Unlocking the power of data-driven marketing

Gp Bullhound

New York, 15 October 2020

GP Bullhound acted as exclusive financial advisor to digital marketing firm Linkmedia 360 (“Linkmedia”), on its sale to GlynnDevins.

Linkmedia, founded in 2004 and based in the Cleveland, Ohio area, is a data-driven, digital marketing company that leverages data science initiatives in digital channels to ultimately support sales growth with a framework revolving around analytics, insights and action.

The acquisition strengthens GlynnDevins’ digital offering and improves its portfolio of products and services that effectively support sales and lead generation for its clients. Linkmedia Managing Partners David Wolf and Chad Luckie will serve roles on GlynnDevins leadership team. Linkmedia will maintain its office location in Independence, OH and will now be branded as Linkmedia 360 – a GlynnDevins company.

“We have long-admired GlynnDevins’ success,” said Wolf. “Combining our strengths ensures our current and future clients will continue to receive top of line marketing execution and the best value and ROI around their marketing spend.”

“We have built a reputation based on data science and marketing experience that has proven to be successful in advancing our clients’ sales and business goals. Joining GlynnDevins is a tremendous opportunity to continue to accelerate our clients’ successes with data-driven marketing solutions.” said Luckie.

Wolf went on to say, “With their extensive expertise and network in the sector, GP Bullhound has been a great advisory partner for us. They lock-stepped with us through the entire process and their team went above and beyond throughout the engagement.”

Adam Birnbaum, Director at GP Bullhound, stated: “We are delighted to have helped Linkmedia find its ideal strategic partner in GlynnDevins. The combination creates a leader in digital marketing, and we look forward to observing their continued growth and success.”

This transaction is further testament to GP Bullhound’s expertise in the digital services sector, with 20 deals completed in the last 24 months in the sector alone, having previously advised on the merger of Orca Pacific with MightyHive, the acquisition of Jellyfish by Fimalac, the acquisition of Dudnyk by Fishawack and the acquisition of Eruptr by HIG, among many others.

Enquiries

For enquiries, please contact:

Adam Birnbaum, Director

adam.birnbaum@gpbullhound.com

About GP Bullhound

GP Bullhound is a leading technology advisory and investment firm, providing transaction advice and capital to the world’s best entrepreneurs and founders. Founded in 1999, the firm today has offices in London, San Francisco, Stockholm, Berlin, Manchester, Paris, Hong Kong, Madrid and New York. For more information, please visit www.gpbullhound.com.

 

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Koyeb raised €1.4M first round to support your serverless journey

Isai

Original blog post

Koyeb simplifies serverless application deployment and data-processing with a unified experience for containers, functions, and ready-to-use integrations. Koyeb is designed for the cloud-native world with native continuous deployment and GitHub integration, all combined with the ability to use the Cloud and API providers of your choice.

We’ve seen massive interest in the Koyeb technology from engineers and companies wanting to spend less time operating complex infrastructures and streamline the development of new features.

At a time where data is everywhere, Koyeb provides strong primitives for data-processing and realtime event-driven processing capabilities to build reactive, data-driven, applications.

We’re happy to provide 1000 hours of compute, 1TB of storage, and 5TB of bandwidth per month for free until the end of the year! Get your account now!

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Frog named VC & Growth House of the Year for second year running

Frog Capital

15th October 2020 by Frog

We’re delighted to announce that we have come away with the “Venture & Growth Capital House of the Year” award at Unquote’s British Private Equity Awards for the second consecutive year.

The award ceremony was held as a virtual event and recognises the contribution of private equity to the growth of British business every year. We were in good company in the growth category, with Foresight and YFM Equity Partners also nominated.

According to Unquote, a leading European private equity specialist and the company behind the awards, our win was awarded for consistently maintaining high standards of work for the whole year, including fundraising.

Unquote says: “The judges and public voters were impressed by Frog Capital’s achievements over the judging period. The firm secured a first close for its new fund, Frog European Growth II (FEG II), with a target of €150m. Frog also finalised two investments, first with Amazon analytics software company, Sellics, which wrapped up FEG I, and secondly with health and safety software business SHE Software, kicking off the investment period for FEG II.

“Frog also completed two strong exits: EDITED was sold to Wavecrest while Skimlinks was exited to strategic trade buyer Connexity (with the deal completing during the Covid-19 crisis). Frog’s remaining portfolio has also performed well through Covid-19, with no companies requiring emergency funding, six out of eight companies continuing to grow in 2020, and 85% either profitable or funded to profitability.”

You can learn more about the award announcement here.

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Tarsus Pharmaceuticals Inc. Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering

Frazier Helathcare partners

| Source: Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc

IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 15, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (“Tarsus”) a late clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutic candidates to address large market opportunities initially in ophthalmic conditions, today announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 5,500,000 shares of common stock at a public offering price of $16.00 per share, for gross proceeds of $88.0 million, before underwriting discounts, commissions, and offering expenses payable by Tarsus. In addition, Tarsus has granted the underwriters an option for a period of 30 days to purchase up to 825,000 additional shares of common stock at the initial public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions. All shares are being offered and sold by Tarsus.

Tarsus’ common stock is expected to begin trading on The Nasdaq Global Select Market on October 16, 2020 under the symbol “TARS.” The offering is expected to close on or about October 20, 2020, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

BofA Securities, Jefferies and Raymond James are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. LifeSci Capital and Ladenburg Thalmann are acting as co-managers for the offering.

A registration statement relating to the offering of these securities was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on October 15, 2020. Copies of the registration statement can be accessed by visiting the SEC website at www.sec.gov. The securities referred to in this release are to be offered only by means of a prospectus. A preliminary prospectus describing the terms of the offering has been filed with the SEC and forms a part of the effective registration statement. When available, a copy of the final prospectus relating to the offering may be obtained from BofA Securities, NC1-004-03-43, 200 North College Street, 3rd floor, Charlotte, NC 28255-0001, Attn: Prospectus Department, or by email at dg.prospectus_requests@bofa.com; Jefferies at 1-877-821-7388 or by email at prospectus_department@jefferies.com; and Raymond James at 1-800-248-8863 or by email at prospectus@raymondjames.com.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of that jurisdiction.

About Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a late clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutic candidates to address large market opportunities, initially in ophthalmic conditions, where there are limited treatment alternatives. It is advancing its pipeline to address several diseases across therapeutic categories including eye care, dermatology, and other diseases with high, unmet needs. Its lead product candidate, TP-03, is a novel therapeutic in Phase 2b/3 that is being developed for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects, as well as any other statements regarding matters that are not historical facts, may constitute “forward-looking statements.” These statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to the expected trading commencement and closing dates. The words, without limitation, “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will” or “would” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these or similar identifying words. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: the uncertainties related to market conditions and the completion of the public offering on the anticipated terms of the offering or at all, and other factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of the preliminary prospectus that forms a part of the effective registration statement filed with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on the current expectations of Tarsus’ management team and speak only as of the date hereof, and Tarsus specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Media Contact:
Allison Howell
Pascale Communications, LLC
allison@pascalecommunications.com

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The Future of Repetitive, Physically Demanding and Dangerous Work: DCVC Co-leads Investment in Agility Robotics

Data Collective

By Kelly Chen and Matt Ocko 10.15.20

It’s difficult to imagine a time when humans labored over what is now done by washing machines, looms, tractors, and excavators. These tedious and physically demanding activities were the early low hanging fruit of automation that allowed society to scale, creating, not destroying jobs in the last 140 years, and vastly improving quality of life.

We’re now at another transformative moment as we see the side effects of an accelerating population shift; our able-bodied working age group is massively shrinking as a percentage of the population. Yet, even as this demographic shrinks, in many critical industries like e-commerce or logistics, hard manual labor is still critical and in growing demand.

This work is repetitive, physically demanding or even dangerous, and the part of the population carrying its burden is rapidly disappearing (see below). Nearly every week, we see news reports scattered with references to accident and injury rates in warehousing facilities that should have us alarmed about the nature of this work.

Additionally, due to the physically-intensive nature of these roles, it’s incredibly difficult to keep humans engaged in them long term. Logistics executives have long cited high labor turnover and cyclical temporary worker needs as their biggest pain points. Agility Robotics is tackling this “last mile” of difficult automation problems, focusing on repetitive, physically demanding, and dangerous work.

Source: https://www.economist.com/news/2014/11/13/the-world-reshaped

Agility Robotics combines two decades of research and development with one of the most impressive robotics teams globally. The team has built a programmable, bipedal, humanoid robot (read: robot with two arms and legs) that can unload, inspect, carry, and deliver items across a variety of uncontrolled indoor and outdoor terrains – things that come easily to humans but not to date for robots.

Existing robotic solutions in the $1.6T logistics industry tend to be narrowly focused, expensive, and often cannot navigate human terrain. Agility’s robots come in a “drop in” configuration for existing facilities and as an easily scalable solution. Importantly, in working closely with partners and experts on the frontlines of today’s logistics sector, the team has already demonstrated that it can technologically solve many of the logistics market’s largest problems – and pragmatically and economically.

At DCVC, we don’t back seemingly impressive ‘science projects’ that lack robust, real world applications. Instead, we focus on companies that channel their ingenuity, creativity and effort into solving urgent problems impacting both huge industries and our society at large.

When we met founders Damion and Jonathan, we immediately recognized that Agility’s robot was purpose-built for actual – not theoretical – industry. The team has spent years working with and understanding the needs of Agility’s partners and customers, and have built up industry expertise we think is second to none. This practical diligence is already paying dividends, with Agility having struck up a partnership with Ford to develop a last-mile logistics solution that combines Ford’s autonomous vehicle technology and Agility’s bipedal robot Digit.

Since we’ve gotten to know the Agility team, it’s clear they have put an incredible amount of thought into creating a solution which can eliminate the burden on human workers while providing real-world reliability, safety and cost-effectiveness. DCVC is thrilled to join the weighty mission at Agility, co-leading a $20m round alongside previous investor Playground Global.

To view the robot in action, visit Agility Robotics’ YouTube channel.

Bowmark wins Mid-Market Buyout House of the Year

Bowmark

Bowmark is honoured to have received the Unquote British Private Equity Award for Mid-Market Buyout House of the Year 2020.

The awards recognise the role of private equity in generating outstanding returns for investors while fostering growth in the UK economy. The winners were selected by Unquote readers and industry stakeholders.

Unquote commented: “Bowmark delivered strong investment performance over the judging period, with the companies in its two current funds delivering profit growth of over 15% in the year to June 2020.”

Charles Ind, Bowmark managing partner, said: “In what has been a challenging year for everyone, we are incredibly grateful to our colleagues in the industry for selecting Bowmark for this award. We are delighted that the outstanding work of our portfolio companies has been recognised, and our team will endeavour to maintain its high standards of delivery for our investors.”

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Arcus announces financial close on the sale of Brisa

Arcus

15 October 2020

LONDON, United Kingdom (15 October 2020) – Arcus Infrastructure Partners (“Arcus”) is pleased to announce the closing of the sale of AEIF1’s (the ‘Fund’) entire 40.6% interest in Brisa Auto-Estradas de Portugal S.A. (‘Brisa’) to a consortium comprising APG Asset Management N.V., the National Pension Service of Korea and Swiss Life Asset Management AG on the 13 October 2020.

Completion of the transaction follows approval granted by the relevant antitrust authorities on 18 September 2020.

Michael Allen, Arcus Partner and Brisa Asset Manager, said: “Over a 13 year period, Arcus has worked in close partnership with Brisa Management and JdM to grow the company, to enhance Brisa’s position as the leading toll road operator in Portugal and leverage its technology and innovation to further develop automated tolling and mobility solutions. Brisa is one of the most efficient toll road operators in Europe and a leader in ESG metrics.”

This transaction marks the sixth and final exit for the Fund.

Simon Gray and Ian Harding, Arcus Co-Managing Partners, said: “We are extremely pleased with the conclusion of the sale of Brisa and the outcome delivered for AEIF1 and its LPs, following 13 years of managing the Fund and its investee companies through some challenging periods as well as some more benign circumstances.  We would like to extend our thanks and appreciation to our LPs for their continued trust and support over this long period.”

Arcus’ financial advisors for this transaction were Morgan Stanley and Millennium Investment Banking. Arcus’ legal advisors were Clifford Chance as to English law and Luxembourg law and CS Associados as to Portuguese law. Deloitte provided accounting and tax advice.

Media Contacts:

Callum SprengE: callum@sprengthomson.com

T: +44 7803 970103

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About Arcus

Arcus Infrastructure Partners is an independent fund manager focused solely on long-term investments in European infrastructure. Arcus invests on behalf of institutional investors through discretionary funds and special co-investment vehicles and, through its subsidiaries, currently manages investments with an aggregate enterprise value in excess of EUR 15bn (as of 31 December 2019).  The Arcus investment track record includes: Forth Ports, TDF, Alpha Trains, Angel Trains and several other leading European infrastructure businesses. Arcus targets mid-market, value-add infrastructure investments, with a particular focus on businesses in the transportation, energy and telecommunications sectors.

For further information: www.arcusip.com

Linkedin/arcusinfrastructurepartners

Twitter/ArcusInfra

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About Brisa

Brisa is a leading toll road concessionaire in Europe (c. 1,575km total network length) and the largest road platform in Portugal representing c. 57% of total national distance travelled and c. 43% of the country’s toll road network. Every year, over 7.5 million customers drive on Brisa motorways.

Brisa, which comprises 5 concessions holding a total of 21 motorways, is the backbone of the Portuguese road system: it runs through 12/18 Portuguese regions, connecting Porto-Lisbon (the key national business route) and East-West (with two major accesses to Spain and the Trans-European road network). The largest concession is Brisa Concessão Rodoviária (BCR), which comprises a network of 11 motorways spanning across 1,100 km in which Brisa holds a 70% stake.

For further information: https://www.brisa.pt/en

LinkedIn/Brisa

Twitter/viaverdept

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21 Concordia exits Apaczka

21 Concordia has signed an agreement to sell its stake in Apaczka, the #1 e-commerce logistics and shipping platform operator, to Abris Capital Partners, a leading independent private equity fund manager.

Headquartered in Warsaw, Apaczka has been active for over 10 years in the logistics sector, enjoying a leadership position in Poland at the same level of large international shipping groups. Apaczka operates as a technology platform and an integrator, offering comprehensive shipment services for e-commerce stores, SMEs and SOHO (small office / home office) clients.

Acquired by 21 Concordia in 2017, throughout the holding period Apaczka enjoyed strong growth in direct sales and in the volume of parcels sent thanks to several strategic actions carried out. Apaczka completed 6 strategic acquisitions, including the second largest logistics player in Poland and five add-ons aimed at accelerating digital development. Moreover, Apaczka strengthened the managerial structure in the areas of finance, product, marketing and customer service and diversified its supplier base thanks to new agreements reached with international couriers such as GLS.

Apaczka also developed a new international parcel service from Poland to Germany and created a new platform dedicated to private individuals, while investing in online marketing to improve brand positioning.

On the back of these targeted actions, Apaczka today has over 40,000 clients compared to 16,000 at entry and has increased the volume of parcels sent to 8 million compared to 2.4 million in 2016, continuing to record a positive growth trend also during the covid-19 emergency.

Apaczka has a strong growth in sales in the last three years (2017-2020(B)), achieving a CAGR of over 15% and with over 35 million in sales expected in 2020. Apaczka has also doubled its workforce and opened a new branch.

21 Concordia has identified Abris Capital Partner as the ideal partner to continue the dynamic growth path launched in Apaczka.

Marek Modecki, Managing Partner at 21 Concordia, commented: “We are pleased to have actively participated in the growth of Apaczka. Working closely with the management team has allowed a rapid development of the company in one of the most appealing sectors of the moment. We are pleased that the management of Apaczka will be able to continue on this path and tackle new markets alongside a partner like Abris”

Grzegorz Iwaniuk, Co-founder and President of Apaczka, commented: “In addition to pursuing the current strategy of increasing our market share and asserting our leadership position, we plan to accelerate the growth of the business. Indeed, with the support of Abris we will notably develop and implement new solutions for entities operating in the e-commerce industry. Our goal is also to address new market segments with the apaczka.pl online platform.”

Edgar Koleśnik, Partner at Abris Capital Partners, commented: “Apaczka falls perfectly in line with the increasing demand for delivery e-services, allowing to foresee greats prospects for the company’s development. We are convinced that, with the experienced management team in place, we will be able to implement our ambitious plans both in terms of organic growth and acquisitions.”

CD&R Completes Acquisition of Epicor, Leading Software Provider to Industrial Sectors

Clayton Dubilier Rice

Eppicor logo

Wednesday, October 14, 2020
New York, NY

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice today announced the closing of CD&R funds’ acquisition of Epicor, a global provider of industry-specific enterprise software to industrial sectors. The transaction is valued at $4.7 billion.

Epicor is a leading enterprise software vendor delivering cloud-enabled services to more than 20,000 customers globally. Epicor’s flagship products are curated to support complex, vertical-specific workflows and provide mission-critical support to customers seeking to drive growth and profitability in their own businesses. Epicor is an acknowledged leader in the industrial end markets it serves, including manufacturing, distribution, retail, and services categories.

Upon the close, CD&R Partner Jeff Hawn assumed the role of Chairman of the Epicor Board. Mr. Hawn has more than 20 years’ experience across a range of senior executive roles in software and technology-related businesses, including serving as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Quest Software, Vertafore, and The Attachmate Group.

“We believe Epicor is positioned to accelerate growth in the coming years based on the company’s reputation for quality and reliability and impressive portfolio of next-generation cloud products,” said Mr. Hawn. “We are focused on applying CD&R’s experience—both in software and industrial end markets—to support the talented Epicor management team and its growth plans, including the pursuit of strategic acquisitions.”

About Epicor Software Corporation
For almost 50 years, Epicor Software Corporation has specialized in helping its customers grow their businesses, expand their capabilities, increase their productivity, and improve efficiencies. A leader in Enterprise Resource Planning for medium-sized businesses, Epicor serves as a trusted partner for thousands of companies worldwide across key industries, such as manufacturing, distribution, and retail. Through its innovative services and unparalleled vertical knowledge, Epicor is creating a world of better business for its customers, building in its unique business processes and operational requirements into every one of its solutions―in the cloud or on premises. For more information, connect with Epicor or visit www.epicor.com.

About Clayton, Dubilier & Rice
Founded in 1978, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice is a private investment firm with a strategy predicated on enhancing the value of the businesses it acquires by supporting long-term growth, productivity, capital efficiency, and related strategic measures. Since inception, CD&R has managed the investment of more than $30 billion in 94 companies with an aggregate transaction value of approximately $150 billion. The Firm has offices in New York and London. For more information, visit www.cdr-inc.com.

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Ratos Nomination Committee and 2021 AGM

Ratos

Ratos’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on 5 May 2021 at Skandiascenen, Cirkus, in Stockholm, Sweden.

In accordance with the policy for appointing Ratos’s Nomination Committee, it is hereby announced that the company’s major owners/owner constellations have appointed a Nomination Committee with the Chairman of the Board Per-Olof Söderberg as the convener.

The Nomination Committee comprises the following individuals:

  • Jenny Parnesten, nominated by the Ragnar Söderberg Foundation, and own and related parties’ holdings
  • Jan Söderberg, own holdings
  • Maria Söderberg, nominated by the Torsten Söderberg Foundation, and own holdings
  • Erik Brändström, nominated by Spiltan Fonder AB
  • Martin Gärtner, nominated by SEB Investment Management
  • Per-Olof Söderberg, Chairman of Ratos’s Board

The Nomination Committee has nominated Jenny Parnesten as Chairman.

In accordance with an AGM resolution, the Nomination Committee shall evaluate the composition and work of the Board of Directors and draft proposals for the 2021 AGM regarding:

  • election of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Board
  • election of Auditor (in cooperation with the Audit Committee)
  • remuneration to Board members and auditors
  • election of Chairman of the AGM
  • where necessary, changes to principles for composition of the next Nomination Committee

Shareholders who wish to submit proposals to the Nomination Committee may send an e-mail to helena.jansson@ratos.com (subject line “To the Nomination Committee”) or a letter to Ratos Nomination Committee, Helena Jansson, Ratos AB, Box 1661, SE-111 96 Stockholm, Sweden, not later than 31 January 2021.

Shareholders who wish to submit a proposal for consideration at the AGM should send such a proposal to the Chairman of the Board (at the above address) not later than 17 March 2021 in order for the proposal to be included in the notice of the AGM.

 

For further information, please contact:
Jenny Parnesten, Chairman of Nomination Committee, +46 70 742 51 77
Per-Olof Söderberg, Chairman of the Board, Ratos, +46 8 700 17 98

About Ratos:
Ratos is a business group consisting of 12 companies divided into three business areas: Construction & Services, Consumer & Technology and Industry. In total, the companies have SEK 38 billion in sales and EBITA of SEK 1.8 billion. Our business concept is to develop mid-sized companies headquartered in the Nordics that are or can become market leaders. We enable independent mid-sized companies to excel by being part of something larger. People, leadership, culture and values are key focus areas for Ratos. Everything we do is based on Ratos’s core values: Simplicity, Speed in Execution and It’s All About People.

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