Vista Equity Partners has acquired a majority stake in Acquia Inc., a Boston-based provider of services for sites running the Drupal content management framework.

The purchase price for the deal, announced today, was not disclosed, but TechCrunch pegged it at an even $1 billion.

The deal is said to provide Acquia with operational expertise to accelerate its growth. Several existing investors will retain a stake in the company.

Founded in 2007, Acquia pitches itself as an “open digital experience company” that provides technical expertise and strategic insight to build, deliver and optimize the Drupal content management system. Acquia’s main Open DXP Platform is claimed to be the largest independent developer community in Drupal, allowing the company to fuse disparate data and marketing technologies along with automating digital experiences at scale.

The company has more than 4,000 customers, including a range of well-known companies. They include IBM Corp., Vodafone Group plc,  Verizon Wireless Inc., Pinterest Inc., NBC Publishing, Whole Foods Market Inc., Panasonic Corp., BBC Worldwide and Johnson & Johnson Inc.

The deal was pitched as a win for open-source communities. “This investment should be great news for the Drupal and Mautic communities as we’ll have the right resources to compete against other solutions, and our deep commitment to Drupal, Mautic and Open Source will be unchanged,” Acquia co-founder Dries Buytaert wrote in a blog post. “In fact, we will continue to increase our current level of investment in open source as we grow our business.”

In a separate statement, Robert F. Smith, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Vista Equity Partners, said that “the world’s leading and most innovative digital brands understand that their ability to deliver a seamless digital customer experience is essential to their success…. Acquia understands this and is leading the way in providing innovative solutions to its customers while, at the same time, giving back to the open-source community.”

Coming into the deal, Acquia had raised $194 million from investors that included Centerview Capital, New Enterprise Associates, Amazon, North Bridge Venture Partners, Tenaya Capital, Sigma Partners and Split Rock Partners.

For Vista Equity Partners, the acquisition is another on the list of companies it has snapped up. It specializes in acquiring tech companies it thinks are undervalued to turn around for a later sale. Previous acquisitions include Apptio Inc., Cvent Inc. and Datto Inc.

Image: Dries Buytaert