7 March 2022 – British software and services provider Advanced today announced the acquisition of Portt, the fastest growing provider of SaaS procurement, contract and supplier management solutions in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) whose customers include NSW Health, Ministry of Education and Super Retail Group. Portt’s team, located in Sydney and Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam currently manages over 63,000 private and public sector suppliers across ANZ with a fast-growing user base of 9,000+. Portt had previously been working in partnership with Advanced in the UK public and private sectors.

According to Forrester, the global procurement software application market is predicted to grow 17% in 2022 to a value of US$14bn, with contract lifecycle management and spend analytics predicted to enjoy the fastest growth at 20%, as organisations look to streamline costs and be more efficient post-pandemic.  As well as doubling its footprint in Australia, the acquisition extends Advanced’s Spend Management capability centred around eMarketplace and builds on the recent acquisition of CloudTrade, a data capture and document automation solution, to handle the entire contract lifecycle, further strengthening Advanced’s Spend Management offering as well as its overall composable ERP suite comprising Finance, Spend and People management solutions delivered through its recently launched unified cloud application platform, MyWorkplace.

Portt is an intelligent procurement, contracts and supplier management platform that helps customers streamline processes unlocking the strategic potential of procurement and commercial teams.  The Portt solution is tailored to fit the specific requirements of each customer, avoiding the pitfalls of a ‘one size fits all’ approach. From heavily regulated public sector organisations needing to streamline compliance and reporting through to financial services organisations seeking effective management of regulators supplier due diligence, the Portt solution provides a user-friendly, scalable solution that aligns to customers’ maturity regardless of the vertical.  Their growing customer base resides in sectors complementary to those which Advanced has a strong UK presence in such as the public sector, education, health & care, financial services and blue light.

Commenting on the acquisition, Gordon Wilson, CEO of Advanced said: “We are thrilled to welcome Portt to the growing Advanced Family – the integration of their technology will allow our combined customers to realise greater business efficiencies and productivity within their teams, proactively driving business improvement and growth.  This acquisition represents another significant step in our growth and international expansion strategy, building on our already successful footprint in Australia.  This is an extremely complementary acquisition strategically as we focus on building out our complete ERP offering comprising Financial, Spend and People Management in both the UK and ANZ and another significant addition of world class innovative technology for our customers.”

Commenting on the acquisition, Chris Holmes, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Portt said:

“We are extremely proud of what we have achieved with Portt.  As a rapidly growing sourcing, contract, and supplier management platform, Portt believes heavily in the strength of innovation to drive value for the customer. Being part of the Advanced Family allows us to be a part of a best-of-breed financial and spend management software organisation, with our world class procurement technology, delivering a force multiplier to customers. We’re incredibly excited about working with Advanced to deliver real outcomes and value across the UK and ANZ procurement ecosystem.”

Andre Pinkowski, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Portt also commented: “

“Being acquired by Advanced is very exciting.  The cultural fit between our two businesses is excellent – Advanced share many of the same philosophies as Portt around staff and investing in their development.  The acquisition will amplify what Chris and I have already worked hard to achieve, and we are confident that our people will jump at the great opportunity that exists being part of a larger organisation who share our values. Portt always had its eye on expanding outside of ANZ and given the commonwealth standards adopted in our solution the UK was the most logical place for us to focus.  The combination of Advanced’s strong UK presence with ambition to grow in ANZ, and our solid footprint in ANZ with ambition to expand to the UK makes it a win win.”

The acquisition is Advanced’s tenth since 2020 and reinforces its determined growth trajectory and ambition to become the UK’s best software and services provider.