SSB Spins Out Pro Sports Vertical to KORE Software; Renames Itself Affinaquest

The Deal

SSB, the market leader in constituent engagement, data management, data enhancement and predictive analytics for higher education and collegiate athletics, announced it is sharpening its focus on the higher education marketplace by divesting its professional sports vertical to KORE Software. SSB will rename itself ‘Affinaquest,’ leveraging its brand recognition as the market-leading innovator in institutional advancement software solutions. The company acquired Affinaquest in June 2021. Affinaquest’s roster of clients in higher education includes more than half of the Power Five institutions in collegiate athletics and marquee university clients and other non-profits, the majority being in the top 300 fundraising institutions globally. Affinaquest is a portfolio company of Strattam Capital.

Along with the SSB brand, the professional sports and entertainment vertical will be divested to KORE Software, a portfolio company of Serent Capital. The remaining entity, Affinaquest, will remain focused on providing constituent engagement, data management, data enhancement and predictive analytics solutions to the higher education advancement and collegiate athletics markets built atop the Salesforce platform.

Our Perspective

Tom Burgett, Managing Director in Lincoln’s Technology, Media and Telecom Group, commented, “This transaction represents another clear example of the ongoing trend in the software market toward vertical specialization. By separating the professional sports and entertainment division from its core higher education business, Affinaquest will be able to focus 100% of its efforts on its institutional advancement and collegiate athletics clients in the higher education market. Similarly, KORE is able to add more functionality to its product suite focused on the professional sports and entertainment market.”

Affinaquest

Affinaquest is the leading data management and analytics company, combining institutional advancement and collegiate athletics in the higher education marketplace. It offers a suite of cloud CRM, data warehousing technology, data management, analytics and data enrichment services. Affinaquest’s cloud technology elegantly empowers its clients in elevating constituent engagement, maximizing business performance and delivering meaningful data-driven outcomes.

KORE

KORE Software is the global leader in engagement marketing solutions. KORE’s intelligence platform is trusted by more than 850 of the largest organizations in the sports and entertainment industry to provide data-driven intelligence quickly and securely. Through one connected ecosystem of solutions, data and insights, KORE helps accelerate and enhance organizations’ ability to make the right decisions for their business. KORE’s platform drives excellence across sponsorship activation, fan engagement, ticket sales, partnership analysis, data analytics and innovative marketing journeys, so organizations can build stronger connections with their fans, maximize returns and spend time where it matters.

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