SAS Buys Venture-Backed Marketing Software Firm

is adding to its marketing resource management capabilities, acquiring a venture-backed firm that is focused on the MRM segment.

SAS disclosed its seventh acquisition since 2000 on Thursday, saying it had acquired Veridiem, a 13-person company based in Maynard, MA.

Veridiem raised more than $40 million in venture capital, including a $5 million "D" round in 2005. Veridiem was launched in 1998.

Ken Nicolson, chief executive officer of Veridiem, is the only Veridiem employee not joining SAS, according to the Metro West Daily News of Boston.

Jeff Levitan, the chief operating officer of Veridiem, joins SAS as a senior marketing manager, the paper reported.

SAS said it would use Veridiem's software to augment its customer intelligence offerings.

"Our acquisition of Veridiem reflects SAS' leadership in applying advanced analytics to solve complex business challenges," said SAS President and CEO Jim Goodnight in a statement. "Veridiem enhances SAS' unique ability to optimize marketing activities across the entire organization, from inception to completion, for higher profits and business value."

In a release, SAS noted that Veridiem was placed by research firm Gartner in the "Visionaries Quadrant" of its "Magic Quadrant for Marketing Resource Management" report earlier this year.

The Veridiem employees will join the SAS staff in Middleton, MA. SAS will now employ some 160 people in the Boston area.