Exton-based insurance software firm iPipeline purchased for $1.6B

The Philly-area tech scene saw a huge acquisition this week — iPipeline, an insurance software firm that employs hundreds locally, was purchased for $1.62 billion.

Florida-based Roper Technologies, which operates multiple businesses that design and develop software, announced its purchase Thursday.

iPipeline was founded in 1995, and has since built cloud-based software solutions for the life insurance and financial services industries. It’s also grown to more than 600 employees across its headquarters in Exton and offices in the U.K., Canada, Texas, Florida, California and Utah. And in 2016, the company added a “startupy looking office” in Center City, Technical.ly Philly reported at the time.

This acquisition news not the first time the company has changed hands.

In 2008, founder Cary Toner sold the company to Radnor-based NewSpring Capital, Boston-based Volition Capital and Palo Alto-based Technology Crossover Ventures. (During its tenure, iPipeline has also acquired other firms, including AgencyWorks, XRAE and competitor Aplifi in 2013.)

In 2015, private equity firm Thoma Bravo “made a deal that was too good to pass up,” chairman Michael DiPiano said at the time. The company was considering going public, but instead decided to sell.

“It’s simply a tradeoff between the current price and the projected price after an IPO,” DiPiano said.

Now, four years later, iPipeline has yet again found new owners.

“Roper provides iPipeline with a long-term foundation to further develop the life insurance and financial services industry’s leading platform and execute on our core purpose of helping our customers secure the financial futures of families,” newly promoted iPipeline CEO Larry Berran said in a statement.

iPipeline will continue to manage the business from its Exton headquarters and the iPipeline name and brands are not expected to change, the company said.