GitLab's key goal in pursuing acquisitions is to accelerate our roadmap and offer better tools to customers more quickly. We are seeking to introduce new product categories and mature early categories faster than by building everything internally. We want to acquire strong teams that have already built great tools and products relevant for GitLab customers and have them integrate their tech into GitLab.
Additional benefits to GitLab:
We are looking for companies interested in helping deliver on our vision to create a single application for the entire DevOps lifecycle.
Our primary approach to acquisitions is through an accelerated process (described below) for exits with a total deal consideration of less than $1M. This includes both early start-ups as well as more mature companies with limited business success. That said, we're also open to exploring larger deals outside of the acquisition framework detailed below. We value strong teams and technology that will help us accelerate our roadmap.
Below is a set of general, yet not strict, characteristics of companies that are a potential fit for our accelerated acquisition process:
Andrew Newdigate, “Throughout Gitter's acquisition process, GitLab was an excellent partner. We started the process in mid-December, and by mid-January, the team were onboard and had joined GitLab's summit in Cancún, Mexico. Compared to previous acquisition attempts that we had been through with other companies, the professionalism and focus of the GitLab team was refreshing. It quickly became apparent to me that Sid, Paul and the team at GitLab were interested in striking a fair deal, and were as concerned about the outcome for the Gitter team as my co-founder and I were. In the year-and-half since, GitLab has continued to be a great home for Gitter and I'm incredibly proud to be part of the team.”
Philippe Lafoucrière, "When GitHub announced they would provide a Security graph and alerts, we knew we would not be able to compete with them. That meant the end of the story for us and our product. It was time to find a new home for the team. We started discussions with GitLab in November 2017 and officially joined the company in mid-January 2018. The whole process was seamless, with a particular care for the team. Expectations from both sides were discussed, with mutual respect and understanding. The founders made themselves available for us at anytime, and we had regular meetings for several months until we all estimated the situation stable enough. Onboarding a whole team at once is a challenge: the peopleops team did everything they could to help and to make them feel comfortable with their new positions. They were happy to continue on the foundations we’ve built over the years while being able to contribute to a greater goal. We managed to identify with the management where we could have the best impact, and provide results as soon as possible. I don’t see anything GitLab could have done differently to make this acquisition smoother. The most important value to follow in this kind of event is Trust (because you can only lose it once). GitLab, and especially its CEO, was incredibly clear and respectful during all the process and beyond."
If you are interested in starting acquisition discussions with GitLab, please send an email to Corporate Development to connect and start the process. As noted earlier, we're open to other types of acquisitions, aside from soft-landings, and would be happy to engage in those conversations.
Learn more about our internal acquisition process and how you can prepare for an efficient process.
See our performance indicators.
For additional information contact Corporate Development.
