Citrix buys cloud-based collaboration platform provider Podio

Virtualisation specialist Citrix has acquired Copenhagen-based Podio for an undisclosed sum.

The Danish firm provides cloud workspaces for online collaboration in enterprises, enabling employees to work together on a project regardless of their location.

Aimed at SMBs or individual teams within a larger company, Podio provides a free app market to give users the tools they need to complete workflows, as well as the ability to build their own. It also plugs into numerous cloud tools, including Dropbox,  Evernote, Google Apps and Zendesk. 

Although the process of building the platform only began three years ago, Podio claims to have tens of thousands of customers from 170 countries, many of which have used it to create new applications.

In a post on the Podio blog, the company's co-founder, Jon Froda, said becoming part of Citrix would be a postive move for the firm.

“When we launched Podio out of beta a year ago, you met us with excitement, applause and a genuine willingness to try something dramatically different from what had come before; a new way of working that really worked,” he wrote.

“Because Podio is now part of Citrix, we will have far more resources to draw on and a much bigger platform on which to build better work tools for everyone.”

Citrix plans to incorporate the platform into its GoTo online services portfolio to boost adoption of its own creations and encourage wider deployments of Podio.

“This acquisition represents an exciting new chapter in our collaboration business,” said Brett Caine, senior vice president and general manager for Citrix’s online services division.

“Podio extends our ability to provide a simple, secure and ‘works for everyone’ collaborative work platform in this post-PC era… [and] is a powerful and innovative solution that is a natural fit with the Citrix portfolio and will help foster amazing innovation in the workplace.”