty Davidson, Tony Noecker and Rick Kudtson with the aim of creating targeted and innovative products to help agencies grow their business on WordPress. The company serves more than 28,000 customers globally and currently has over 200 employees around the world.

Flywheel CEO Dusty Davidson explained the role company culture played in its success, saying:

“We founded Flywheel with the belief that in order to help creatives do their best work, we needed to create an internal culture that encourages our employees to do the same. That philosophy has led us to build an incredible company and some of the most well-loved products in WordPress, supported by an impressive group of talented people and the most remarkable open source community in the world. I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve achieved to date, or more excited for what the future holds for us working together!” 

In a blog post announcing the news, Flywheel said that there will be no immediate changes to its platform, plans, brand or experience.

Together, WP Engine and Flywheel will be able to control an even larger portion of the WordPress market with WP Engine focusing on medium and large-sized businesses while Flywheel will continue to cater to smaller businesses.

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Via TechCrunch