I think this is great for the Talent Management market. A bunch of guys from the mainframe era (acquirer Bedford Funding comes out of GEAC, which used to be Dun & Bradstreet Software and before that MSA and McCormick & Dodge) realize that Talent Management is a trend, not a fad, and put up big bucks to buy into the game.

Unlike other private equity plays, they don't seem to plan squeezing every last penny out of the company and tossing the husk aside. Instead, they've invested an additional $8 million for growth, kept all the senior management in place, and set up a $2 million retention fund to make them work even harder.

As Jason Corsello says in his blog, more a recapitalization than an acquisition. I see no indication (yet) that this is a roll-up like Infor or Workstream. I think current Authoria customers can rest easy and prospects can continue puzzling between them, Taleo, SuccessFactors and the 20 others.

Naturally, everyone will want to see CEO Tod Loofbourrow go for three wins in a row at HR Technology's Talent Management Shootout on October 16.