EQT to acquire Europa Biosite, a distributor of life science products

eqt

Europa Biosite

  • EQT Healthcare Growth to acquire Europa Biosite, a distributor of over ten million high-quality life science reagents to academic and biopharma researchers across Europe and North America, from Adelis Equity
  • EQT will support Europa Biosite’s next phase of growth through commercial excellence initiatives, digital upgrades, expanded product access, and continued M&A, with the company set to benefit from continued demand for advanced research tools
  • The investment builds on EQT’s track record in specialised distribution, including Azelis, Beijer Ref, and OEM International

EQT Healthcare Growth (“EQT”) has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Europa Biosite (or “the Company”) – a distributor of high-quality research-use-only (RUO) life science reagents, chemicals, and biological substances used in healthcare R&D – from Adelis Equity. Headquartered in Stockholm, the Company operates in 17 countries across Europe and North America and supports more than 60,000 researchers in academia and biopharma.

Europa Biosite offers access to over ten million individual scientific products essential to life sciences research, such as antibodies, biochemicals, diagnostic kits, and ethically sourced biospecimens, from a wide range of science-led suppliers. It has grown to become a partner for both suppliers and scientists, building on its highly localized footprint and strong technical sales capabilities. The Company serves a fragmented and fast-moving industry, which is expected to benefit from stable research funding.

EQT Healthcare Growth seeks to scale healthcare companies by building commercial muscle and expanding reach, building on EQT’s three-decade track record in the healthcare sector. Europa Biosite will draw on this experience to expand its own-brand offering in biospecimens, continue its acquisition strategy to strengthen local market presence and expand to new geographies, and invest in new digital infrastructure. The Company is also set to benefit from EQT’s track record in specialized distribution, including Azelis, Beijer Ref, and OEM International, as well as EQT’s industrial advisor network, with senior EQT advisor Kate Swann set to lead Europa Biosite’s Board.

Rikke Kjær Nielsen, Partner in the EQT Healthcare Growth advisory team, commented: ”Europa Biosite supports European scientific research by connecting thousands of labs with the reagents they need to advance discovery. With our support, the company will be set up to scale its business through investments into digital tools, strengthening of its supplier network, and acceleration of its M&A platform. We are proud to support a company that enables critical research and look forward to partnering with Europa Biosite’s management team on the next leg of their journey.”

“We’re excited to partner with EQT for the next phase of growth. With growing demand for reagents and more scientists relying on these critical products, this is a pivotal moment for the business. EQT’s expertise in scaling distributors will help us reach new customers, offer even better service, and bring exciting new products to market,” said Sune Schmølker, CEO of Europa Biosite.

Kate Swann, Senior Industrial Advisor to EQT, commented: “I am excited to be taking on the role of Chairperson of Europa Biosite and to continue the partnership with EQT. The life sciences sector is vital and fast-moving, and Europa Biosite has a compelling opportunity to grow and contribute to its development. Building on my experience as Chairperson of Beijer Ref, another Swedish specialised distribution business, I look forward to supporting the company’s scaling journey.”

Contact
EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com

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About EQT
EQT is a purpose-driven global investment organization with EUR 273 billion in total assets under management (EUR 142 billion in fee-generating assets under management) as of 31 March 2025, within two business segments – Private Capital and Real Assets. EQT owns portfolio companies and assets in Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas and supports them in achieving sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More info: www.eqtgroup.com
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About Europa Biosite
Europa Biosite is a specialist distributor of research reagents, carrying a portfolio of over 10 million SKUs to support thousands of researchers across Europe and North America in reaching their research objectives. The company has 180 employees covering 17 countries; the majority of these are scientifically trained and therefore able to provide expert technical support to customers. Over the past 7 years, the company has completed 7 acquisitions, strengthening its commercial footprint and adding innovative products to the portfolio.

More info: www.europabiosite.com

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Athora to acquire Pension Insurance Corporation Group

CVC Capital Partners

Pension Insurance Corporation Group Limited (“PICG”), ultimate parent company of Pension Insurance Corporation plc (“PIC”), the specialist insurer of UK defined benefit pension schemes, today announces that Athora Holding Limited (“Athora”) has agreed to acquire PICG for approximately £5.7 billion. Athora is a leading pan-European savings and retirement services group with €76 billion of assets under management and administration, on behalf of 2.8 million policyholders.

The transaction means that for the first time in its 20-year history, PIC will be held by a single strategic owner. PIC will become the UK insurance business of Athora and continue operating under the PIC (and penguin) brand. Athora has existing insurance businesses in the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and Germany. Athora is backed by permanent capital owners, including a strategic minority investment by Apollo Global Management and Athene Holding Limited, and long-term institutional investors such as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (“ADIA”).

The transaction creates a total Group with assets of over €130 billion, backing the pensions of more than three million savers and retirees across Europe. PIC will be 45% of Athora’s total assets under management and administration, and will be the largest and fastest growing business in the Group.

PIC has a portfolio of £50.9 billion backing the pensions of 400,000 people. It has £30 billion invested in the UK. To date it has invested £13.8 billion in UK housing and infrastructure, which help provide the secure, inflation-linked cashflows which match its pension liabilities over future decades. PIC has so far paid more than £16 billion in pensions, with a 99% customer satisfaction rating.

The acquisition reinforces PIC’s strategy of providing very high customer service levels and increases its ability to invest in UK housing and infrastructure as Athora supports PIC through the next phase of its growth. This will allow PIC to provide its best pricing across a larger number of pension risk transfer deals.

PICG’s current shareholders are Reinet Fund S.C.A., F.I.S. (“Reinet”) which holds 49.5% of the issued shares, a wholly owned subsidiary of ADIA, with 18.4% of the issued shares, funds managed by CVC Capital Partners (“CVC”), with 17.4%, and funds managed by HPS Investment Partners with 10.2%, as well as employees and other shareholders, who hold c.4% of the issued shares. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in early 2026.

Tracy Blackwell, CEO of PIC, said: “PIC has had an amazing growth story over the past two decades and is now one of Britain’s preeminent pension businesses. This success has been based on a simple purpose, which is to pay the pensions of our current and future policyholders. Athora’s investment is validation of what we have always believed: that PIC’s reputation, strategy, fortress balance sheet, purpose, and most importantly our people combine to make this a unique business in a huge and growing market.

“With Athora backing us through our next phase of growth as their UK insurance business, we will be able to provide more options to the trustees of defined benefit pension schemes and invest more in UK housing and infrastructure. The pension risk transfer market is vital to the wellbeing of millions of UK pensioners and the allocation of tens of billions of pounds of investment into the UK’s economy. This acquisition and the potential for growth that it represents is the strongest possible recognition of the value and importance of the pension risk transfer market, the sector that PIC helped to create and continues to lead.

“Finally, I want to thank our exiting shareholders who have been absolutely brilliant in getting us to this point. I very much look to the next chapter in PIC’s story.”

Mike Wells, CEO of Athora, said: “We are delighted to have agreed this transaction. We have followed PIC’s progress for several years and been consistently impressed by the very high-quality business the PIC team has built. As our UK subsidiary, PIC will be the largest business within the Athora Group and we intend to invest in the business and its people to support that growth in the UK pension risk transfer market. We have great confidence in the long-term strengths of the UK: its retirement market, regulatory and policy framework, and economic prospects.”

Dillie Malherbe, Director: Reinet Investments Manager, said: “We have been invested in PICG since 2012, and have helped oversee a 900% increase in the size of the business since then, by size of financial investments. What has consistently impressed me about PIC is that, despite that amazing growth trajectory, it has maintained a relentless focus on outcomes for its policyholders. I want to thank Tracy, our fellow shareholders, and everyone at PIC for all their efforts over the past 13 years.”

Hamad Shahwan Aldhaheri, Executive Director of the Private Equities Department at ADIA, said: “As a shareholder in PICG since 2018, our investment supported the growth of the company as it strengthened its position as one of the leading players in the UK pension risk transfer market. Following this transaction, we will maintain exposure to the company via our existing shareholding in Athora, and believe that PIC has strong prospects for the future. We wish the company continued success as part of Athora.”

Quotes

We are pleased to have utilised the longer duration capital of CVC’s Strategic Opportunities platform to partner with the team at PIC over the past eight years.

Peter RutlandManaging Partner at CVC

Peter Rutland, Managing Partner at CVC, said: “We are pleased to have utilised the longer duration capital of CVC’s Strategic Opportunities platform to partner with the team at PIC over the past eight years, during which time the company has scaled substantially and firmly established itself as a leading player in the UK pension insurance market. We wish the company every continued success under Athora’s ownership.”

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FSN Capital VI to acquire Volue Infrastructure, a leading provider of niche infrastructure software

FSN Capital VI* has signed an agreement to acquire Volue Infrastructure, a Norwegian leader in mission-critical niche infrastructure software. This investment will support Volue Infrastructure’s next phase of growth, further strengthening its position as a trusted software provider to key infrastructure sectors.

Volue Infrastructure’s modular, cutting-edge software tools are at the forefront of infrastructure digitalization. Its comprehensive product suite supports planning, operation and administration for both public and private customers. Backed by FSN Capital VI, the company is well-positioned to execute its growth strategy, leveraging FSN Capital’s expertise in B2B software and internationalization.

Headquartered in Trondheim, Volue Infrastructure is being carved out from Volue, a leader in technologies and services that enable the energy transition. Volue Infrastructure operates mainly under the Gemini brand in two business areas: Water & Community and Heavy Construction. Both markets are poised for significant growth, driven by investment in aging infrastructure, regulatory pressures, accelerating digital adoption and ESG awareness.

Frode Solem, Executive Vice President, Infrastructure at Volue, said: “This is a natural next step for us. As an independent company focused on infrastructure technology, we are well positioned to continue delivering value to our customers while exploring new opportunities for growth. I’m proud of what we’ve built at Volue and excited about what comes next for the team and our solutions as we partner with FSN.”

Eirik H. Wabø, Investment Director at FSN Capital Partners (investment advisor to FSN Capital VI) commentedVolue Infrastructure is an established market leader in providing essential software for the infrastructure sector. We are excited to support their ambitious vision for growth and innovation, building on their strong customer relationships and trusted reputation. We look forward to supporting in accelerating their expansion in Norway and internationally, empowering more communities and industries to benefit from Volue Infrastructure’s outstanding solutions.”

Patrice Jabet, Partner and Technology Sector Lead at FSN Capital Partners, added: “Partnering with Volue Infrastructure to unlock its potential as a standalone business represents an exciting opportunity for FSN Capital VI. We believe the company’s success is rooted in its deep domain expertise and mission-critical solutions, built over decades in close collaboration with customers. FSN Capital VI is well-positioned to support the company’s continued development, drawing on 25 years of experience of the FSN Capital Funds in B2B software, executing carve-outs, and serving infrastructure end-markets.”

The FSN Capital Funds have a strong track record of investing in B2B software, with recent examples including TASKING and Lobster, as well as from partnering with infrastructure-focused businesses such as Saferoad, ViaCon, IMPREG and most recently, UHL Bau.

The parties have agreed not to disclose details of the transaction. The transaction is subject to approval by applicable authorities. Closing is expected later this year.

FSN Capital VI was advised by Wikborg Rein (legal), KPMG (financial, tax and carve-out), EY-Parthenon (commercial and ESG), Code & Co (technology), ABG Sundal Collier (M&A) and Marsh (insurance).

*FSN Capital GP VI Limited, acting for itself and in its capacity as general partner or portfolio manager (as applicable) for and on behalf of each of FSN Capital VI L.P., FSN Capital VI Invest L.P. and FSN Capital VI Lux SCSp.

About Volue Infrastructure
Volue Infrastructure will be divested from Volue, a market leader in technologies and services that power the green transition. Based on 50 years of experience, Volue provides innovative solutions, systems, and insights to industries critical to society. Volue Infrastructure is headquartered in Trondheim, Norway and has more than 100 employees. The company serves two verticals, Water & Communities and Heavy Construction, with a comprehensive software suite providing industry-leading solutions to over 1000 customers.

About FSN Capital
Established in 1999, FSN Capital Partners is a leading Northern European private equity firm and investment advisor to the FSN Capital Funds. FSN Capital Partners has a team of more than 100 across Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Munich.

FSN Capital Funds have more than €4 billion under management and make control investments in growth-oriented Northern European companies, to support further growth and to transform companies into more sustainable, competitive, international, and profitable entities.

Our ethos, “We are decent people making a decent return in a decent way”defines our core values. We are committed to being responsible investors and having a positive environmental and social impact across our portfolio while achieving market-leading returns.

Learn more about FSN Capital and our team on our website: www.fsncapital.com

 


 

For more information, please contact the following persons at FSN Capital Partners (investment advisor to the FSN Capital Funds):

Eirik H. Wabø, Investment Director
eirik.wabo@fsncapital.com

Patrice Jabet, Partner
patrice.jabet@fsncapital.com

Morten Welo, Partner & COO/IR
morten.welo@fsncapital.com 

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Olo Enters into Definitive Agreement to be Acquired by Thoma Bravo

Thomabravo

Olo Shareholders to Receive $10.25 Per Share in Cash, a 65% Premium to Olo’s Unaffected Share Price

Transaction to accelerate Olo’s growth and enhance offerings for restaurant brands worldwide

NEW YORKOlo Inc. (NYSE:OLO) (“Olo” or the “Company”), a leading open SaaS platform for restaurants, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Thoma Bravo, a leading software investment firm, in an all-cash transaction valuing Olo at approximately $2.0 billion in equity value. The transaction is expected to help accelerate Olo’s growth and strengthen its platform and offerings for the over 750 restaurant brands it serves globally. Upon completion of the transaction, Olo will become a privately held company.

Under the terms of the agreement, Olo shareholders will receive $10.25 per share in cash. The per-share purchase price represents a premium of 65% over Olo’s unaffected share price of $6.20 as of April 30, 2025, the last trading day prior to media reports regarding a potential transaction.

Founded in 2005, Olo is a leading restaurant technology provider of digital ordering, payments, and guest engagement solutions that help brands increase orders, streamline operations, and improve the guest experience. Olo processes millions of transactions per day on its open SaaS platform and aggregates transaction data into a single source to help restaurants better understand and serve their guests. Olo serves over 750 restaurant brands and 88,000 locations and has a network of more than 400 integration partners.

“Over the last twenty years, we’ve built Olo into the market leader in digital ordering for restaurants, while also expanding into payments and guest engagement to help restaurant brands aggregate and activate guest data to drive profitable traffic,” said Noah Glass, Olo’s Founder and CEO. “By partnering with Thoma Bravo, we believe we can build on our success to date and accelerate our vision of helping our customers create a world where every restaurant guest feels like a regular.”

“It’s been amazing to watch the growth and evolution of Olo over the years. Noah’s vision and tenacity have created the leader in digital ordering, empowering restaurants to better and more efficiently serve their customers,” said Brandon Gardner, Chair of the Board of Olo. “The company’s strong market position has allowed us to achieve a significant premium through this transaction, and the Board unanimously believes that this is in the best interest of our shareholders.”

“We are thrilled to be joining Noah and the Olo team at this exciting stage of their journey,” said Hudson Smith, a Partner at Thoma Bravo. “The incredible platform and deep customer relationships they’ve built over the last two decades make them an ideal investment for us. We look forward to supporting them as they capitalize on the significant opportunities in the hospitality sector and work to achieve their impressive vision.”

“Noah is a visionary who helped create the digital ordering category for restaurants, and Olo’s platform has earned the trust of many of the world’s most iconic restaurant brands,” said Peter Hernandez, a Senior Vice President at Thoma Bravo. “We see tremendous potential ahead and are incredibly excited to work with Noah and his team on strategic and operational initiatives to help Olo accelerate growth and strengthen their position as an essential partner to restaurants everywhere.”

Transaction Details

The transaction, which was unanimously approved by the Olo Board of Directors, is expected to close by the end of calendar year 2025, subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by Olo shareholders and the receipt of required regulatory approvals. The transaction is not subject to a financing condition.

Upon completion of the transaction, Olo common stock will no longer be listed on any public stock exchange. The Company will continue to operate under the Olo name and brand.

Advisors

Goldman Sachs is serving as the exclusive financial advisor and Goodwin Procter LLP is serving as legal counsel to Olo. Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as legal counsel to Thoma Bravo.

About Olo

Olo (NYSE: OLO) is a leading restaurant technology provider with ordering, payment, and guest engagement solutions that help brands increase orders, streamline operations, and improve the guest experience. Each day, Olo processes millions of orders on its open SaaS platform, gathering the right data from each touchpoint into a single source—so restaurants can better understand and better serve every guest on every channel, every time. Over 750 restaurant brands trust Olo and its network of more than 400 integration partners to innovate on behalf of the restaurant community, accelerating technology’s positive impact and creating a world where every restaurant guest feels like a regular. Learn more at olo.com.

About Thoma Bravo

Thoma Bravo is one of the largest software-focused investors in the world, with approximately $184 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2025. Through its private equity, growth equity and credit strategies, the firm invests in growth-oriented, innovative companies operating in the software and technology sectors. Leveraging Thoma Bravo’s deep sector knowledge and strategic and operational expertise, the firm collaborates with its portfolio companies to implement operating best practices and drive growth initiatives. Over the past 20+ years, the firm has acquired or invested in approximately 535 companies representing approximately $275 billion in enterprise value (including control and non-control investments). The firm has offices in Chicago, Dallas, London, Miami, New York and San Francisco. For more information, visit Thoma Bravo’s website at thomabravo.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication and Olo’s (the “Company”) other filings and press releases may contain forward-looking statements, which include all statements that do not relate solely to historical or current facts, such as statements regarding our expectations, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the following words: “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “project,” “aim,” “potential,” “continue,” “ongoing,” “goal,” “can,” “seek,” “target” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, the Company, all of which are subject to change. Because such statements are based on expectations as to future financial and operating results and are not statements of fact, actual results may differ materially from those projected and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including: (i) the risk that the proposed merger may not be completed in a timely manner or at all, which may adversely affect the Company’s business and the price of the Company’s common stock; (ii) the failure to satisfy any of the conditions to the consummation of the proposed merger (the “Merger”), including the receipt of certain regulatory approvals; (iii) the failure to obtain stockholder approval; (iv) the occurrence of any fact, event, change, development or circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the merger agreement with Project Hospitality Parent, LLC (“Parent”) and Project Hospitality Merger Sub, Inc. (“Merger Sub”) (the “Merger Agreement”), including in circumstances requiring the Company to pay a termination fee; (v) the effect of the announcement or pendency of the proposed transaction on the Company’s business relationships, operating results and business generally; (vi) risks that the proposed transaction disrupts the Company’s current plans and operations; (vii) the Company’s ability to retain and hire key personnel and maintain relationships with key business partners and customers, and others with whom it does business, in light of the proposed transaction; (viii) risks related to diverting management’s attention from the Company’s ongoing business operations; (ix) unexpected costs, charges or expenses resulting from the proposed Merger; (x) potential litigation relating to the Merger that could be instituted against the parties to the Merger Agreement or their respective directors, managers or officers, including the effects of any outcomes related thereto; (xi) continued availability of capital and financing and rating agency actions; (xii) certain restrictions during the pendency of the Merger that may impact the Company’s ability to pursue certain business opportunities or strategic transactions; (xiii) unpredictability and severity of catastrophic events, including but not limited to acts of terrorism, war or hostilities, as well as management’s response to any of the aforementioned factors; (xiv) the impact of adverse general and industry-specific economic and market conditions; (xv) uncertainty as to timing of completion of the proposed Merger; (xvi) legislative, regulatory and economic developments affecting the Company’s business and (xvii) other risks described in the Company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), such risks and uncertainties described under the headings “Forward-Looking Statements,” “Risk Factors” and other sections of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 25, 2025, the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on May 8, 2025, and subsequent filings. No list or discussion of risks or uncertainties should be considered a complete statement of all potential risks and uncertainties. Unlisted or unknown factors may present significant additional obstacles to the realization of forward-looking statements. Consequences of material differences in results as compared with those anticipated in the forward-looking statements could include, among other things, business disruption, operational problems, financial loss, and legal liability to third parties and similar risks, any of which could have a material adverse effect on the completion of the Merger and/or the Company’s consolidated financial condition, results of operations, credit rating or liquidity. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. The Company undertakes no obligation to provide revisions or updates to any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, should circumstances change, except as otherwise required by securities and other applicable laws.

Additional Information and Where to Find It

In connection with the proposed transaction by and among the Company, a Delaware corporation, Parent, a Delaware limited liability company, and Merger Sub, a Delaware corporation and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Parent, this communication is being made in respect of the pending Merger involving the Company and Parent. The Company will file with the SEC a proxy statement on Schedule 14A relating to its special meeting of stockholders and may file or furnish other documents with the SEC regarding the pending Merger. When completed, a definitive proxy statement will be mailed to the Company’s stockholders. This document is not a substitute for the proxy statement or any other document which the Company may file with the SEC. INVESTORS ARE URGED TO CAREFULLY READ THE PROXY STATEMENT REGARDING THE PENDING MERGER AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS THAT ARE FILED OR WILL BE FILED WITH THE SEC, AS WELL AS ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS TO THESE DOCUMENTS AND DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE THEREIN, IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PENDING MERGER AND RELATED MATTERS.

The definitive proxy statement will be filed with the SEC and mailed or otherwise made available to the Company’s stockholders. The Company’s stockholders may obtain free copies of the documents the Company files with the SEC from the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov or through the Investors portion of the Company’s website at investors.olo.com under the link “Financials” and then under the link “SEC Filings” or by contacting the Company’s Investor Relations by e-mail at InvestorRelations@olo.com.

Participants in the Solicitation

The Company and certain of its directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the Company’s stockholders in connection with the pending Merger. Information regarding the Company’s directors and executive officers, including a description of their direct interests, by security holdings or otherwise, is contained in the Company’s 2025 annual proxy statement for its 2025 annual meeting of stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on April 24, 2025. Other information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their interests will be contained in the proxy statement for the Company’s special meeting of stockholders and other relevant materials to be filed with the SEC in respect of the proposed Merger when they become available. These documents can be obtained free of charge from the sources indicated above.

Read the release on Business Wire here.

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Solifi acquires lease and loan management technology company Leasepath

Thomabravo

The acquisition will complement Solifi’s product portfolio by adding a solution aimed at the small-to-mid-market secured finance segment.

Solifi, a global SaaS leader for secured finance, announced the acquisition of Leasepath, a leading middle-market provider of global equipment finance loan and lease management technology.

This strategic acquisition accelerates Solifi’s expansion and solution portfolio into the mid-market sector and will facilitate the sharing of know-how, in-depth expertise, and resources between Solifi and Leasepath with the objectives of accelerating growth and reinforcing market leadership status.

“Leasepath is an exciting addition to Solifi’s portfolio of proven secured finance solutions”, commented Dan Corazzi, Solifi CEO. “Not only does this acquisition enable Leasepath to diversify its financial service offerings and target additional markets, including EMEA and APAC, but it also amplifies Solifi’s growth opportunities in the mid-market sector”.

Leasepath will continue to be led by Jeff Bilbrey, who added: “This acquisition represents a key milestone in our company’s journey, enabling us to continue to serve our existing customers and focus on our future expansion objectives”.

Solifi and Leasepath will offer their existing solutions, products, and services to their customer base. Both companies will retain their current operations from their headquarters and regional offices.

About Leasepath

A growing SaaS B2B company serving the commercial asset finance industry, Leasepath is the only provider of global lease and loan management solutions in the equipment finance space built on the cloud-first technology of Microsoft Dynamics. For the past 30 years, the company has grown its customer base in North America, UK and Australia through the delivery of reliable equipment finance loan and lease management solutions. For more information, visit www.leasepath.com.

Read the release on the Solifi website here.

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Launching New Fund to Fuel the Next Generation of Nordic Tech Founders

Anthemis

We’re excited to share that we’ve successfully completed the first close of our new fund, Alliance Nordic III, backed by leading Nordic LPs including Saminvest, KLP, Investinor, Smedvig, and Telenor. The new fund enables us to reinforce our commitment to back the next wave of Nordic-founded global technology leaders.

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From Left: Anders Hallin, Stine Sørensen, Johan Gjesdahl, Henrik Torstensson, Bente Loe & Arne Tonning.

Investing in the value creation unleashed by the AI revolution

For the last two decades, the dominant technology forces were mobile and cloud, which combined with the SaaS business model, have dramatically improved capabilities, efficiency, and productivity across industries. We’ve historically invested in companies building products and services riding this technology wave.

To us, AI is no longer just an enabling technology. AI is replacing entire workflows, transforming tools into digital labor, and fundamentally shifting how value is created. AI is shaping up to be the most significant technology shift in decades, promising to be as important as the Internet or the semiconductor.

We see this reflected in our past investments. For many years Alliance VC has invested in companies using AI across areas like business productivity, climate and energy, digital health and fintech. The typical AI investment involves machine learning applied to business problems, yet in the last three years startups have shifted to building generative AI-driven products.

While AI is driving change and gaining a new wave of attention, we see it as a natural extension and amplification of the trend we’ve long backed: technologies that deliver impact, productivity, and transformation through software and data.

We expect AI to be the core thread running through most of our future investments, like it already is for the majority of our current portfolio companies.

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Our strategy: Back Ambitious Nordic Founders Early

We believe the best way to invest in the future is to partner with ambitious founders solving big problems using powerful technology in potentially large markets.

This means that we try not to limit ourselves to which founders we meet, rather we look at all startups coming out of the Nordic countries.

However, we are especially interested in, and have historically made the most investments in, the areas of business efficiency, climate and energy, fintech and digital health. All areas where the Nordics have ambitious entrepreneurs and strong ecosystems.

Among the thousands of Nordic startups being founded every year, we are setting out to invest in 25–30 of them over the next few years. Not all startups are the same, so we don’t expect all our investments to look exactly the same. But we believe that our initial investment will typically be €1–2 million, in a range of €300,000 to €3 million, across pre-seed, seed and Series A.

With that in mind, our intent and strategy is to remain agile, as that will best allow us to serve ambitious founders that are creating the future.

Our Approach: Partner-Led, Founder-First

The partners at Alliance VC combine a long investment track-record with successful operational and entrepreneurial experience over the last 15+ years. This brings together the best of ‘experienced managers’ with the best of ‘emerging managers’.

Alliance VC is the only firm with team members in all four major Nordic capitals Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, and Helsinki, and we are proud to have deep local roots and global experience from firms like Spotify, Kry, Lifesum, Stardoll, Skype and Radiobotics.

We lead with a partner-first approach: where we strive to ensure that every founder meets a decision-maker from day one. This is based on our own experience as founders raising venture capital. We want to be able to move fast, stay close, and commit to being a high-value sparring partner from seed to scale. We are proud to be working with founders from e.g. 1X, Sanity, Superside, Hemby, Xeneta, Boost.ai and many more.

Why Now and Why the Nordics?

The Nordic startup ecosystem is on fire. Valued at $552 billion it has grown 16x in the past decade, according to the 2024 Dealroom Nordics Innovation Report. Many of the companies behind this growth are well-known, like Spotify, Klarna, Supercell, Kahoot, and Unity. And a new generation of founders are currently building startups that we believe will become even bigger.

With the growth of AI applications powering products and services, from business tasks like patent writing to humanoid robots, we see the Nordics being well-placed to leverage traditional strengths in building startups with the almost limitless possibilities of AI. This can be seen across Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland in the wave of new startups built by founders with bigger ambitions than ever before.

At Alliance VC, we see this moment as a generational opportunity and will focus where we believe the Nordics have the strongest global potential and especially on companies that combine AI technology with real-world impact.

Looking Ahead

Alliance Nordic III is more than a new fund. It’s a continuation of our commitment to partner with founders from the Nordics to scale globally and shape the future. As AI transforms every industry and the Nordics step into the global spotlight, we’re here to fuel and to support the new generation of builders.

Sizzling Platter Partners with Bain Capital to Drive Next Chapter of Growth

BainCapital

The investment will accelerate Sizzling Platter’s growth in partnership with category-leading restaurant brands

SALT LAKE CITY – July 2, 2025 – Sizzling Platter, LLC (“Sizzling Platter” or the “Company”), a premier restaurant franchise growth platform, today announced that it has partnered with Bain Capital to accelerate its expansion. The investment is being made by Bain Capital North American Private Equity, which is acquiring the business from CapitalSpring. Sizzling Platter will continue to be led by Chief Executive Officer Nathan Garn. Financial terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.

Sizzling Platter was founded in 1963 and has since evolved into one of the largest franchise platforms in North America, operating a portfolio of nationally recognized fast-casual and quick-service restaurant brands, including Little Caesars, Wingstop, Jersey Mike’s, Dunkin’, and Jamba, and employing over 13,000 team members across more than 800 locations in the United States and Mexico.

“This is a pivotal milestone for Sizzling Platter as we look to build on more than six decades of delivering unparalleled experiences for our team members, guests, and brand partners,” said Garn.  “Bain Capital’s extensive experience investing in growing restaurant businesses makes it the right value-added partner to help expand our platform. The extraordinary scale we’ve achieved—and this transaction itself—would not have been possible without the strength, relevance, and enduring appeal of the exceptional brands we are fortunate to grow in. Together, we have an aligned vision on how we can continue to innovate and lead in a rapidly evolving industry.”

“With an exceptional portfolio of category defining brands, deep operational expertise, and a proven track record of profitable growth, we believe that Sizzling Platter is uniquely positioned to continue to scale as a global leader in franchising,” said Adam Nebesar, a Partner at Bain Capital. “We are excited to partner with Nate and the team to build on its strengths and long-term brand partnerships to enhance capabilities and accelerate growth,” added Mark Saadine, a Managing Director at Bain Capital.

“Nate and the Sizzling Platter team have been tremendous partners as we navigated the pandemic and executed on a multi-pronged growth strategy to double the company’s footprint,” said Erik Herrmann, Partner, Head of Investment Group at CapitalSpring, which has owned Sizzling Platter since 2019. “The accelerated growth we achieved working with the management team was driven by a focus on organic growth in our existing brands and investments in the Company’s infrastructure to support new unit development, acquisitions, and the addition of new brands to the platform,” added Kaivon Abrishami,  Managing Director at CapitalSpring.

BofA Securities acted as lead financial advisor, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as legal counsel to Bain Capital. UBS Investment Bank acted as lead financial advisor, and Proskauer Rose acted as legal counsel to Sizzling Platter and CapitalSpring.  Deutsche Bank and North Point also served as financial advisors to Sizzling Platter and CapitalSpring.  UBS Investment Bank, Jefferies, Deutsche Bank Securities, HSBC, BNP Paribas, KKR Capital Markets, Mizuho, RBC Capital Markets, Santander, Stifel, and Wells Fargo Securities provided committed debt financing for the transaction and financial advisory services to Bain Capital.

About Sizzling Platter 
Sizzling Platter is one of the world’s largest and most dynamic restaurant franchise growth platforms. We are proud of our longstanding track record as a trusted growth partner to iconic, category-leading brands. As a people-first organization, our mission is to deliver unparalleled experiences for our team members, guests, and brands.  Relentless focus on our mission continues to fuel our growth.  For more information about the Company, visit www.sizzlingplatter.com

About Bain Capital  
Founded in 1984, Bain Capital is one of the world’s leading private investment firms. We are committed to creating lasting impact for our investors, teams, businesses, and the communities in which we live. As a private partnership, we lead with conviction and a culture of collaboration, advantages that enable us to innovate investment approaches, unlock opportunities, and create exceptional outcomes. Our global platform invests across five focus areas: Private Equity, Growth & Venture, Capital Solutions, Credit & Capital Markets, and Real Assets. In these focus areas, we bring deep sector expertise and wide-ranging capabilities. We have 24 offices on four continents, more than 1,850 employees, and approximately $185 billion in assets under management. To learn more, visit www.baincapital.com. Follow @BainCapital on LinkedIn and X (Twitter).

Bain Capital North American Private Equity has deep experience investing in restaurants including prior historical investments in Bloomin’ Brands, Burger King, Domino’s Pizza, and Dunkin’ Brands, and its current investment in Fogo de Chão.

About CapitalSpring 
CapitalSpring is a leading private equity and debt investment firm with deep expertise in foodservice, multi-location business models and related industries. For over 19 years, CapitalSpring has supported entrepreneurs and management teams with financial, operational, and strategic resources to help accelerate growth and to realize the full potential of their businesses. CapitalSpring offers one-stop solutions for a broad range of investments including private equity, mezzanine capital and senior lending. The firm has offices in Nashville, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New York.

 Scott Lessne / Charlyn Lusk

 

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EQT Real Estate acquires 2 million square foot logistics portfolio in Northern California’s Central Valley

eqt

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  • Four-building, Class A industrial portfolio totals 2.04 million square feet in Manteca, California 
  • Located near major highways and an intermodal rail terminal, the properties sit within a mission-critical logistics hub for regional and last-mile distribution
  • Buildings are fully leased to four tenants and offer significant upside from below-market rents and upcoming lease maturities

EQT Real Estate is pleased to announce that EQT Exeter Industrial Value Fund VI has acquired a 2.04 million square foot portfolio of modern logistics facilities in Manteca, California. 

The four Class A buildings are strategically positioned near Interstates 5 and 99, with immediate access to a major Union Pacific intermodal terminal, enabling efficient goods movement across Northern California and the broader West Coast.

The properties are fully leased to four tenants across a diverse set of industries, and with a weighted average lease term of less than three and a half years, the portfolio offers significant near-term opportunity to drive substantial rental growth. The assets are built to modern bulk distribution specifications, including 36-foot clear heights, a mix of cross-dock and single-load configurations, ample trailer and auto parking spaces, and excellent truck maneuverability and circulation.

Located in California’s Central Valley, one of the state’s fastest-growing industrial corridors, the assets benefit from proximity to major population centers and transportation infrastructure. The region is increasingly becoming a location of choice for large-scale distribution due to its connectivity, cost advantages, and expanding labor pool.

Matthew Brodnik, Global Chief Investment Officer at EQT Real Estate, said: “This acquisition reflects our conviction in investing behind well-located, institutional quality logistics assets in dynamic markets. With a strong tenant profile, operational upside and clear growth potential, we’re excited to bring these properties into the EQT Real Estate platform and execute our hands-on, locals with locals approach to value creation.”

EQT Real Estate was advised by Michael Kendall, Michael Goldstein, Gian Bruno and Nick Mascheroni of Colliers.

Contact

EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com

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About EQT Real Estate
EQT is a purpose-driven global investment organization with EUR 273 billion in total assets under management (EUR 142 billion in fee-generating assets under management) as of 31 March 2025, divided into two business segments: Private Capital and Real Assets. EQT supports its global portfolio companies and assets in achieving sustainable growth, operational excellence, and market leadership. Within EQT’s Real Assets segment, EQT Real Estate acquires, develops, leases, and manages logistics and residential properties in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. EQT Real Estate owns and operates over 2,500 properties and 540 million square feet, with over 440 experienced professionals across 50 locations globally.

More info: www.eqtgroup.com

Follow EQT Real Estate on LinkedIn

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Wonderful Raises $34m to Accelerate Enterprise AI Adoption in Non-English Speaking Markets

Index Ventures

Wonderful co-founders Bar Winkler (CEO) and Roey Lalazar (CTO)

QUICK TAKE

  • Wonderful, the agentic AI customer service platform, has raised a $34 million seed round, led by Index Ventures
  • Most AI customer service solutions focus on English-speaking markets, leaving billions of customers underserved across Europe, Asia and the Middle East
  • Founded in 2025 in Tel Aviv by Bar Winkler (CEO) and Roey Lalazar (CTO), Wonderful is already powering hundreds of thousands of customer interactions for 15 market-leading enterprises
  • The team combines exceptional technical depth with unmatched execution – Bar led global expansion at decacorn IronSource before founding and selling Approve.com, while CTO Roey built million-dollar businesses and led elite security teams in the Israeli intelligence service
  • They’re targeting a $200 billion market opportunity by targeting non-English speaking markets

INDEX PERSPECTIVE

By Hannah Seal, Juriaan Duizendstraal

Contact centers around the world are fundamentally broken. Customers face long wait times, limited availability, and often subpar support experiences. AI agents are the natural solution — yet while big tech companies race to perfect AI for English speakers, a massive $200 billion market remains systematically underserved, leaving billions without effective support.

Customer service isn’t one-size-fits-all. Israeli customers expect to interrupt freely, Italian bank clients hang up after five minutes on hold, and Greek callers abandon the line within two. These nuances matter, and most AI providers aren’t equipped to handle them.

Our latest research shows that more companies than ever are born global, expanding internationally from day one. But building truly human-like AI support agents that can operate across languages and cultural contexts has proven elusive. While most vendors stick to the same English-speaking markets, Wonderful is going after everything and everyone else — markets that collectively dwarf the Anglophone world, yet remain largely ignored by B2B software.

Take Israel: enterprises spend over $4 billion a year on customer support for just 10 million people. Scale that across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and the opportunity jumps to hundreds of billions. Seizing it requires rare focus and execution — which is exactly what the Wonderful team brings. They operate with a unique blend of obsession, urgency, and speed: a customer call one evening, a working product the next day.

Their AI platform delivers seamless customer interactions across languages — zero wait time, 24/7 availability, and expert-level support via voice, chat, and email. With exceptional fluency and cultural awareness, they’re already transforming the global customer service landscape, powering hundreds of thousands of interactions across telecoms, financial services, and healthcare.

Wonderful is not just fixing broken support — they’re redefining what global customer experience should look like.

THE DETAILS

Wonderful’s strategy involves winning over markets that are highly distributed, versatile, and tough to crack with AI. Built to handle multiple cultural and linguistic nuances, the platform not only dramatically cuts costs, but typically delivers a much better experience for customers too. It can be tailored to work for multiple regulated industries, to integrate with legacy systems, and to connect to internal systems and workflows to allow its agents to understand customer-facing processes. This means corporations no longer need to choose between cutting-edge capabilities and full localization – they get both.

“We looked at the current state of AI and found it unbearable that most of the world will have to wait years for something that can be delivered today,” said Bar Winkler, Wonderful’s Co‑Founder & CEO. “Our strategy is simple: rapidly partner with the top enterprises in each market and build the talent density needed to obsess over delivering an amazing experience for their customers.”

Bar and his co-founder Roey Lalazar (CTO) are exceptional entrepreneurs. Bar was one of the earliest employees for IronSource, an app-scaling business that grew to a $11 billion at its peak, and sold his subsequent business Approve.com for $40M within two years. Roey has been building businesses since age 15 – creating Android apps with millions of downloads, bootstrapping a business to $1M revenue in under 12 months by age 22, and leading an elite unit within Israeli military intelligence.

“Our 2,000 customer service agents handle millions of interactions each month,” said Nir David, CEO of Bezeq, Israel’s largest ISP and telco. “We evaluated over a dozen AI solutions, and Wonderful was the only one that met our bar.”

Symplr acquires Amn Healthcare’s Smart Square scheduling software, enhancing AI-Driven Workforce Optimization for health systems

Clearlake

Strengthening symplr’s commitment to helping providers optimize staffing, operations, and outcomes

 

HOUSTON – July 2, 2025 – symplr®, a leading provider of enterprise healthcare operations software backed by Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. (together with its affiliates, “Clearlake”) and Charlesbank Capital Partners LLC (together with its affiliates, “Charlesbank”), has acquired the Smart Square® scheduling software from AMN Healthcare (NYSE: AMN).

This strategic acquisition strengthens symplr’s position in healthcare workforce and operations management and further bolsters the symplr Operations Platform by offering a powerful combination of Best in KLAS solutions for nurse and staff scheduling and timekeeping. symplr currently offers one of the most comprehensive people management systems for all roles in healthcare, including provider credentialing, provider directory, physician scheduling, timekeeping, clinical communication, and quality management solutions. Smart Square enhances symplr’s broader suite of workforce and talent solutions by offering a cloud-based SaaS workforce management solution with AI-driven scheduling capabilities such as predictive analytics, real-time staffing adjustments, open-shift management and nurse competency integration. AMN will accelerate its focus on the Workwise platform that includes workforce advisory, planning AI, staffing and analytics solutions.

 

“A critical way for hospitals and health systems to unlock greater value from their technology is to arm them with intelligent, purpose-built solutions,” said BJ Schaknowski, CEO of symplr. “Bringing Smart Square’s AI-driven scheduling engine into the symplr Operations Platform helps us stay ahead of the emerging and dynamic needs of the healthcare workforce.”

 

symplr’s Time and Attendance technology has earned the Best in KLAS category for timekeeping for over two decades, largely due to its ability to manage the healthcare industry’s most complex pay policies. Smart Square was also awarded 2025 Best in KLAS for Scheduling: Nurse & Staff. The solution is a leader in leveraging AI predictive analytics and real-time EMR-driven staffing, highly tailored for complex healthcare environments. With this strategic acquisition, symplr reaffirms its commitment to empowering healthcare organizations with actionable data and technology to create efficiencies, contain costs, and improve patient outcomes.

 

“Advancing our software offerings to further reduce administrative burden and streamline processes is imperative,” said Theresa Meadows, Chief Information Officer in Residence of symplr. “This acquisition deepens our investment in automation and AI, helping healthcare leaders anticipate staffing needs, deploy resources more intelligently to the front lines of healthcare operations, and enhance the user experience.”

 

In addition to the acquisition, symplr and AMN have entered into a commercial partnership that ensures customers get the best of both worlds: symplr’s experience in operational technology and AMN’s leadership in healthcare workforce solutions.

 

“Healthcare organizations are navigating unprecedented workforce complexity. This deal advances our focus on workforce planning, analytics and AI with our WorkWise platform, while seamlessly integrating with our customers’ scheduling and operational tools through strategic technology partnerships like symplr,” said Cary Grace, President and CEO at AMN Healthcare.

 

To learn more about Smart Square, visit www.symplr.com/smart-square.

 

About symplr

symplr is a leader in enterprise healthcare operations software and services with a first-of-its-kind operations platform. Trusted in 9 of 10 U.S. hospitals and 400+ U.S. health plans, symplr optimizes operations and maximizes care powered by our cloud-based workforce, quality, provider data management, and spend solutions. Gain efficiency, reduce complexity, and improve outcomes where it matters most. Learn how to stay ahead of change at www.symplr.com.

 

About AMN Healthcare

AMN Healthcare is the leader and innovator in total talent solutions for healthcare, bringing together the people, processes and technology to deliver better care. Through a steadfast partnership approach, we solve the most pressing workforce challenges to enable better clinical outcomes and access to care. In 2024 our healthcare professionals reached nearly 15 million patients at more than 2,100 healthcare systems, including 87 percent of the top healthcare systems nationwide. We provide a comprehensive network of quality healthcare professionals and deliver a fully integrated and customizable suite of workforce technologies. For more information, visit www.amnhealthcare.com.

 

About Clearlake

Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. is an investment firm founded in 2006 offering integrated businesses across private equity, credit, and other related strategies. With a sector-focused approach, the firm seeks to partner with experienced management teams by providing patient, long-term capital to dynamic businesses that can benefit from Clearlake’s operational approach, O.P.S.® The firm’s core private equity target sectors are technology, industrials, and consumer. Clearlake currently has over $90 billion of assets under management, its senior investment principals have led or co-led over 400 investments, and it has deployed over $57 billion in liquid and illiquid credit investments globally. The firm is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA with affiliates in Dallas, TX, London, UK, Dublin, Ireland, Luxembourg, Abu Dhabi, UAE, and Singapore. More information is available at www.clearlake.com.

 

About Charlesbank

Based in Boston and New York, Charlesbank Capital Partners is a middle-market private investment firm with more than $15 billion of capital raised since inception. Charlesbank focused on management-led buyouts and growth capital financings, and also engages in opportunistic credit and technology investments. The firm seeks to build companies with sustainable competitive advantage and excellent prospects for growth. For more information, please visit www.charlesbank.com.

 

Media contact

Ashley Richardson
symplr@greenoughagency.com
617-275-6519

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