Who Owns SurveyMonkey?
SurveyMonkey is owned by Symphony Technology Group, a Menlo Park private equity firm that acquired the company in June 2023 for approximately $1.5 billion and took it private. Previously known as Momentive, the company rebranded back to SurveyMonkey in 2023. It is headquartered in San Mateo, California, and is no longer publicly traded.
Parent Company
Acquired
2023
Status
Private
Headquarters
SurveyMonkey Timeline
Who Owns SurveyMonkey?
- Parent Company: Symphony Technology Group
- Ownership Type: Wholly owned
- Acquisition Year: 2023
- Company Type: Privately Held
| Brand | Parent Company | Ownership Type |
|---|---|---|
| SurveyMonkey | Symphony Technology Group | Wholly owned |
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History of SurveyMonkey
- Founded: 1999
- Founders: Ryan Finley, Chris Finley
- Acquired by Symphony Technology Group: 2023
Ryan Finley and his brother Chris Finley founded SurveyMonkey in Portland, Oregon, in 1999. Ryan, a web developer, built the original tool to make online surveys cheap and simple at a time when research required expensive software or paper forms. The product spread virally as a free tool, and the Finley brothers ran the profitable but small company for a decade.
In 2009 the brothers sold control of the company to a private equity-backed recapitalization led by Facebook veteran Dave Goldberg, who became CEO and moved operations to the Bay Area. Goldberg rebuilt SurveyMonkey into a venture-scale business, expanding enterprise features, international markets, and the freemium funnel that made it the default survey tool for hundreds of millions of users.
Goldberg died suddenly in May 2015, a loss that shook the company and Silicon Valley. Zander Lurie, a GoPro and CBS executive, succeeded him as CEO and led SurveyMonkey through its October 2018 Nasdaq IPO. The company acquired customer experience software vendors, launched market research products, and in June 2021 renamed itself Momentive to signal breadth beyond surveys, keeping SurveyMonkey as the flagship product name.
The Momentive experiment did not lift the stock. Growth slowed, the shares languished, and in March 2023 the company agreed to be acquired by Symphony Technology Group for $1.5 billion, closing that June. STG restored the SurveyMonkey corporate name in late 2023 and installed Eric Johnson, former CEO of Nintex, as chief executive in 2024.
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Under STG, the company has refocused on its core survey and forms franchise, expanded AI-powered survey creation and analysis features, and continued monetizing a massive free user base into paid and enterprise plans. It serves individuals, small businesses, and enterprise customers through SurveyMonkey for business, market research panels, and enterprise feedback management.
About Symphony Technology Group
Who owns Symphony Technology Group?
STG Partners, LLC is privately owned by STG Management Holdings, L.P., which holds greater than 75% of the firm. The firm is not publicly traded and has no parent organization. William "Bill" Chisholm serves as Managing Partner. The firm itself has less than $1 billion in total assets while managing approximately $12 billion in client assets.
What companies does STG own?
STG's portfolio includes SurveyMonkey ($1.5 billion acquisition), Avid Technology ($1.4 billion acquisition), Wrike (work management), Trellix (cybersecurity, formed from McAfee Enterprise and FireEye), Skyhigh Security (security service edge), Onclusive (PR and media analytics), Gresham (data integrity), Dodge Data and Analytics (construction industry data), Carrier Logistics (logistics software), and OffenderWatch (public safety software), among others.
When was Symphony Technology Group founded?
Symphony Technology Group was founded in 2002 by Romesh Wadhwani, William Chisholm, and Bryan Taylor in Menlo Park, California. In 2017, the firm was reorganized as STG Partners, LLC.
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What is STG's investment focus?
STG focuses on acquiring and building mid-market software, data, and analytics companies. The firm executes its strategy through corporate carve-outs, public-to-private transactions, and private company acquisitions. STG is known for its operational approach, providing hands-on management support to portfolio companies rather than focusing primarily on financial engineering.
Is Symphony Technology Group publicly traded?
No, STG Partners, LLC is a private equity firm and is not publicly traded. The firm raises capital through 7 private investment funds from institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals. As of March 2025, STG managed approximately $12 billion in assets under management.
What is STG's largest acquisition?
STG's largest acquisitions include McAfee Enterprise ($4 billion, March 2021), SurveyMonkey/Momentive Global ($1.5 billion, March 2023), FireEye software ($1.2 billion, June 2021), Avid Technology ($1.4 billion, November 2023), and RSA Security ($2.075 billion, February 2020).
How many employees does STG have?
STG employs approximately 88 people across its offices in Menlo Park, Bangalore, and London. The firm's workforce is distributed across 5 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, and Morocco.
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- Founded: 2002
- Headquarters: Menlo Park, California, USA
- Company Type: Privately Held
- Revenue: $100 million to $500 million (estimated)
- Employees: approximately 88
Where Is SurveyMonkey Made / Based?
- Headquarters: San Mateo, California, United States
SurveyMonkey Categories & Tags
SurveyMonkey Recalls & Controversies
SurveyMonkey's controversies have been corporate rather than product-level. The 2021 Momentive rebrand confused customers and was quietly reversed under private ownership in 2023, an admission that the SurveyMonkey name carried the company's equity.
Data privacy is the recurring substantive issue for any survey platform. The company handles respondent data on behalf of customers and has updated policies through GDPR and CCPA compliance cycles. No major breach or regulatory action has attached to the platform.
Layoffs accompanied both the pandemic-era expansion hangover and the private equity transition, with reductions in 2023 and 2024 as STG restructured the cost base. These drew standard scrutiny but nothing beyond normal private equity ownership practice.
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Brands Owned by Symphony Technology Group
SurveyMonkey Ownership: Pros & Cons
Advantages
- +Private ownership removes quarterly pressure during enterprise repositioning
- +STG's software specialization provides experienced sponsor oversight
- +Enormous freemium user base generates low-cost conversion funnel
- +Category-defining brand name restored after the Momentive detour
- +AI features now ship at private-company speed without public scrutiny
Considerations
- -Private equity ownership historically means eventual exit, not permanence
- -Enterprise push faces Qualtrics, which owns the high end of the category
- -Free competitors like Google Forms cap pricing power at the low end
- -Reduced transparency under private ownership limits market visibility
- -Debt financing from the buyout adds servicing pressure typical of LBOs
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Frequently Asked Questions About SurveyMonkey
Sources & Further Reading
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Competitors to SurveyMonkey
These competing brands operate in the same categories and provide similar products or services. Compare key attributes to understand market positioning and competitive landscape.
| Brand | Parent Company | Country | Founded | Market Position | Primary Market | Gender Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualtrics | United States | 2002 | Premium | Global | All Genders | |
| Ipsos | France | 1975 | Mass market | Global | All Genders | |
| Workday | Denmark | 2014 | Mass market | Global | All Genders |
Learn More About Competitors
Technology SoftwareQualtrics
Owned by Qualtrics
Experience management software platform used by enterprises for customer, employee, patient, and market research feedback. Flagship brand of the privately held Qualtrics company, owned by Silver Lake and CPP Investments.
experience-managementsurveyscustomer-experience
Media EntertainmentIpsos
Owned by Ipsos SA
Market research and polling brand of Ipsos SA, the Euronext Paris-listed French company and third-largest research firm globally.
market-researchpollingdata-analytics
Technology SoftwarePeakon
Owned by Workday, Inc.
Copenhagen-founded employee engagement and listening platform, acquired by Workday in 2021 and sold as Workday Peakon Employee Voice.
employee-engagementhr-softwaresurveys
Competitive Analysis
Market Positioning: SurveyMonkey competes with 3 brands in the same categories, ranging from mass market to luxury positioning.
Geographic Distribution: Competitors are headquartered across multiple regions, indicating global competition in this market segment.
Brand Heritage: Competitor brands range from established heritage brands to newer market entrants, with founding years spanning several decades.
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domainsweb-hostingwebsite-builder
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