Gloo has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Cedarstone, an integrated business services company providing finance and development outsourcing to nonprofit organizations.
The acquisition is particularly important to Gloo’s Applied AI strategy because it moves the company further beyond providing software tools and toward delivering the business outcomes themselves. Cedarstone provides outsourced accounting, donor operations, and fractional CFO services, giving Gloo an existing services platform where AI and agentic technology can potentially automate more of the underlying work.
That distinction helps explain why Gloo is buying Cedarstone rather than simply developing another financial software product.
As AI models improve, software tools themselves can become easier for competitors to replicate. But a company delivering an entire business process, such as closing an organization’s books, can potentially use each improvement in AI to lower the cost of delivering that service while maintaining ownership of the customer relationship and business outcome.
Gloo intends to combine Cedarstone’s financial and development operations expertise with its AI platform to help nonprofit organizations complete critical back-office work more efficiently.
The acquisition also expands Gloo’s donor services and Gloo 360 technology platform while adding more than 250 network capability providers to its broader ecosystem.
Cedarstone is particularly complementary because both companies focus on faith-aligned and mission-driven organizations. Gloo currently serves more than 140,000 faith, ministry, and nonprofit leaders through its technology, marketing, donor, and AI offerings.
The strategy could give Gloo an opportunity to sell a broader range of services to Cedarstone customers while using AI to improve the economics of Cedarstone’s existing outsourced financial work.
The transaction is expected to close during Gloo’s third quarter. Cedarstone will continue operating under its existing brand and leadership as a wholly owned Gloo Capital Partner.
KEY QUOTES:
“The pace of change in financial and business services right now is unlike anything this industry has seen. Bringing Cedarstone in as a wholly-owned Gloo Capital Partner gives them the technology infrastructure to deliver more of the work itself, helping them improve outcomes for the organizations they serve, and scale to new customers. We also share a powerful common vision. Cedarstone is built to champion the same faith-aligned organizations and ministries that Gloo serves.”
Scott Beck, Co-Founder and CEO of Gloo
“Joining Gloo gives us access to deep AI leadership and expertise, a network of like-minded partners that offer complimentary products and services, and it means our clients and their missions can benefit from a far deeper set of relationships, tools and services under one roof. David Sveen, Bill Skowera and Kurt Tillman founded Cedarstone with a vision to lift the operational burden off nonprofit leaders so they could focus entirely on their mission, and Gloo shares that same conviction.”
Tim Barg, CEO of Cedarstone
