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Bridgepoint agrees sale of majority interest in Miya to Antin Infrastructure Partners

Bridgepoint

Bridgepoint has agreed the sale of Miya Water (“Miya”), a leading international environmental services company, to Antin Infrastructure Partners.

Miya is a best-in-class global water platform uniquely positioned to take advantage of growth opportunities in the sector. The company is the largest private water operator in Portugal and a global provider of comprehensive integrated water efficiency solutions to public and private utilities. With more than 700 employees, Miya serves over 600,000 people in Portugal via six long-term concessions and one public private partnership (PPP) and has delivered more than 200 water efficiency projects globally aimed at reducing non-revenue water (water lost during distribution).

Following completion of the acquisition, Antin will work with Miya’s management team, led by CEO Amit Horman, to support growth opportunities in water concessions and PPPs in Europe and North America, as well as the delivery of further water efficiency projects around the world.

Miya’s growth prospects are underpinned by attractive market fundamentals, a greater focus on water efficiency and significant investment needs supported by the private sector.

Mauricio Bolaña, Partner at Antin, said:”Miya is a best-in-class water operator with a solid base that will serve as a springboard to capture the strong growth potential that exists in the sector. We are delighted to support Miya’s management team in the next stage of the company’s development.”

Héctor Pérez, Partner at Bridgepoint, said: “Miya is a unique business with a superb management team. We are extremely pleased to be a part of its journey and to continue supporting its growth ambitions in this new stage together with Antin.”

Amit Horman, Chief Executive Officer at Miya, commented: “We thank Bridgepoint for their significant support. In partnership with Antin, we look forward to delivering on the significant potential we see over the coming years.”

Antin was advised by Deutsche Bank, Herbert Smith Freehills, Sérvulo, McConnell Valdés, PWACS Corporate Finance, PWACS, Defining Future Options, EY and Marsh.

Bridgepoint was advised by Citi, Uría Menéndez, PwC Strategy&, EY, ERM and Willis.

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Digital Currency Group acquires leading cryptocurrency exchange, Luno

Balderton

DCG will help fuel Luno’s global growth in Africa, Asia, Europe, and beyond. Luno will continue to operate as an independent, wholly-owned subsidiary of DCG.

Digital Currency Group (DCG), a global enterprise that builds, buys, and invests in blockchain companies, today announced the acquisition of Balderton portfolio company, Luno.

Balderton first invested in Luno in September 2017.

Led by co-founder and CEO Marcus Swanepoel, Luno has become a digital asset powerhouse in many emerging and frontier markets, providing digital asset education, knowledge, and investment tools for individuals in Africa, Asia, and Europe.

The past seven years have been an incredibly exciting journey for Luno – so far helping millions of our customers get access to crypto for the first time

Luno co-founder and CEO Marcus Swanepoel

Marcus Swanepoel , co-founder and CEO, Luno speaks to Hiroki Takeuchi, co-founder and CEO, GoCardless and Bram de Zwart, co-founder and CEO, 3D Hubs at the Balderton CEO Collective Summit in 2018.

Luno has helped broaden the global crypto investment community and 2020 has been a record year so far in growth in its customer base.

The company is committed to upgrading the world to a better financial system, believing that legacy systems were built for a non-digital age, ignoring the needs of modern individuals and adding unnecessary inefficiencies and gatekeepers. The world now has access to new technologies like Bitcoin and Ethereum that will fundamentally change how the world views and uses money.

Having the full backing of DCG just as we’re experiencing such a pivotal moment of growth in the industry is not just an exciting and important milestone for Luno, but more importantly, it will significantly accelerate our ability to reach our goal to help upgrade 1 billion people to a better financial system by 2030.

Luno co-founder and CEO Marcus Swanepoel

The Luno leadership team will remain entirely intact and Swanepoel will lead acquisition efforts in his role as CEO.

The company will maintain key regional offices in Kuala Lumpur, Lagos, Jakarta, and Johannesburg, and will continue to focus on the existing geographies where it operates across Europe, Africa, and Asia.

The Luno team has also developed an aggressive road map for future growth and will ultimately compete with financial services firms all over the world.

Luno is actively hiring for positions all over the world. See their open positions here. 

You can also read the blog post on the acquisition from Luno CEO, Marcus Swanepoel, here.

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Sprinklr Raises $200 Million at $2.7 Billion Valuation

Hellman & Friedman

Investment by Hellman & Friedman follows record financial year and strong growth in the wake of COVID-19

Sprinklr has also secured an additional $150 million in convertible securities from Sixth Street

As consumers are more connected and empowered because of the shift to social and messaging channels, Customer Experience Management (CXM) has become vital to the digital transformation of large enterprises

Sprinklr, the Customer Experience Management (CXM) platform for modern enterprises, today announced that it has raised $200 million at a $2.7 billion valuation from Hellman & Friedman (H&F), one of the world’s most experienced private equity firms, and secured an additional $150 million in convertible securities from Sixth Street Growth, the growth investment arm of Sixth Street, a leading global investment firm.

Together, these investments represent up to $350 million in new capital that Sprinklr will use to double-down on the value it is creating for the world’s largest enterprises, and accelerate its position as the pioneer of a new class of enterprise software that enables the entire front office to work together and deliver better customer experiences on any modern channel – all on one unified platform.

“In a world where customers are connected and empowered, Customer Experience Management is no longer optional. It’s time for modern enterprises to break down silos, and unify disconnected teams, channels, and tools to make their customers happier,” said Ragy Thomas, CEO & Founder, Sprinklr. “That’s been our mission from the start. To build a new class of enterprise software purpose-built for CXM, and a new kind of enterprise software company that the world’s largest organizations truly love.”

“Sprinklr has a unique opportunity to lead a Customer Experience Management market that’s already massive – and growing – as enterprises continue to realize the urgent need to put CXM at the heart of their digital transformation strategy,” said Tarim Wasim, Partner, Hellman & Friedman. “We spoke to over a hundred customers, and they consistently credit Sprinklr for modernizing their customer experience through its unified, AI-driven enterprise platform, and a team that is deeply passionate about customer delight.”

“Underpinned by a visionary leadership team, strong return on invested capital, and AI technology built to provide the world’s leading brands with the ability to engage their customers across any channel, Sprinklr is defining and leading the enormous new category of Customer Experience Management,” said Michael McGinn, Partner and Co-head of Sixth Street Growth. “We’re excited to be part of Sprinklr’s journey of impressive growth and are pleased that our investment will bolster an already strong balance sheet.”

“Customer Experience Management” Is Core to Digital Transformation
CXM and consumer-centricity have become vitally important to the C-Suite. 72% of businesses say improving customer experience is their top priority, according to Forrester. According to an Accenture Interactive report, 87% of organizations believe that traditional experiences are no longer enough to satisfy their customers. The report concluded that “CX is the new battleground for brands.”

When businesses are able to improve customer experience, however, it has a direct impact on their bottom line, with Forrester finding that even a one-point increase in CX scores can translate into $10M’s – $100M’s in annual revenue.

As the world moves even more online due to the coronavirus pandemic – which has driven a 50-70% increase in global internet usage – the ability to serve customers on the digital channels they choose is no longer an option, creating what the World Economic Forum calls a “watershed moment for the digital transformation of business.”

A Modern Platform Purpose-Built for CXM
Founded in 2009, Sprinklr’s platform was built from the ground up for one purpose: to provide every customer-facing team with the modern capabilities they need to serve connected customers, and enable the entire front office to work together and deliver a more unified customer experience. Over the past decade, that vision has followed three phases:

  • Social: Sprinklr started with a foundation in social, helping brands listen to, engage, and reach customers across dozens of social channels on one unified platform. That differentiation cemented Sprinklr – in the eyes of leading brands and analysts – as the leader in Social Media Management (SMMS). 
  • Digital: In 2017, Sprinklr expanded its platform, introducing a full suite of digital solutions for each major customer-facing department – Marketing, Advertising, Research, Care, and Engagement – designed to give each the modern capabilities they need to thrive in a world where customers are connected and in control. 
  • CXM: Today, hundreds of the world’s largest brands have multiple customer-facing functions – like Marketing and Care – working together on Sprinklr’s platform to realize the full potential of CXM, an $80+ billion market opportunity. Sprinklr powers 9 of the world’s 10 most valuable brands, and companies including Microsoft, McDonald’s, L’Oreal, Verizon, and Santander.

Continued Momentum
Over the past 12 months, Sprinklr has seen continued momentum with milestones including:

  • Released 1,500+ new features across its five products including: Sprinklr Live Chat to enable real-time conversations on a brand’s website and mobile apps, new AI-powered capabilities like Smart Responses for care agents, and Sprinklr Sandbox to provide an isolated environment to test, train, and troubleshoot. 
  •  Named the only leader in The Forrester Wave™: Social Suites, Q4 2019, making Sprinklr a leader in all five Forrester social Wave reports. Sprinklr has also been named a leader by Frost & Sullivan (Customer Value Leadership Award), Forbes (Cloud 100), Gartner (2020 Customers’ Choice), G2 Crowd (Leader, Summer 2020), TrustRadius (Top Rated 2020), and Adweek (Readers’ Choice for Best of Tech Award 2020). 
  • Acquired Nanigans’ social advertising business, and announced new integrations with ServiceNow and Google.

The investment from H&F is expected to close in October following regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

About Sprinklr Sprinklr (@Sprinklr) is the world’s leading Customer Experience Management (CXM) platform. We help organizations listen to, engage, and reach customers and citizens across 25 social channels, 11 messaging channels, and hundreds of millions of forums, blogs, and review sites. Sprinklr is a global company with 1,900 employees helping more than 1,000 of the world’s largest and most valuable enterprises make their customers happier.

About Hellman & Friedman (H&F) Hellman & Friedman is a preeminent global private equity firm with a distinctive approach focused on investments in high-quality growth businesses. H&F seeks to partner with world-class management teams where its deep sector expertise, long-term orientation, and collaborative partnership approach enable companies to flourish. Since its founding in 1984, H&F has raised over $50 billion of committed capital, invested in over 90 companies, and is currently investing its ninth fund, with $16.5 billion of committed capital. Learn more about H&F’s defining investment philosophy and approach to sustainable outcomes at www.hf.com.

About Sixth Street Sixth Street is a global investment business with approximately $47 billion in assets under management and committed capital. Sixth Street Growth is the firm’s dedicated platform for making customized, non-control private investments in growth-oriented companies. The Sixth Street Growth team partners with companies and management teams to provide bespoke, accretive financing solutions that often fall between traditional growth equity and commercial debt. Sixth Street has invested over $4 billion in more than 40 companies in its growth investing strategy since inception. Select current and past representative Sixth Street Growth investments include Airbnb, AirTrunk, AvidXchange, Gainsight, Kyriba, Lucidworks, Paycor, PayScale, PaySimple and Spotify.

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6 Degrees Health Secures Significant Growth Equity Investment from FTV Capital

FTV Capital

Investment will support continued growth and expansion of leading reference-based pricing platform

HILLSBORO, Ore., Sept. 9, 2020 – 6 Degrees Health, a provider of technology-enabled healthcare cost containment solutions for self-insured employers, today announced it has secured a significant investment from FTV Capital, a sector-focused growth equity investor in innovative companies in enterprise technology and services, financial services, and payments and transaction processing. This investment will enable 6 Degrees Health to expand its platform, which enables employers to realize significant cost savings while also generating best-in-class employee experience.

6 Degrees Health’s reference-based pricing solutions encourage health plans to pay providers a fair rate, without unduly restricting employee benefits. 6 Degrees Health’s proprietary MediVI technology platform collects, analyzes and benchmarks claims and billing data across plans, providers and geographies to provide medical reimbursement analytics for audits, contracting and claim negotiation.

“Our goal at 6 Degrees Health is to bring equity and fairness back into the healthcare reimbursement equation,” said Scott Ray, CEO of 6 Degrees Health. “Through our differentiated, per-employee-per month pricing model and our MediVI technology platform, we look to eliminate restrictive networks, decrease healthcare costs and allow members to seek care from any provider they choose without the risk of decreased benefits. FTV Capital’s investment and strong expertise in enterprise technology will allow us to continue focusing on bringing greater transparency to our customers and the healthcare sector more broadly.”

“As a result of a strong leadership team and passion to provide transparency, 6 Degrees Health continues to ‘pull back the curtain’ on healthcare pricing,” said Alex Mason, partner at FTV Capital. “FTV Capital is excited to partner with a driven, dedicated team to help further enhance its technologies and create more transparency for the market.”

“Rising healthcare spend is a significant cost burden and managing high-cost claims is the top priority for self-insured employers,” said Chris Winship, partner at FTV Capital. “6 Degrees Health provides self-insured employers with a technology-enabled cost-containment solution that delivers significant savings on healthcare claims. We are excited to support the company’s incredible traction as they inject analytics into a challenged industry that is swimming in broken technologies, manual processes and other inefficiencies.”

As part of the transaction, FTV Capital’s Chris Winship, Alex Mason and Abhay Puskoor will join the 6 Degrees Health board of directors.

6 Degrees Health was advised by Covington Associates.

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Avedon strengthens bearings and spindle manufacturer SLF through acquisition of STI, a specialized engineering trading company

Avedon

Fraureuth/Wackersdorf, August 31st, 2020 – Spindel- und Lagerungstechnik Fraureuth GmbH (“SLF”) a leading niche manufacturer of specialized spindles and roller bearings located in Fraureuth, Germany, today announces the acquisition of STI GmbH (“STI”), a specialized engineering trading company. The transaction was completed in the form of an asset deal and the parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price or further details of the transaction.

As part of a succession solution, SLF has acquired the family business STI. Founder and CEO Ralf Teufert will stay on board as CEO for a transition period and thereafter reduce his operational responsibilities over time. With the acquisition SLF further expands the group’s product spectrum with demanding, customized engineered products and solutions as well as s strengthens its worldwide sourcing network. which will help improve the group’s competitive positioning in attractive end-markets, further grow the OEM customer base, as well as increase the international footprint.

Michael Ludwig, CEO of SLF comments:
“We are very excited to announce that STI is joining the SLF group. The acquisition of STI fits well with our overall strategy to expand our competences in developing customized solutions for demanding applications. STI is a particularly well positioned niche business with strong engineering competences as well as long-standing customer relationships. Through joining forces, SLF and STI will both benefit from the strong complementarity of the businesses as well as the ample synergy potential.”

Ralf Teufert, CEO of STI comments:
“Becoming part of the SLF group excites us. We see great synergy potential in combining forces on both, the sourcing as well as the engineering and sales side. As SLF is a key customer of ours, we established a long-standing, close relationship over many years and are excited to intensify this relationship in the future.”

The enlarged SLF group will continue to be supported by Avedon Capital Partners, a leading mid-market growth investor based in Germany and The Netherlands, as well as the four founders of SLF. Since 2019, Avedon is invested in SLF and supports the company’s succession- and growth plan.

Alexis Weege, Partner at Avedon, adds:
“STI is a unique, well-positioned company that fits well with SLF’s strategy to expand the product offering with customized solutions for demanding applications as well as strengthen its international presence. We are looking forward to further supporting the combined group and leveraging the synergy potential.”

 

About STI
STI GmbH is a niche specialized engineering trading company which was founded in 1995, is headquartered in Wackersdorf and today employs 21 employees. STI combines strong engineering competence to develop customized products and components with a strong worldwide sourcing network and is thus able to provide its customers with specialized products and solution development.
www.sti-bearings.com

About Spindel- und Lagerungstechnik Fraureuth GmbH
Spindel- und Lagerungstechnik Fraureuth GmbH (“SLF GmbH”) is a German spindles and bearings manufacturing company which was founded in 1993 and .is headquartered in Fraureuth (Saxony). The Company today employs 350 employees. SLF offers spindle and roller bearings in the diameter size range of 40mm to 1600mm to predominately OEM customer with a clear focus on high-end specifications for demanding applications.
www.slf-fraureuth.de

About Avedon Capital Partners
Avedon is a leading growth capital investor based in Düsseldorf and Amsterdam. Avedon invests in small and medium-sized companies in Western Europe with a focus on the software & technology, industrials, consumer & leisure, and business services sectors. Avedon works closely with its management teams to realize growth ambitions and has a long track record of successfully delivering results through autonomous growth and buy-and-build strategies. For more information please visit www.avedoncapital.com
www.avedoncapital.com

For further inquiries, please contact:

Michael Ludwig, CEO SLF, M.Ludwig@slf-fraureuth.de, +49 3761 801 210
Alexis Weege, Partner, alexis.weege@avedoncapital.com, + 49 211 5988 906

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Bullhorn Announces New Strategic Investment from Stone Point Capital to Fuel Company’s Continued Growth

Investment will help power the staffing industry’s digital transformation agenda

BOSTON, September 8, 2020 — Bullhorn®, the cloud computing company that helps staffing and recruiting organizations transform their businesses, today announced that Stone Point Capital LLC will become the lead investor to power the next phase of the company’s growth. Insight Partners and Genstar will remain investors in the business. Stone Point was attracted to Bullhorn on the strength of its long-term opportunity to serve the global staffing and recruiting industry, its consistent revenue growth, and its reputation for delivering an incredible customer experience. The entire Bullhorn management team will remain with the company to execute on its strategic roadmap and continue its mission to create an incredible customer experience.

The staffing and recruiting industry has increasingly embraced digital transformation, reexamining how their businesses should operate to drive deeper candidate and client relationships, to improve margins, and to compete effectively as the talent acquisition landscape fundamentally changes. The staffing and recruiting market is currently in the midst of transformational change, driven by several trends: 1) consolidation, necessitating process and system overhauls to facilitate greater responsiveness to customer needs; 2) a rethinking of service models, led by customer demand and exacerbated by the distributed nature of a COVID-impacted workforce, which requires flexible delivery frameworks predicated around candidate communication and engagement; and 3) increasing competition from peer firms and online staffing platforms alike, creating a need for speed and scale. Bullhorn is helping to shape this transformation, as companies invest in upgrading their technology infrastructure and business processes to meet the changing needs of their customers, candidates, and the industry at large.

Stone Point’s sector expertise in staffing and financial services will help to guide Bullhorn’s continued momentum with its pay and bill solutions, which allow staffing firms to align their sales and recruiting teams with finance and operations on a single platform that unifies operational and finance information so that firms can make better business decisions and deliver a superior customer experience. Stone Point is already an investor in one of Bullhorn’s fastest-growing partners, Prism HR, which provides an integrated payroll and benefits solution that extends the power of Bullhorn’s pay and bill solutions. The additional financial flexibility gained by Bullhorn in connection with Stone Point’s investment will enable the company to supercharge its previously announced Unified Workforce Management strategic roadmap to deliver a cohesive candidate experience through the entire recruitment lifecycle — from getting started to getting paid.

“We are very excited to be working with the team at Stone Point as we enter the next phase of Bullhorn’s growth,” said Art Papas, founder and CEO of Bullhorn. “We have a tremendous opportunity to help the global staffing industry execute on their digital transformation strategies, and Stone Point’s experience and industry expertise will be invaluable as we grow the company to the next level. We’re also happy that Insight and Genstar will remain investors, as they have been integral to helping us more than double our revenue over the last three years.”

Chuck Davis, CEO at Stone Point Capital, added: “We are excited about the long-term opportunity to work with Bullhorn. We are in the early stages of the industry’s adoption of digital transformation initiatives, and we couldn’t be more excited about partnering with an experienced team that knows the industry, their customers, and how to build a business with a deep focus on customer experience.”

“We’re thrilled to announce this investment by Stone Point in Bullhorn,” said Deven Parekh, Managing Director at Insight Partners. “While we weren’t actively seeking new investment, Stone Point’s deep experience in the finance and staffing industries and their strong conviction in Bullhorn makes them an incredibly valuable partner for the journey ahead. Bullhorn has and continues to outperform our projections as they help staffing firms digitally transform all aspects of their operations.”

“Despite the current macro-environment, we continue to find that great companies attract interest from leading investors,” said Eli Weiss, Managing Director at Genstar Capital. “It’s been great to work with Art and the team, and we’re looking forward to continuing to be a partner through this next phase of growth.”

Bullhorn expects the investment by Stone Point to close early in the fourth quarter of 2020. Terms of the deal will not be disclosed. Lazard and District Capital Partners served as financial advisors to Bullhorn in connection with this transaction.

About Insight Partners

Insight Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology and software ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 1995, Insight Partners has invested in more than 400 companies worldwide and has raised through a series of funds more than $30 billion in capital commitments. Insight’s mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on software expertise to foster long-term success. Across its people and its portfolio, Insight encourages a culture around a belief that ScaleUp companies and growth create opportunity for all. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit www.insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners.

About Genstar Capital

Genstar Capital (www.gencap.com) is a leading private equity firm that has been actively investing in high quality companies for over 30 years. Based in San Francisco, Genstar works in partnership with its management teams and its network of strategic advisors to transform its portfolio companies into industry-leading businesses. Genstar currently has approximately $19 billion of assets under management and targets investments focused on targeted segments of the financial services, healthcare, industrial, and software industries.

About Stone Point Capital LLC

Stone Point Capital LLC is a financial services-focused private equity firm based in Greenwich, CT. The firm has raised and managed eight private equity funds – the Trident Funds – with aggregate committed capital of more than $25 billion. Stone Point targets investments in companies in the global financial services industry and related sectors. For more information, please visit www.stonepoint.com.

About Bullhorn

Bullhorn is the global leader in software for the recruitment industry. More than 10,000 companies rely on Bullhorn’s cloud-based platform to power their recruitment processes from start to finish. With offices around the world, Bullhorn is founder-led and employs more than 1,000 people globally. To learn more, visit www.bullhorn.com or follow @Bullhorn on Twitter.

Media contact:

Vinda Souza
VP, Global Communications
Bullhorn
vsouza@bullhorn.com
Twitter: @seriousvinda

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Building a world-leading marketing procurement platform

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GP Bullhound acted as the exclusive financial advisor to LDC on its more than £17m investment into Beekman Associates, the developer and provider of the data-driven marketing procurement platform RightSpend.

Headquartered in London and with a second office in New York, Beekman Associates and its industry-leading software platform RightSpend supports global brands in the assessment of their marketing activity in real time, to help save and optimise marketing spend and manage agency relationships more effectively.

 

The business has an extensive blue-chip client base which includes many of the world’s largest brands, each leveraging an extensive pricing database covering 75 different international markets, and 10 marketing specialisms including creative, digital, design, PR, production and events. The deal sees LDC backing the experienced existing management team as part of a Management Buyout.

 

David Andrews, Director at LDC, said: “The impressive client base and track record that RightSpend has developed speaks for itself. The business model and proprietary technology, coupled with a highly scalable proposition, means the business is well-placed to expand and build on its success to date.”

 

Simon Nicholls, Partner at GP Bullhound, added: “We are delighted to have advised LDC on their investment into RightSpend. This investment will enable Beekman Associates CEO Iain Seers and his team to build on their success to date and support the business’s evolution into a leading global marketing procurement software platform.”

 

This transaction is a further testament to GP Bullhound’s expertise in software with 12 transactions completed in the last 12 months globally, including CVC’s $200m investment in EcoVadis, Wavecrest Growth Partners and Beringea’s $29m investment in EDITED, the acquisition of Assetic by Dude Solutions, and Accel-KKR’s $50m investment in Partnerize, among many others.
Enquiries

For enquiries, please contact:

Simon Nicholls, Partner

simon.nicholls@gpbullhound.com Ravi Ghedia, Director

ravi.ghedia@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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Ardian acquires stake in Ardian acquires stake in Wintics, a french ai-powered solution for augmented infrastructure.

Ardian

Paris, September 8, 2020 – Ardian, a world leading private investment house, and Wintics, a French AI solution for smart cities today announce that Ardian, along with a group of business angels, has acquired a minority stake in Wintics, in July 2020.

Founded in 2017, Wintics uses deep learning algorithms to gather data from fixed cameras installed on roads, buildings and elsewhere in cities. Wintics’ technology notably provides a powerful solution to optimize traffic management, thus reducing congestion and pollution and to monitor and integrate efficiently soft mobility solutions in cities.

The technology enables Wintics to provide strategic and actionable insights for mobility operators and public authorities. Wintics’ insights support operators to better manage infrastructures, safely and efficiently.
Led by an experienced and cohesive team, Wintics operates in a booming market as the ability to optimize mobility and infrastructure assets, manage congestion and improve public safety is becoming increasingly important to infrastructure providers and authorities. Wintics launched its fundraising process in the spring of 2020 with the aim to scale its technology and accelerate its development in France and internationally.

Quentin Barenne, Co-Founder of Wintics, said: “We are thrilled about our partnership with Ardian. Working with Mathias and the team throughout the process, it was clear that our excitement for innovation and data is shared. We are particularly pleased about the opportunities this opens up for Wintics’ next stage of growth and the strides this will enable across our R&D activities – ultimately allowing us to continue to support the development of smarter cities and roads.”

Mathias Burghardt, Head of Ardian Infrastructure and Member of the Executive Committee of Ardian, commented: “Entrepreneurship is in Ardian’s DNA, and by investing in Wintics we are proud to support French innovation and contribute to the country’s smart cities technology ecosystem. We have been consistently impressed by what Wintics’ technology has to offer and by the know-how and leadership demonstrated by its founders. We look forward to supporting Wintics’ development and intend to leverage our partnership to create strategic synergies with our portfolio companies. Wintics’ technology is indeed an essential brick in our vision of Augmented Infrastructures.”

ABOUT WINTICS

Wintics is an innovative software company specialized in intelligent video analysis for mobility operators. By leveraging the latest AI innovations, its software automatically extracts insightful data from any camera and offers the best video analysis applications for its clients (traffic analysis, bicycle lanes monitoring, crossroads management, car-pooling detection, tolling systems, crowd analysis in public transportation).
This software is the result of continuous R&D efforts combined with the feedback from its customers. The data produced is highly valuable and helps infrastructure managers make informed decisions for their mobility and smart city projects.

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$100bn managed or advised in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The company is majority-owned by its employees. It keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and focuses on delivering excellent investment performance to its global investor base. Through its commitment to shared outcomes for all stakeholders, Ardian’s activities fuel individual, corporate and economic growth around the world. Holding close its core values of excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship, Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 690 employees working from fifteen offices across Europe (Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), the Americas (New York, San Francisco and Santiago) and Asia (Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul). It manages funds on behalf of around 1,000 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Fund of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.

PRESS CONTACTS

Ardian – Headland

Gregor Riemann

griemann@headlandconsultancy.com +44 (0)7920 802 627

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Blue Horizon Corporation raises its stake in New Roots, a Swiss alternative cheese producer

Blue Horizon

By Blue Horizon

Zurich, 7 September 2020 – Blue Horizon Corporation, a pure play investment company with focus on investments in innovative companies in the Food 4.0 sector,  today announced that it has raised its equity stake in New Roots, a Swiss based producer of  alternative cheese based on cashew milk in a capital increase completed in August 2020.

Founded in 2015 and based in Thun, Switzerland, New Roots is an innovative vegan cheese start-up. The company’s vegan cheese alternative is made from homemade organic cashew milk and the same artisanal techniques of fermentation and ripening as traditional cheese. It offers a selection of tasty kinds of cheese and joghurts,  including cream cheese, ricotta, camembert and fresh cheese with different herbs and spices, enabling consumers to transition to a plant-based diet. The two largest Swiss retailers, Coop and Migros, both added products of New Roots to their product range.

The cashew nuts are supplied by a partner farm in Vietnam, which was selected based on high quality and human rights standards. Although the cashew nuts are imported from Vietnam, the company’s ecological footprint is smaller than it would be with traditional cheese. From one kilo of nuts 2 kilos of cheese can be produced. With cow milk, in contrast, it takes up to 12 liters for one kilo of cheese. Started in the kitchen of Co-Founder Freddy Hunziker, who sold his first product to the local Eco store around the corner, the start-up quickly developed into a 20 person enterprise. In 2019, New Roots won the Swiss Economic Award in the category Production / Trade & Industry. The investment of Blue Horizon in the course of a capital increase is a major step in the history of the young company.

Freddy Hunziker, Co-Founder & CEO of New Roots said: “We are very excited to have Blue Horizon as a partner which enables us to drive forward new initiatives, increase our product range and capabilities and enhance our brand and network. We share a common vision and look forward to further working together on offering delicious, ethical and sustainable alternatives to traditional cheese made from animal milk.”

Björn Witte, CEO of Blue Horizon, said: “New Roots already has a unique growth story and the company is very well positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for alternative dairy. In particular, the products of New Roots appeal to the taste of consumers. We are happy to bring our experience and operational capabilities into partnership with the young and talented team in order to shape the future of plant based cheese in Switzerland and globally.”

About Blue Horizon Corporation
Blue Horizon Corporation has shaped the growth of the market for alternative proteins since the beginning and accelerates it through targeted investments as a pure play industry pioneer.,. The company aims to sustainably transform the global food industry through investments into companies who are replacing animal proteins with healthy, alternative protein sources across the global supply chain. Blue Horizon was founded in 2016 and is based in Zurich and Los Angeles. The company launched its first venture fund in 2018. Since then, it has completed over 50 seed and venture capital investments in the alternative protein food tech sector and raised more than CHF 350 million. Its business model offers a unique market access from Seed to Consolidation via funds and direct investment platforms throughout all stages of asset lifecycles. More on www.bluehorizon.com

Media contact
Martin Meier-Pfister, IRF
Phone +41 43 244 81 40
bluehorizon@irf-reputation.ch

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Gaw Capital Partners Successfully Completes Fundraising for IDC Platform Close to US$1.3 Billion

Gaw Capital

September 7, 2020, Hong Kong – Real estate private equity firm Gaw Capital Partners announced the closing of fundraising for its internet data center (IDC) platform, which targets to invest in a portfolio of projects in partnership with IDC developers and operators in China, bringing the total equity raised approximately US$1.3 billion.

Humbert Pang, Managing Principal and Head of China, said, “Gaw Capital Partners is extremely pleased to be teaming up with industry leaders and outstanding operating teams to invest in IDC projects. We have seen good results thanks to our operating partners’ strong execution capabilities. Amid the backdrop of pandemic and the rapid adoption of 5G in China, there is a strong demand for data processing services due to the increasing use of data because of the social distancing measures. With most social and economic activities migrating online, data centers in promising locations along the densely populated region of China are emerging as valuable assets that produce stable rental income.”

Christina Gaw, Managing Principal and Head of Capital Markets, commented, “We are delighted to complete the final close of fundraising for our IDC platform, following the highly successful fundraising round for our Gateway Real Estate Fund VI. A wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is the largest investor in the IDC Platform, with additional commitments made by other global institutional investors. These commitments we have received are a strong vote of confidence in Gaw Capital’s approach to IDC assets, which is a focused sector for us, and we have further plans to grow into other Asia regional markets.”

From 2010 to 2018, the total IDC market size in China grew more than 10 times from RMB 10.2 billion to RMB 127.7 billion. The compound annual growth rate of the market was 37%, doubling that of the global average during the same period. The rapid growth of the IDC sector will be sustained in the coming years, spurred by China’s push towards greater digital transformation and technology adoption across sectors.

In addition to Gaw Capital Partners’ six funds in the Gateway Fund series targeting Asia Pacific, Gaw Capital Partners also manages opportunistic funds in Vietnam and the US along with a Pan Asia Hospitality Fund and European Hospitality Fund. Additionally, Gaw Capital also provides services for separate account direct investments in the global markets. Gaw Capital has also successfully developed a sizable logistics platform, medical-asset backed platform, mini-storage platform, premium outlet malls and education-related platform in recent years to help support the growth and management of these assets.

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