Enterprise information management company OpenText Corp. today announced the acquisition of Hightail Inc., which offers a cloud-based collaboration and file sharing service, for an undisclosed price.

Hightail might not be a big name, but the company has been quietly doing its stuff for 14 years. It began its life as YouSendIt Inc., offering a tool for attaching large files to emails that were above capacity. However, YouSendIt was displaced by the rise of file sharing companies such as Dropbox Inc. and Box Inc., prompting a rebranding to Hightail and a change in focus toward collaboration services.

OpenText said it plans to keep operating Hightail as a standalone company, but it will integrate many of its services and tools into its own products, such as Content Suite, Core, Documentum and Media Management.

Keeping Hightail alive is probably a smart decision, as the company counts around 5.5 million global customers, including enterprises and individual users. OpenText said the deal will increase its presence in the content collaboration market through Hightail’s users, the majority of whom are said to be advertising, creative and marketing professionals.

“The acquisition of Hightail underscores our commitment to delivering differentiated content solutions in the cloud that enable marketers and creative professionals to share, produce and securely collaborate on digital content,” said OpenText Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer Mark Barrenechea.

OpenText made two big acquisitions last year. In January 2017 it bought Dell Technologies Inc.’s enterprise content business that included Documentum for around $1.6 billion. Then in July, it acquired the forensic security company Guidance Software Inc. for $222 million in a move designed to beef up its information security portfolio.

Image: OpenText