Mercato Partners’ Traverse Fund portfolio company SaltStack acquired by VMWare

Cottonwood Heights-based investment firm Mercato Partners has sold its portfolio company SaltStack of Lehi to VMWare, a division of computer giant Dell based in Palo Alto, California. SaltStack is a developer of infrastructure automation and mangement software. SaltStack was owned by Mercato’s Traverse Growth Fund III. Financial terms were not disclosed.

This marks the fourth portfolio exit in 2020 for Mercato’s Traverse Growth Fund. In September, Ericsson bought Boise-based Cradlepoint for a $1.1 billion, in June, Central Logic was acquired by Rubicon Technology Partner and in April, Galileo Financial Technologies was acquired by SoFi for $1.2 billion.

“We could not be happier for the SaltStack team,” said Ryan Sanders, director at Traverse Fund. “When we invested in this Lehi company in 2017, we leaned into the founders’ growth vision and saw the potential for SaltStack to revolutionize the way enterprises could deploy, manage and secure their network assets. During this period, SaltStack developed robust vulnerability management capabilities and enhanced their event-driven automation market leadership. The acquisition by VMWare serves as confirmation for the technology they have developed and the business they have built.”

Founded in 2012, SaltStack has become an enterprise SaaS software company used by IT and security teams to help businesses more efficiently deploy, protect and manage all aspects of their digital infrastructure. SaltStack’s software is unique, providing intelligent, event-driven automation for efficient control of complex business systems at any scale, Sanders said.

“The team at Mercato has been with us since 2017, every step of the way,” said Marc Chenn, CEO and co-founder of SaltStack. “Their support went beyond just funding. From their recruitment of Pluralsight CMO Heather Zynczak as an independent board director to the value-add of Mercato’s performance team, their involvement really made a difference in the outcome we are celebrating today.”