Fairfax-based 3Pillar acquires Software Development Europe as part of global expansion plan

Fairfax-based 3Pillar Global announced Tuesday that it acquired fellow software developer Software Development Europe (SDE). 

3Pillar is known for building software and apps for clients including PBS, CARFAX and ParkMobile. CEO David DeWolf said that SDE was appealing to 3Pillar because of its strong presence in Europe, particularly in the Czech Republic. As 3Pillar has a strong presence in Romania currently, it was looking for a company to help expand its Central European footprint. SDE, which is based in South Carolina, also gives 3Pillar the opportunity to grow in the U.S., as well.

It was important that the teams could mesh well, too.

“We are very much a culturally driven organization, so in any one of these acquisitions just making sure that the cultures are aligned,” DeWolf said. “SDE has a strong essence of team behind what they do, as well, and we really felt like it was a great example of where together we could accomplish more than either one of us could on our own.”

This is the third acquisition 3Pillar has made in the past eight months, along with Arizona’s Tiempo Development and Costa Rica’s Isthmus Software. DeWolf told Technical.ly that the company has an aggressive expansion plan in the market of building software for businesses, and is growing at approximately 30% year over year.

“It’s about a $300 billon dollar market that’s very fragmented with no clear leader in the space, and so that’s what we’re going about building,” DeWolf said.

DeWolf said the SDE acquisition will expand 3Pillar’s team to just under 2000 employees. He added that 3Pillar will likely be adding a few more companies by the end of the year, as well.

“We think there’s tremendous opportunity for growth and we plan to continue to expand into that market,” DeWolf said. “Our aspiration is to be the most respected company in our space. We want to reinvent the way that digital products are built and we think that we’re well on the road to doing that and SDE just adds to that.”