– Purpose-Built for Merchants and Shoppers Alike, Nogin’s Platform Brings World-Class, Data-Driven eCommerce Capabilities and the Consumer Experience of Big Retail, Without the Typical Implementation and Optimization Costs of Large-Scale Operations
– Business Combination Implies a Pro Forma Enterprise Value of $646 Million, With up to $191 Million in Cash to Fund Growth
– Nogin Shareholders Will Roll 96% of Their Existing Equity Holdings into the Combined Company
Nogin, Inc. (“Nogin” or the “Company”), a leading provider of Commerce-as-a-Service technology, and Software Acquisition Group Inc. III (“SWAG III”), a special purpose acquisition company, announced that the two companies have entered into a definitive merger agreement. Upon closing of the transaction, the combined company will be named Nogin, Inc. and is expected to remain listed on the Nasdaq under the new ticker symbol “NOGN.”
Nogin is a leader in Commerce-as-a-Service (“CaaS”), a cloud-based headless enterprise eCommerce platform for brands and merchants. Companies leveraging CaaS deliver enterprise class eCommerce at scale without having to purchase, implement, manage, optimize, or support any of the underlying infrastructure. The Nogin “Intelligent Commerce Platform” delivers all the technology, research and development, and optimization needed for merchants to keep pace with big retail without all the capital costs, technical staff, time, and risk of doing it themselves.
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“As commerce continues to become more and more complex, brands and merchants are looking for a way to get the hard stuff handled so they can focus on making great products and better connecting with their customers,” said Nogin CEO and Co-Founder Jan Nugent. “Nogin’s platform delivers the complex ecosystem traditionally afforded to only the biggest, most sophisticated retailers in a simple, easy-to-use platform for merchants. Nogin also leverages data to drive incremental growth and profitability for merchants while delivering a better experience to consumers.”
“Nogin is at the forefront of providing Commerce-as-a-Service solutions for merchants looking to live on the leading edge of web commerce and propel their online businesses,” said Software Acquisition Group III CEO Jonathan Huberman. “Our objective was to find a high-quality business within information technology that is disruptive and positioned for continued growth with the expectation of generating superior shareholder returns; Nogin clearly surpasses the bar of our investment criteria in all these areas. We are looking forward to partnering with Jan and the rest of the talented Nogin team to address the enormous opportunity in the eCommerce software market.”
Nogin Investment Highlights
- Large, Underpenetrated Global Industry in Need of Automated Solutions: Globally, according to eMarketer’s ‘US eCommerce Forecast 2021,’ eCommerce is an estimated $933 billion market. By 2025, U.S. consumers are expected to spend over $1.6 trillion on e-commerce, representing approximately 24% of total U.S. retail sales. As a leading early mover in the CaaS space with both intelligent process automation and data-driven AI, Nogin is attractively positioned to operate in an increasingly complex and high growth eCommerce software landscape.
- Spike in eCommerce Complexity Has Driven Merchants to Nogin’s Intelligent Commerce Platform: Nogin’s platform delivers Enterprise eCommerce and all the ongoing management and optimization for merchants without the expertise and budgets to keep pace. Growth for many brands on the Nogin platform outpaces market growth, with many attaining as much as 50% year-over-year gains.
- Proprietary Data Asset Driving Incremental ROI: Driven by advanced data insights and best practices gleaned from hundreds of millions of annual end-customer interactions accumulated over nearly a decade, Nogin’s scale and sophistication allows for increasingly intelligent software that generates a flywheel effect for the platform and strong organic growth from its current install base. Nogin enables brands to leverage the future of self-learning eCommerce with a large customer data platform and machine-learning models that enhance performance based on customer behavior, profit goals, and revenue objectives.
- Software-Led Rapid Growth, Scalable, Profitable with Significant Operating Leverage: Already profitable, the Nogin platform is one of the fastest-growing in the industry, driven by the expansion of existing client relationships and the engagement of new clients, growth in adjacent markets, and opportunities in new verticals. Nogin maintains leading software key performance indicators with an estimated lifetime value to customer acquisition cost ratio (“LTV:CAC”) of greater than 10x in 2021 as well as an estimated 105% net revenue retention in 2021. Going forward, Nogin expects to drive a 61% non-GAAP compound annual growth rate over the next two years, supported by current business opportunities as well as sales, marketing and global expansion across multiple verticals.
- Experienced, World Class Team: The Nogin team is led by a seasoned core management group with an established track record of building out high value eCommerce platforms. Current management combines decades of experience spanning multiple industries, including eCommerce, SaaS development, M&A and capital procurement, engineering, brand management, and strategic social networking. The Nogin team is committed to being a disruptive and lasting player in the eCommerce space.
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Transaction Terms
The combined company will have an estimated post-transaction enterprise value of $646 million, assuming no redemptions by SWAG III public stockholders. Cash proceeds from the transaction will consist of up to $211 million of cash held in SWAG III’s trust account (before redemptions and the payment of certain expenses).
The net proceeds from the transaction will be used as working capital to support continued growth and to fund the repayment of existing debt.
Nogin shareholders will roll 96% of their existing equity holdings into the combined company and are expected to own approximately 67% of the combined company on a non-fully diluted basis immediately following the closing of the business combination, assuming no redemptions by SWAG III’s public stockholders.
The Boards of Directors of each of SWAG III and Nogin approved the transaction. The transaction will require the approval of the stockholders of SWAG III and Nogin, the effectiveness of a registration statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) in connection with the transaction, satisfaction of the minimum cash condition, which is equal to $50 million in gross proceeds, and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022.
For additional information regarding the terms of the transaction, as well as an investor presentation, please see the Current Report on Form 8-K filed today with the SEC by SWAG III. Additional information about the transaction will be provided in the registration statement relating to the merger to be filed with the SEC by SWAG III.