Klipboard, a UK-based provider of business management software for specific industries, acquired Skynamo, a South African company that makes software for field sales teams. The companies announced the completed deal in March 2026.
The price and other financial terms were not disclosed. Cavendish, which acted as Skynamo's exclusive financial adviser, said it ran a competitive sale process in which Klipboard emerged as the preferred buyer.
Skynamo will keep its brand and now presents itself as "Skynamo - A Klipboard Company". Sam Clarke remains chief executive, and Klipboard said it would keep investing in Skynamo's product, development and customer support.
What Skynamo built
Skynamo was founded in 2012 under the name Honeybee and was designed from the start for mobile phones and tablets. Its first product was an app that helps sales representatives plan routes and customer visits, take orders on the road and look up product, pricing and stock information while they are with a customer.
Over time the company added customer self-service ordering, a catalogue app, order management, financial and stock visibility, sales analytics and an AI tool called Radar. It now describes the whole package as a unified sales operations platform for manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors.
Nearly 1,000 businesses use Skynamo every day across Sub-Saharan Africa, the UK and the US. The company says its software handles more than $70 million in order value each month and supports millions of customer interactions a year.
“This acquisition strengthens our position in Sub-Saharan Africa and internationally, and supports our strategy of investing in innovative, sector-focused solutions that help customers grow.”
Why Klipboard is buying
Klipboard sells cloud software that helps businesses in particular industries source, stock, sell and service their products. It says it has more than 55,000 enterprise and small business customers in 74 countries, and more than 1,700 staff in the UK, Europe, the US, South Africa and Australia.
The deal is meant to tie Skynamo more closely to the enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems its customers use and to Klipboard's own business management products. Skynamo said customers could expect deeper ERP integrations and access to a wider set of tools for distribution businesses.
Klipboard chief executive Ian Bendelow said Skynamo's platform was widely used by manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors, and that the purchase strengthened Klipboard's position in Sub-Saharan Africa and internationally.
The investors behind Skynamo
Skynamo raised a $30 million Series A in January 2020. Five Elms Capital, a US growth equity firm that invests in business software, led the round and was Skynamo's owner going into the sale, according to Cavendish.
Renato Morais, a vice president at Five Elms, said Cavendish's sector knowledge had been important in getting the cross-border transaction done. Robbie Wirdnam, an M&A director at Cavendish, said the firm was pleased to have advised Clarke, the Skynamo team and Five Elms.
What happens to customers
Clarke said joining Klipboard was a new chapter for Skynamo and its customers. He said Skynamo had built a platform that brings sales operations together in industries where complexity is normal, and that Klipboard's products and global reach would let the company extend that value while continuing to invest in Skynamo.
News of the deal appeared in stages. Bizcommunity reported the completed acquisition on March 17, 2026, Tech In Africa covered it on March 25, and Skynamo published its own announcement on its blog on March 30. None of the reports gave a price or said how the deal was paid for.
The companies did not announce changes to pricing or contracts. In its announcement, Skynamo listed four things customers could expect: continued development of the platform, deeper integrations with ERP and business management systems, access to a wider ecosystem of tools for distribution industries, and long-term investment in the product and the team. The field sales app, the product the company started with, remains at the centre of that platform.
