SoftwareReviews, a division of IT research and advisory firm Info-Tech Research Group, has published its 2021 Marketing Automation – Midmarket Software Data Quadrant Awards, naming four vendors as gold medalists. UF startup SharpSpring was one of the gold medalists.

The following vendors are winners according to the feedback provided by their end-users via SoftwareReviews’ comprehensive online survey:

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Under the terms of the agreement, which has been unanimously approved by the members of SharpSpring’s Board of Directors, Constant Contact will acquire all the outstanding common stock of SharpSpring for $17.10 per share in cash.  The purchase price represents a 21% premium over SharpSpring’s closing share price of $14.11 as of June 21, 2021.  The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021 subject to customary closing conditions including SharpSpring stockholder approval.

“Today is a great day for SharpSpring and our stockholders as this transaction brings immediate and certain value at an attractive premium,” said Rick Carlson, CEO, SharpSpring. “Today is also a great day for our team and our customers, as we partner with a scale platform that brings significant added resources as we strive to deliver even greater value to SMBs. Constant Contact is the authority on digital marketing for small businesses. I am thrilled with the opportunity to bring SharpSpring’s revenue growth platform to Constant Contact’s nearly 500,000 small business customers while also further investing in and building upon SharpSpring’s strong customer and digital marketing agency base.”

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“SharpSpring has earned three Best Of Awards for customer support, its feature set, and overall usability in the Marketing Automation software category on TrustRadius,” said Megan Headley, VP of Research at TrustRadius. “These awards are based directly on feedback from SharpSpring’s customers. Reviewers on TrustRadius love the platform’s email marketing, built-in CRM, and workflow automation capabilities.”

Winners from 12 different categories were honored for their excellence in the Greater Gainesville Community. Among the winners is UF startup SharpSpring for Tech Company of the Year and UF startup and UF Innovate | Sid Martin Biotech alum Ology Bioservices for Human Life Sciences Company of the Year and Diversity & Inclusion Award.

Congratulations to all the honorees.

“We’re excited to bring advanced campaign attribution tools to our agency partners and clients,” said Chip House, chief marketing officer at SharpSpring. “Few customers buy during their first marketing touchpoint or site visit. They’re much more likely to convert after engaging with many campaigns along their customer journey. With our Multi-Touch Attribution, marketers can easily track the true end-to-end ROI of their campaigns, so they’ll know which ones have the greatest impact on the bottom line.”

SharpSpring has been identified as one of the best products in several categories, including marketing automation and CRM, based on its high levels of customer satisfaction and likeliness to recommend ratings from real users on G2, the world’s leading business solutions review website.

“This level of placement – on 16 different G2 grids as a Leader and as a High Performer on 9 other grids – is unprecedented and really speaks to the emphasis we’ve placed on finding new and innovative ways to help our customers grow their businesses with our comprehensive platform,” said SharpSpring founder & CEO Rick Carlson. “Whether through value-added programs like our free Agency Acceleration Series or our dedication to exceptional customer support, we’re focused on showing our partners that we’re here for them as we continue to grow and add the products they want and deserve to our platform.”

“I am honored and excited to kick off the Agency Acceleration Series with SharpSpring,” said digital marketing strategist, keynote speaker, and New York Times best-selling author Jay Baer who will host a live-streamed launch event to announce the all-star lineup of speakers and topics. “SharpSpring has curated a list of some of the brightest minds in the industry and agencies can expect to come away from these sessions with actionable takeaways that will truly impact their growth.”

SharpSpring has been aggressive about its global expansion and is excited to start a coordinated campaign in the Australian market, which will later extend to Oceanic markets.

“While Zoom, Slack, Skype, and other services have been amazing for us, SharpSpring video calls serves a different purpose. It makes communicating with leads, customers, and coworkers insanely simple. In one-click, requiring no software, you can communicate with people outside your company without having to worry about what platform they may or may not be using,” said Rick Carlson, founder and CEO of SharpSpring. “It’s built right into the CRM and designed to help companies land more deals, provide outstanding support, and help maintain and save customer relationships.”