Diligent Corporation
Headquarters
New York, NYFounded
1994CEO / Founder
Brian StaffordEmployees
1001-5000Funding
AcquiredProducts
1 product listedAvg. AI Score
8.0/10Website
www.diligent.com
Profile updated
About Diligent Corporation
Diligent Corporation develops governance, risk and compliance (GRC) software for boards of directors, executives and compliance teams. The company was founded in New York in 1994 by Brian Henry and Kiri Borg as Manhattan Creative Partners, which built secure websites for financial institutions, and later refocused on board collaboration software under the Diligent name. It is headquartered in New York City, with offices including London, Washington D.C., Galway, Munich, Budapest, Bangalore, Sydney and Vancouver.
Its flagship product, Diligent Boards, is a board portal for distributing and annotating board materials; the broader Diligent One platform spans risk management, audit, compliance, ESG reporting and entity management. The company reports more than one million users across over 23,000 organizations, including a majority of the Fortune 500 and 90% of the FTSE 100, and has been ranked a leader in GRC by analyst firms including Gartner, Forrester and IDC.
Diligent listed on the New Zealand Exchange in 2007 and was taken private in 2016 by Insight Venture Partners in a deal valuing the company at $624 million. Clearlake Capital invested in 2018 and Blackstone joined in 2020 at a valuation above $4 billion. Under CEO Brian Stafford, who joined in 2015, Diligent has acquired companies including Brainloop, BoardPad, Manzama, Steele, Galvanize and Accuvio. The company employs roughly 2,200 people and reported about $600 million in revenue for 2022.
Specialties
Financials
Dated, source-cited figures. Estimates are marked.
Products by Diligent Corporation
All products by Diligent Corporation reviewed by our AI panel of experts.
How Our Review Panel Scores Diligent Corporation
Six independent reviewer personalities assessed Diligent Corporation's product on their own terms. They landed within 0.9 points of each other, an unusually strong consensus.
Averaged across 1 reviewed product in our catalog. Scores are out of 10.
Competitive Landscape
Who Diligent Corporation competes with, and how they differ.
MetricStream focuses on modular, enterprise-wide integrated risk management (IRM) apps for risk, compliance and audit teams, overlapping directly with Diligent's GRC/Galvanize-derived modules, but it has no board-of-directors meeting/portal product like Diligent Boards.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewed
AuditBoard is a cloud audit, risk and compliance platform purpose-built for internal audit and SOX teams, competing with Diligent's audit and risk modules, but it is scoped to audit/controls workflows rather than Diligent's broader board-governance suite.
Workiva centers on connected SEC, ESG and financial reporting with controls management (including XBRL filing), overlapping with Diligent's ESG and compliance-reporting tools, but it lacks a dedicated board-meeting/board-portal product.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewed
OneTrust is built around privacy management, data governance and third-party risk, overlapping with Diligent's compliance and ESG modules, but it does not offer board-of-directors meeting and minute-taking software the way Diligent does.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewedNasdaq Boardvantage is a dedicated board-meeting and board-portal product from Nasdaq's governance solutions line, competing directly with Diligent Boards for secure board document distribution and e-signatures, without Diligent's broader audit/risk/ESG GRC suite.
Company Timeline
Key milestones in Diligent Corporation's history, with sources.
- Acquisition
Acquires 3rdRisk, an AI-native third-party risk management platform
Diligent acquired 3rdRisk, a Netherlands-based AI-native third-party risk management platform, extending its GRC suite into vendor and supplier risk. Financial terms were not disclosed.
diligent.com - Acquisition
Acquires Vault, an AI-powered ethics and compliance platform
Diligent acquired Vault, an AI-powered ethics and compliance platform used to run speak-up/whistleblower reporting and mitigate workplace misconduct risk.
diligent.com - Milestone
Private-equity owners explore roughly $7 billion sale of Diligent
Reuters reported that Diligent's owners -- Insight Partners, Blackstone and Clearlake Capital -- began interviewing investment banks to explore a sale of the company that could value it at nearly $7 billion including debt; the deliberations were early-stage and a deal was not guaranteed.
marketscreener.com - Acquisition
Completes acquisition of Galvanize, becomes "world's largest GRC SaaS company"
Diligent completed its acquisition of Galvanize (ACL Services Ltd.), a global governance, risk and compliance software provider, days after signing the deal. Combined with its recently closed Steele Compliance Solutions acquisition, Diligent billed itself as the world's largest GRC SaaS company; financial terms of both deals were not disclosed.
diligent.com - Acquisition
Signs agreement to acquire Steele Compliance Solutions
Diligent signed an agreement to acquire Steele Compliance Solutions, Inc., a global leader in ethics and compliance SaaS, to extend its governance platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.
diligent.com - Funding
Receives new investment from Blackstone and increased investment from Clearlake
Diligent received a new investment from funds managed by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities alongside an increased investment from existing backer Clearlake Capital Group; press reports (WSJ, PE Hub) valued the company at roughly $4 billion.
diligent.com - Acquisition
Insight Venture Partners agrees to acquire Diligent for $624M, taking it private
NZX-listed Diligent Corporation agreed to be acquired by Insight Venture Partners for US$4.90 per share in cash, a deal valuing the company at approximately US$624 million -- a 31% premium to its prior closing price. The company delisted from the NZX in April 2016 and returned to private ownership.
diligent.com - Milestone
Brian Stafford appointed President and CEO
Diligent Board Member Services appointed former McKinsey partner Brian Stafford as President and CEO, effective March 31, 2015, succeeding co-founder Alessandro "Alex" Sodi, who moved to Chief Product Strategy Officer. Stafford remains CEO as of 2026.
getfilings.com - Funding
IPO on the New Zealand Exchange
Diligent (then Diligent Board Member Services) listed on the New Zealand Exchange (NZX) in December 2007 at NZ$1.00 per share, raising NZ$24 million and valuing the company at roughly NZ$115 million.
insightpartners.com - Milestone
Renamed Diligent Board Member Services, pivots to board governance software
Founders Brian Henry and Kiri Borg, joined by Sharon Daniels, Dan Kiley and other partners, renamed Manhattan Creative Partners to Diligent Board Member Services and refocused the company on corporate governance software (Boardbook), after building the product for AIG SunAmerica starting in 2001.
en.wikipedia.org - Founded
Founded as Manhattan Creative Partners
Brian Henry and Kiri Borg founded Manhattan Creative Partners (MCP) in New York, initially consulting for and hosting secure websites for financial institutions, mutual funds and insurance companies -- the predecessor to Diligent Board Member Services / Diligent Corporation.
en.wikipedia.org
Explore AI Software Reviews
Browse multi-perspective AI panel reviews across hundreds of AI tools, agents, and platforms. Find the right software with insights from CTO, Developer, Marketer, Finance, and User perspectives.