Funding and valuation
In 2012, the company received a $70 million Series A investment from Sequoia Capital and Accel,[18][19] It was the largest joint investment to date by these two firms.[20] In September 2014, the two firms returned to Series B funding, led by Insight Partners worth $150 million, a record for a Utah-based company, and valuing the company at $1 billion.[21]
Filing for IPO
On October 19, 2018, Qualtrics filed its S-1 registration statement with the intention of raising gross proceeds of $200 million through an initial public offering (IPO) of its Class B shares.[22] At the time, the company listed 9,000 global customers. The company was meant to be listed on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker "XM" in reference to their flagship experience management product, the Qualtrics XM Platform.
Plans for the IPO were scrapped when it was announced in November 2018 that Qualtrics would be acquired by SAP (NYSE: SAP).
Acquisitions
In May 2016, Qualtrics acquired statistical analysis startup Statwing for an undisclosed sum. Statwing was a San Francisco-based company that created point-and-click software for advanced statistical analysis.[23]
In April 2018, the firm acquired Delighted for an undisclosed sum. Delighted had more than 1,500 customers at the time of acquisition.[24]
In October 2021, the firm acquired Clarabridge in an all-stock deal for $1.125 billion. Clarabridge was a Virginia-based company that created software for omnichannel conversational analytics.[25]
In October 2025, Qualtrics announced the acquisition of Indiana-based healthcare-focused technology company, Press Ganey, for $6.75 billion, including debt, making it the company's largest acquisition yet.[26][27]
Acquisition by SAP SE
In November 2018, SAP announced its intent to acquire Qualtrics. SAP acquired all outstanding shares of Qualtrics for US$8 billion in an all cash deal.[13] SAP secured €7 billion in financing.[28] At the time it was announced, the Qualtrics acquisition was SAP's second-biggest purchase ever, behind the $8.3 billion acquisition of travel and expense management firm Concur in 2014.[29] The acquisition was formally closed January 23, 2019.[30][31]
Initial public offering (IPO)
On 26 July 2020, SAP announced its intent to take Qualtrics public through an IPO in the United States. According to SAP, the decision to go public was made due to Qualtrics's performance since the acquisition, with 2019 cloud growth in excess of 40 percent. SAP's stated intent was to remain the majority shareholder. While acknowledging that the spinoff made financial sense due to market conditions, Patrick Moorhead, founder and principal analyst at Moor Insight & Strategy, felt there was also a corporate culture clash. In his view, SAP couldn't find a way to co-exist with the younger, more nimble Qualtrics.[32][33] On January 28, 2021, Qualtrics began trading on the Nasdaq at $41.85 per share.[15]
In January 2021, Brad Anderson, a high level executive of Microsoft, joined Qualtrics as president of products and services.[34][35]
Divestment by SAP SE
In March 2023, a group of investors including private equity firm Silver Lake, CPP Investment Board, and co-founder Ryan Smith agreed to buy Qualtrics from SAP in an all-cash deal worth $12.5billion.[37][38]
Silver Lake acquisition
Silver Lake first invested more than $500m in Qualtrics during the company's IPO in 2021.[39] In March 2023, Silver Lake agreed to take Qualtrics private. In June 2023, the Qualtrics acquisition by Silver Lake was completed. At the time of the close, the Qualtrics deal was the single largest investment in Silver Lake's near quarter-century history.[40]
In connection with the close, Accel, a global venture capital firm, as well as BDT & MSD Partners, a merchant bank built to serve the distinct needs of business owners and strategic, long-term investors; and DFO Management, the family investment office of Michael Dell, joined Silver Lake in investing in Qualtrics. Accel, which was one of Qualtrics's earliest investors, invested $500 million. BDT & MSD Partners and DFO Management each made a co-investment of $250 million, for an aggregate commitment of $500 million.[41]
