Outfield Digital Acquired by Umbraco

We have some very exciting news to announce. Our company, Outfield Digital, has been acquired by Umbraco. This of course means that Umbraco are taking ownership of our popular eCommerce platform, Vendr, as well as our other commercial package, Konstrukt, a rapid back-office UI builder.

Over the last 3 years since the launch of Vendr, we have seen an unbelievable response to our commerce product from the Umbraco community, agencies and developers far and wide. With strong sales and repeat customers, Vendr has gone from strength-to-strength, growing faster than we initially anticipated, making the decision to pivot from client services to fully focus on Vendr an absolute no-brainer.

The time is now.

Having seen success with Vendr, as well as growing sales for Konstrukt, we could see another pivotal moment on the horizon. Do we grow the Outfield Digital team, adding much needed assistance in the form of developers and a sales and marketing team to achieve continued growth, or do we look towards our longer term goal earlier than expected? With Umbraco’s own growth strategy and new composable DXP focus, combining effort seemed to be a good solution. It turns out Umbraco was thinking the exact same thing. So after an interesting chat at Codegarden22, plans were set in motion for this very exciting acquisition to come to fruition.

What’s next?

Going forward both Matt and I will be joining Umbraco HQ, Matt will continue to maintain and develop Vendr as part of the D-Team and I will be joining the Community Happiness Team working with Developer Relations.

“I'm so excited to be starting my new role as Commerce Technical Team Lead at Umbraco HQ. I'll get to continue developing the product I've been working so hard on for the last 3 years, but now with additional assistance from the composable DXP team, as well as customer support from the support warriors and sales from the suits. Together, I'm confident that we can take commerce in Umbraco to a whole new level.”
- Matt Brailsford

“I’m super excited for the future of Vendr in the hands of Umbraco, taking the product we have nurtured and giving it the opportunity to grow and realise its full potential. I’m equally looking forward to my new opportunity to join the Community Happiness Team, learning new skills and having the chance to connect with the wonderful Umbraco Community even more.”
- Lucy Brailsford

This is the second acquisition Umbraco has completed in the last 12 months, adding further strings to its bow. Umbraco knows that in order to build modern digital experiences, the offering needs to be more than content. Commerce is a crucial component when creating digital solutions, so having Vendr on board to seamlessly provide customers with a simple way to connect to a robust commerce platform is an absolute must-have.

“We believe that in order for Umbraco to stay relevant we need to look beyond just content. We want to be able to offer a powerful commerce offering that is well-integrated with Umbraco and that can be added to Umbraco projects where needed. And we believe Vendr to be just that.”
- Kim Sneum Madsen - CEO at Umbraco

Umbraco’s ownership of Vendr and Konstrukt perfectly lines up with their mission statement which states “we want to make it simpler to build digital experiences “.

In the meantime, carry on loving Vendr and Konstrukt and keep your eyes peeled for more announcements and information about this process. If you would like to buy a Vendr or Konstrukt licence please reach out to Umbraco on [email protected]. 

What about CODECABIN?

Matt and Lucy will still be co-organising and co-hosting CODECABIN together with their fellow hosts, Lee Kelleher, Lotte Pitcher and Karl Tynan. The next weekend is in September 2023, find out more here. While CODECABIN was co-founded by Matt, Lee and Lucy, it is an independent event and wasn’t part of Outfield Digital Ltd.

H5YR!

It is without doubt that we owe each and every one of our customers, supporters and Umbraco Community friends a massive THANK YOU and H5YR! Without your help and loyalty to our products and to us as Umbraco Community members trying to do something great, we wouldn’t be where we are now. We hope we have provided you with not only great products, but excellent support and a helping hand when needed. This move will cement that going forward, allowing the products to have longevity for our ever-growing customer base.

Thank you.

Matt and Lucy Brailsford.