Category Archives: News

Paddle Raises $68 Million Series C to Power Next Wave of B2B SaaS Companies

FTV Capital

Revenue Delivery Platform leader backed by FTV Capital, Kindred, Notion and 83North

LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Paddle, the Revenue Delivery Platform for B2B Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies, today announces it has raised $68 million (£52 million) in Series C funding. The most recent investment was led by FTV Capital, a sector-focused growth equity investor in innovative companies in enterprise technology and services, financial services, payments and transaction processing, with participation from Kindred Capital, Notion Capital and 83North. This brings the total investment raised to date by Paddle to $93 million (£72 million). The funding will be used for continued expansion in the US and globally, as well as further investments in the company’s product, engineering, sales and marketing teams.

Paddle was founded in 2012 by British co-founders Christian Owens and Harrison Rose, with a vision of providing a complete solution to help software companies sell their products. The Paddle team has grown to 140 employees, and Paddle’s Revenue Delivery Platform today serves over 2,000 software companies in 245 countries and territories globally, empowering them to respond to every growth opportunity across customer acquisition, renewals and expansion.

Powerful market forces are reshaping the software industry, particularly the SaaS market, which is predicted to be worth over $105 billion in 2020. Many SaaS companies have seen demand surge during the Covid-19 pandemic as businesses and consumers became increasingly reliant on digital products and services. In fact, Paddle has seen sales by existing sellers accelerate during the pandemic, with particularly strong demand for software that supports distributed teams and collaboration, from VPNs to video calling.

However, SaaS companies are also facing unprecedented competition in an environment where they live or die by customer acquisition costs and their ability to maintain customer loyalty. They have the opportunity to compete and sell in any market in the world, but to do so must manage payments and operations in multiple markets, and navigate an increasingly complex web of international and local tax and data regulations.

As a result, scaling up is no longer just about focusing on building the right product and having the right go-to-market strategy. High-velocity SaaS companies are shifting their focus to a third powerful growth lever, Revenue Delivery, to drive hyper-scale growth by optimising Net Dollar Retention (NDR). Unfortunately, existing revenue delivery infrastructure isn’t ready for the scale and ambition of today’s software companies and businesses are stuck trying to force-fit integrations between legacy payment gateways, billing engines, subscription management tools, and multiple tax, compliance and data governance systems. This is a huge drain on time and resources that can severely limit SaaS companies’ ability to scale.

Paddle’s Revenue Delivery Platform makes it easy for SaaS companies to respond faster and more precisely to every growth opportunity for their business. A single unified platform, Paddle integrates checkout, payment, subscription management, and financial compliance; meaning sellers on the platform can activate new business models instantly, enter new markets with ease, turn on new offerings with one-click, and enable friction-free renewals. This modern approach to revenue delivery empowers CEOs to make informed business decisions quickly and confidently, and frees up teams to focus on the core business rather than operational headaches. Ultimately, using Paddle enables businesses to optimise NDR and deliver business impact that outperforms expectations.

Paddle has seen incredible demand to date, recording an average annual revenue growth of over 175% over the last four years and doubling in the last year alone.

Christian Owens, CEO and co-founder of Paddle, said:

“The beauty of the SaaS model is that if you build a great product, you can sell it to anyone, anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, it is rarely that simple. We created Paddle because we’ve seen first hand the things that limit the growth of a SaaS company often have very little to do with the quality of your product. Dealing with payments, managing subscriptions, localising checkouts in multiple languages and handling tax and compliance across dozens of markets is hugely complex and each of these challenges makes it harder for businesses to scale quickly. Our Revenue Delivery Platform has been built to remove all of this friction for B2B SaaS companies, empowering them to increase NDR by responding faster to every growth opportunity. We’re excited to continue our own growth with this investment and look forward to maintaining momentum in the months and years ahead.”

Kyle Griswold, partner, who led the investment for FTV Capital, added:

“We are witnessing a systemic shift within software, with the ‘growth at any cost’ mindset gradually being replaced by a realisation that businesses must scale more efficiently and with clearer purpose. We’ve been extremely impressed with Christian and Harrison’s ambition and Paddle’s growth to date and we believe they are defining a new category with Paddle’s Revenue Delivery Platform — one that will be critical to helping companies adapt to change while empowering them to take advantage of the huge acceleration in demand for digital products. With more than two decades investing in the SaaS and payments sectors, FTV will bring the best of our domain expertise to accelerate Paddle’s exciting growth.”

About Paddle
The Paddle Revenue Delivery Platform for B2B SaaS companies powers growth across acquisition, renewals and expansion. With Paddle, companies are finally able to transform their revenue delivery infrastructure into a strategic growth lever to respond faster and more precisely to every opportunity. Paddle has 140 talented employees serving over 2,000 software sellers in 245 countries and territories globally. Backed by investors including FTV Capital, Kindred, Notion, and 83North, Paddle aims to define the next wave of B2B SaaS leaders. Visit www.paddle.com or www.twitter.com/PaddleHQ for more information.

About FTV Capital
FTV Capital is a growth equity investment firm that has raised nearly $4 billion to invest in high-growth companies offering a range of innovative solutions in three sectors: enterprise technology and services, financial services, and payments and transaction processing. FTV’s experienced team leverages its domain expertise and proven track record in each of these sectors to help motivated management teams accelerate growth. FTV also provides companies with access to its Global Partner Network®, a group of the world’s leading enterprises and executives who have helped FTV portfolio companies for two decades. Founded in 1998, FTV Capital has invested in more than 120 portfolio companies, including CloudFactory, Derivative Path, EBANX, Enfusion Systems, InvestCloud, Liberis, ReliaQuest, Riskalyze, Sunlight Financial, Sysnet, Tango Card, Vagaro, VPay and successfully exited companies including Empyrean Benefits (acquired by Securian Financial), ExlServices (IPO), Fleet One (acquired by WEX), Globant (NYSE IPO), Health Credit Services (acquired by Ally Financial), MedSynergies (acquired by Optum), Mu Sigma (acquired by shareholders), and WorldFirst (acquired by Ant Financial). FTV has offices in San Francisco and New York. For more information, please visit www.ftvcapital.com.

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Convex Group Raises $1 Billion of Additional Capital

Onex

Convex is Well-Positioned to Capitalize on Insurance Market Opportunity –
Toronto,November 17,2020 –Onex Corporation(“Onex”) (TSX: ONEX) and its affiliated funds(the “Onex Group”), along with GIC, announced that they and a consortium of existing and newco-investors have committed to invest$1 billion in Convex Group Limited (“Convex”or the“Company”).This capital raise is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

Convex is a specialty insurer and reinsurer focused on complex risks that launched with $1.7 billion of committed capital in April of 2019.

Convex’initial invested capital was raised from the Convex management team, Onex Partners V,PSP Investments and a consortium of co-investors.The additional capital has been committed by the original investors as well as multiple new investors led by GIC.
Bobby Le Blanc, President of Onexand Head of Onex Partners, commented, “Over the pasteighteenmonths, the Convex management team has made significant progress in realizing our original investment thesis, having successfully executed on its recruiting plan,implemented key operational systems and processes, established strong relationships with brokers, and written over$1 billion inpremiums. This momentum, coupled with the favorable P&C insurance market conditions,have further improved the risk-adjusted return opportunity and make us confident in the continued success of the business.”
Stephen Catlin, CEO of Convex,said,“Onex and our existing investor base have provided us with tremendous support in building the business and we welcome the new investor partners,including GIC. We are delighted to have additional capital as this will enable us to takefull advantageof the hardening market.”

Choo Yong Cheen, Chief Investment Officer of Private Equity at GIC,said,“GIC is pleased to partner with Stephen, Paul, and the rest of the Convex team given their tremendous successto dateand long track record of disciplined underwriting. We believe that Convex’ unique valueproposition within complex risk is well-suited for the current market environment. As a long-term investor, we look forward to working alongside Onex and othershareholdersto support the Company as it embarks on its next phase of growth.”

Martin Longchamps, Managing Director, Private Equity at PSP Investments, said, “We are pleased to continue our successful partnership with Onex and Convex by supporting the Company’s accelerated growth strategy. The Convex management team has established an agile, world-class specialty insurer with a strong operational foundation. This transaction is in line with our strategy of making sizeable, direct investments in high-quality companies alongside experienced partners.”
The capital raise includes more than $300 million from the Onex Group, including $200 million from Onex Partners V.

About Convex
Convex Group is a specialty insurer and reinsurer focused on complex risks founded by Stephen Catlin and Paul Brand. With operations in London and Bermuda, Convex occupies a unique position in the insurance industry and combines unrivalled experience, reputation and lessons learned with the freedom and independence of a new balance sheet.

About Onex
Founded in 1984, Onex invests and manages capital on behalf of its shareholders, institutional fainvestors and high net worth clients from around the world. Onex’ platforms include: Onex Partners, private equity funds focused on larger opportunities in North America and Europe; ONCAP, private equity funds focused on middle market and smaller opportunities in North America; Onex Credit, which manages primarily non-investment grade debt through collateralized loan obligations, senior loan strategies and other private credit strategies; and Gluskin Sheff’s wealth management services including its actively managed public equity and public credit funds. In total, Onex has approximately $36.6 billion of assets under management, of which approximately $6.7 billion is its own shareholder capital. With offices in Toronto, New York, New Jersey and London, Onex and its experienced management teams are collectively the largest investors across Onex’ platforms.
The Onex Partners and ONCAP businesses have assets of $36 billion, generate annual revenues of $22 billion and employ approximately 149,000 people worldwide. Onex shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the stock symbol ONEX. For more information on Onex, visit its website at www.onex.com. Onex’ security filings can also be accessed at www.sedar.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain, without limitation, statements concerning possible or assumed future operations, performance or results preceded by, followed by or that include words such as “believes”, “expects”, “potential”, “anticipates”, “estimates”, “intends”, “plans” and words of similar connotation, which would constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees. The reader should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information because they involve significant and diverse risks and uncertainties that may cause actual operations, performance or results to be materially different from those indicated in these forward-looking statements. Except as may be required by Canadian securities law, Onex is under no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained herein should material facts change due to new information, future events or other factors. These cautionary statements expressly qualify all forward-looking statements in this press release.

For further information:
Jill Homenuk
Managing Director, Shareholder Relations and Communications
Tel: 416.362.7711

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The deal-by-deal team enters a partnership with management of Sumo

Hercules Capital

(Oslo, 17 November 2020) A company funded by a group of experienced restaurant investors and managed by Fredrik Kongsli and Fredrik T. Bysveen, has entered into an agreement with Sinco AS to acquire Sumo AS, Norway’s largest Asian fusion restaurant chain. With its playful Asian fusion concept, strong brand, and successful restaurants, Sumo represents a strong foundation for further expansion.
Sumo has established 9 successful restaurants in Bergen, Oslo, Stavanger, and Jessheim. The company has created an easy-to-like Asian fusion menu based on high quality ingredients. The company expects to generate a turnover in 2020 of approximately NOK 180 million. Despite the Covid-19 outbreak, Sumo has experienced a solid topline momentum in 2020, proving the strength of the concept and management team.

Simon Simonnæs, the CEO and previous majority owner, will together with other key employees retain 48% ownership after the transaction. “It has been our ambition to accelerate the expansion of Sumo both in Norway and abroad. Together with Kongsli and Bysveen and the highly experienced team of restaurant investors they bring, we will have the competence, capacity, and financial resources to accomplish this ambition over the next few years.”

“We are impressed by the outstanding track record, the strong culture and the enthusiasm in the organization. Sumo has a unique offering that makes people want to return again and again. The food is popular and the people working there are hands-on and genuinely service minded. In addition, Sumo is capturing the takeout trend and has been successful in building a popular brand through social media. We believe Sumo has a large potential for further growth both in Norway and abroad”, says Fredrik Kongsli.

Salsa Bergen AS will also be part of the transaction. Salsa is a successful Latin American restaurant located in Bergen that has rollout potential.

Closing of the transaction took place 17 November 2020.

Contact:
Fredrik Kongsli, Chairman Sumo & Salsa
Telephone: +47 98 01 22 51

Simon Simonnæs, CEO Sumo & Salsa
Telephone: +47 938 89 500

The buyer was advised by DLA Piper and PwC.

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Cinven, KKR and Providence complete the acquisition of Spanish telecommunications operator, MASMOVIL

Cinven

he acquisition of MASMOVIL demonstrates a commitment from the Consortium towards the development of the Spanish telecom market over the coming years.

Lorca Telecom Bidco SAU, a company indirectly and collectively majority owned by funds or vehicles managed or advised by Cinven, funds or vehicles managed or advised by KKR and funds or vehicles managed or advised by Providence Equity Partners L.L.C. (“Providence”) (jointly “the Consortium”), has successfully completed the acquisition of Spanish telecommunications operator MASMOVIL IBERCOM, S.A. (“MASMOVIL” or “the Group”) having acquired 99.3% of the Group’s outstanding shares. At the tender offer price, MASMOVIL was valued at approximately EUR 5.3 billion.

The Consortium’s support will provide MASMOVIL with the opportunity to accelerate its investment strategy and develop new projects aimed at providing the Group’s customers, who report some of the highest satisfaction rates in Spain, high quality access to MASMOVIL’s networks at a time when the telecommunications sector is becoming increasingly important in the country.

In addition, this transaction aims to continue creating value for the telecommunications market, customers, and employees of the Group, in addition to, delivering a positive impact on people and on the planet – in line with MASMOVIL’s corporate purpose.

Headquartered in Madrid, MASMOVIL is the fourth largest telecommunications operator in Spain, with more than 11 million customers. It provides triple-play fixed-line, mobile and internet services to residential customers, businesses and operators through a number of brands including Yoigo, MASMOVIL, Pepephone, Llamaya, Lebara, Lycamobile and Hits mobile.

The Consortium believes MASMOVIL represents an attractive investment opportunity because of its strong positioning in Spain, the increasing demand for greater quality and value for money in the Spanish telecommunications sector, and the range of growth opportunities available for the business over the medium-term.

Commenting on the transaction, Jorge Quemada and Thomas Railhac, Partners at Cinven, said:

“We are delighted to have completed the acquisition of such a major European business which has become the leading challenger in Spain. The experienced management team has demonstrated its ability to consistently deliver excellent results, even in fast changing environments. MASMOVIL has a highly successful track record and has achieved revenue and double-digit EBITDA growth both organically and through acquisitions and, more recently, through the actions they have taken since COVID-19. We strongly believe MASMOVIL is well positioned in the market for further exciting growth opportunities.”

Iñaki Cobo and Jean-Pierre Saad, Partners at KKR, said:

“We are excited to invest behind one of our core themes, telecommunications and digitalization, and are confident that MASMOVIL is well positioned to continue capturing growth opportunities with its outstanding management team. The investment in MASMOVIL reinforces KKR’s commitment to Spain where we have already deployed almost $6 billion since 2010.”

Robert Sudo, Managing Director at Providence Equity, said:

“As a long-standing investor in MASMOVIL, we continue to see exciting growth opportunities for the business and are pleased Cinven and KKR share our long-term vision for the company. The management team’s proven track record leading the business places MASMOVIL in a strong position to succeed as a private business in a competitive market ripe for consolidation.”

The offer document with all the information about the voluntary tender offer are available on the following website:  https://www.grupomasmovil.com/en/takeover-bid-on-masmovil-group/

Advisors to the Consortium for this transaction, included: Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley (M&A); Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, Paul Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and Uria Menéndez (legal); Analysys Mason and McKinsey (commercial); Deloitte (financial, tax, operations, structuring); and EY (IT).

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Wendel enters the Dow Jones Sustainability (DJSI) World and Europe indices

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Wendel

Wendel has entered the Dow Jones Sustainability World and Europe indices (DJSI), as indicated in the results of the annual S&P Dow Jones Indices study, published on November 13, 2020. As such, the indices have recognized the Group’s ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) performance.

Evaluated on the basis of all of its ESG initiatives, Wendel obtained a score of 71/100, compared with the average in its sector of 30/100. Wendel is currently the only French company in the Diversified Financials sector that is present in the DJSI World and Europe indices.
Launched in 1999, the DJSI includes the best-performing companies in terms of sustainable development out of nearly 3,500 listed companies analyzed worldwide. Every year, the DJSI evaluates companies using its Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) questionnaire. The highest performing 10% of these companies, based on the sustainability criteria defined for each industry, are then integrated into the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices. Specifically, in the Diversified Financials sector, only 17 companies, including Wendel, have been integrated into the DJSI World index out of the 162 companies evaluated this year.

This distinction consecrates our long-standing commitment to corporate social responsibility, which has picked up considerable speed in 2020. “It is an honor for us to be recognized as sustainability leaders in our sector”, said André François-Poncet, Wendel’s Group CEO. “In the first quarter of 2020, Wendel published an ambitious ESG roadmap for itself and the companies in its portfolio. This strategy reflects our two objectives: position Wendel as a leader among investment companies in sustainable development, and encourage the companies in our portfolio to be both exceptional and exemplary. Wendel’s entry into the DJSI World and Europe indices is a just reward for our efforts to make ESG a source of value creation, innovation and differentiation for our companies, in a spirit of continuous improvement.”

In addition, Wendel applauds the performance of Bureau Veritas, a portfolio company since 1995, which is also included in the DJSI World and Europe 2020 indices and this year became the no. 1 company in the professional services sector.

Manjit Jus, Managing Director, Global Head of ESG Research & Data at S&P Global, said, “We congratulate Wendel for its inclusion in the DJSI World and Europe indices. Your DJSI distinction reflects your positioning as a world leader in your industry. With a record number of companies participating in the Corporate Sustainability Assessment 2020 and stricter inclusion rules this year, this recognition honors your company and rewards your active commitment to our Society and to the protection of our planet.”

For more information, please read Wendel’s ESG 2020 brochure, “Building sustainability leaders”, available on Wendel’s website: www.wendelgroup.com

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Cinven, KKR and Providence complete the acquisition of Spanish telecommunications operator, MASMOVIL

Providence

November 17, 2020

Cinven, KKR and Providence complete the acquisition of Spanish telecommunications operator, MASMOVIL

The acquisition of MASMOVIL demonstrates a commitment from the Consortium towards the development of the Spanish telecom market over the coming years

Madrid, Spain, 17 November 2020 – Lorca Telecom Bidco SAU, a company indirectly and collectively majority owned by funds or vehicles managed or advised by Cinven, funds or vehicles managed or advised by KKR and funds or vehicles managed or advised by Providence Equity Partners L.L.C. (“Providence”) (jointly “the Consortium”), has successfully completed the acquisition of Spanish telecommunications operator MASMOVIL IBERCOM, S.A. (“MASMOVIL” or “the Group”) having acquired 99.3% of the Group’s outstanding shares. At the tender offer price, MASMOVIL was valued at approximately EUR 5.3 billion.

The Consortium’s support will provide MASMOVIL with the opportunity to accelerate its investment strategy and develop new projects aimed at providing the Group’s customers, who report some of the highest satisfaction rates in Spain, high quality access to MASMOVIL’s networks at a time when the telecommunications sector is becoming increasingly important in the country.

In addition, this transaction aims to continue creating value for the telecommunications market, customers, and employees of the Group, in addition to, delivering a positive impact on people and on the planet – in line with MASMOVIL’s corporate purpose.

Headquartered in Madrid, MASMOVIL is the fourth largest telecommunications operator in Spain, with more than 11 million customers. It provides triple-play fixed-line, mobile and internet services to residential customers, businesses and operators through a number of brands including Yoigo, MASMOVIL, Pepephone, Llamaya, Lebara, Lycamobile and Hits mobile.

The Consortium believes MASMOVIL represents an attractive investment opportunity because of its strong positioning in Spain, the increasing demand for greater quality and value for money in the Spanish telecommunications sector, and the range of growth opportunities available for the business over the medium-term.

Commenting on the transaction, Jorge Quemada and Thomas Railhac, Partners at Cinven, said:

“We are delighted to have completed the acquisition of such a major European business which has become the leading challenger in Spain. The experienced management team has demonstrated its ability to consistently deliver excellent results, even in fast changing environments. MASMOVIL has a highly successful track record and has achieved revenue and double-digit EBITDA growth both organically and through acquisitions and, more recently, through the actions they have taken since COVID-19. We strongly believe MASMOVIL is well positioned in the market for further exciting growth opportunities.”

Iñaki Cobo and Jean-Pierre Saad, Partners at KKR, said:

“We are excited to invest behind one of our core themes, telecommunications and digitalization, and are confident that MASMOVIL is well positioned to continue capturing growth opportunities with its outstanding management team. The investment in MASMOVIL reinforces KKR’s commitment to Spain where we have already deployed almost $6 billion since 2010.”

Robert Sudo, Managing Director at Providence Equity, said:

“As a long-standing investor in MASMOVIL, we continue to see exciting growth opportunities for the business and are pleased Cinven and KKR share our long-term vision for the company. The management team’s proven track record leading the business places MASMOVIL in a strong position to succeed as a private business in a competitive market ripe for consolidation.”

The offer document with all the information about the voluntary tender offer are available on the following website: https://www.grupomasmovil.com/en/takeover-bid-on-masmovil-group/

Advisors to the Consortium for this transaction, included: Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley (M&A); Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, Paul Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and Uria Menéndez (legal); Analysys Mason and McKinsey (commercial); Deloitte (financial, tax, operations, structuring); and EY (IT).

Media contacts for the Consortium:

Cinven

Vanessa Maydon: Tel. +44 (0) 7802 961 902
Email. vanessa.maydon@cinven.com

Peter Folland: Tel. +44 (0)787 099 2924
Email. peter.folland@cinven.com

Alejandra Moore Tel. +34 91 531 23 88
Email. amoore@grupoalbion.net

KKR

Alastair Elwen / Alice Neave: Tel. +44 (0)20 7251 3801
Email. kkr@finsbury.com

Sarah Estébanez: Tel. +34 91 702 10 10
Email. sestebanez@tinkle.es

Xana Peña: Tel. +34 91 702 10 10
Email. xpena@tinkle.es

Providence Equity Partners

Charles Chichester Tel. +44 (0) 7810 825 444
Rory King Tel. +44 (0) 7917 086 227
Email. Prov-SVC@sardverb.com

About Cinven

Cinven is a leading international private equity firm focused on building world-class global and European companies. Its funds invest in six key sectors: Business Services, Consumer, Financial Services, Healthcare, Industrials and Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT). Cinven has offices in London, New York, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Guernsey, Luxembourg and Hong Kong. Cinven has significant experience in the telecoms and fibre sectors, with its funds’ previous investments including Numericable, Ziggo, Eutelsat and Ufinet. Cinven also has a long-term presence and a successful track record in Spain, with its funds’ current investments in the country including Ufinet International, Hotelbeds, Planasa and Tinsa. Cinven takes a responsible approach towards its portfolio companies, their employees, suppliers, local communities, the environment and society. Cinven Capital Management (V) General Partner Limited, Cinven Capital Management (VI) General Partner Limited, Cinven Capital Management (VII) General Partner Limited and Cinven Capital Management (SFF) General Partner Limited are each authorised and regulated by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission, and Cinven Partners LLP, the advisor to the Cinven Funds, is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. In this press release ‘Cinven’ means, depending on the context, any of or collectively, Cinven Holdings Guernsey Limited, Cinven Partnership LLP, Cinven (LuxCo1) S.A., and their respective Associates (as defined in the Companies Act 2006) and/or funds managed or advised by any of the foregoing. For additional information on Cinven please visit www.cinven.com and www.linkedin.com/company/cinven/.

About KKR

KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, credit and real assets, with strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns for its fund investors by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and driving growth and value creation with KKR portfolio companies. KKR invests its own capital alongside the capital it manages for fund investors and provides financing solutions and investment opportunities through its capital markets business. KKR has significant experience in the telecom sector, with its previous and current investments including United Group, Telxius, Deutchse Glasfaser and FiberCorp. KKR has a long-term presence and commitment to Spain having invested almost $6 billion since 2010 across different strategies, including current investments in PortAventura, Telxius, X-Elio, Alvic Group, Telepizza and MasterD. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

About Providence Equity Partners

Providence is a premier global private equity firm with more than $49 billion in capital under management. Providence pioneered a sector-focused approach to private equity investing with the vision that a dedicated team of industry experts could build exceptional companies of enduring value. Since the firm’s inception in 1989, Providence has invested in more than 200 companies and is a leading equity investment firm focused on the media, communications, education, software and services industries. Providence has a long history of investing in the telecommunications space in Europe and is currently a shareholder in both Masmovil (2016) and Bite (2016). The firm’s previous European telecommunications investments since 2005 include: Volia (2007), M7 Group (2007), MobileServ (2006), Kabel Deutschland (2006), Com Hem (2006), TDC (2006), and Ono (2005). Providence is headquartered in Providence, RI, and also has offices in New York and London. For more information, please visit www.provequity.com

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Arsenal Capital Partners Acquires Best Value Healthcare

Arsenal Capital Partners

November 17, 2020

New York, November 17, 2020 – Arsenal Capital Partners (“Arsenal”), a private equity firm that specializes in investments in healthcare and specialty industrial companies, has acquired Best Value Healthcare LLC (“Best Value”) in partnership with its founders:  Raj Naik, M.D., Kimberly Ficocelli, and Dillon Moore.  Best Value is a leading primary care platform focused on Medicare Advantage and operating in Central and South Florida.  The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Arsenal’s investment in Best Value reflects the firm’s interest in investing in the value-based primary care market, a large and fast-growing care provision segment uniquely positioned to drive significant value across key healthcare stakeholder groups: patients, physicians, and payers.  Best Value represents a compelling investment given its scale, reputation for high-quality clinical care, focus on advancing value-based care competency, strong payer relationships, experienced management team, and opportunity to realize multiple avenues of organic and inorganic growth.

Mike Bernstein, Operating Partner of Arsenal, said, “After evaluating many of the leading primary care practices in the market, we selected Best Value as the ideal platform for what we plan to build into a best-in-class, value-based primary care organization, serving seniors in partnership with the major Medicare Advantage payers.”

John DiGiovanni, Investment Partner of Arsenal, said, “High-quality and value-based primary care is critical to ensuring greater efficiency and innovation across care provision and better outcomes for patients.  Best Value’s founders have built a leading primary care provider with an excellent clinical reputation.  We look forward to partnering with the team to continue to expand the reach of this platform.”

Dr. Rajankumar Naik, Co-Founder of Best Value, said, “We are excited to be partnering with the Arsenal team, which has an extensive history of investing in the healthcare space.  We are confident that this strategic relationship will enhance Best Value’s ability to serve the growing need for patient-focused and outcomes-oriented primary care.

Guggenheim Securities, LLC served as financial advisor to Best Value.  Macquarie Capital Inc. served as financial advisor to Arsenal.

About Best Value Healthcare LLC:

Headquartered in the Tampa Bay area, Best Value is a patient-centered, physician-led, and population health-focused healthcare company.  Founded and led by physicians, Best Value’s team of healthcare providers and support service professionals share a revolutionary vision for delivering patient care in Florida with passion and purpose.  Best Value creates a direct path to improving outcomes, reducing costs, and enhancing healthcare experiences.  For more information, visit www.bestvaluehealthcare.com.

About Arsenal Capital Partners: 

Arsenal is a leading private equity firm that specializes in investments in middle‐market healthcare and specialty industrials companies. Since its inception in 2000, Arsenal has raised institutional equity investment funds of $5.3 billion, has completed more than 200 platform and add-on investments, and has achieved more than 30 realizations. Arsenal invests in industry sectors in which the firm has significant prior knowledge and experience. The firm works with management teams to build strategically important companies with leading market positions, high growth, and high value‐add.  For more information, please visit www.arsenalcapital.com.

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Middle East & Africa Seed Challenge

To support the visionary entrepreneurs of Africa’s booming tech ecosystem at earlier stages, we launched a special initiative addressing Seed companies in Cameroon, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia in June 2020.

 

Today, we are very proud to announce the 7 Seed stage startups joining Orange Ventures community.

7Keema in Egypt: an e-health platform that enhances the accessibility and quality of nursing services

Chari.ma in Morocco: a market place for local businesses selling everyday goods

Dabchy in Tunisia: the first peer-to-peer secondhand fashion marketplace in Tunisia

Moja Ride in Côte d’Ivoire: a platform for transport operators that helps commuters access, book and pay for all available modes of transportation from a single mobile application

Waspito in Cameroon: an e-health platform that connects the African healthcare ecosystem via an application for telehealth services distribution

Back Office For Business (BOB) in Jordan: a comprehensive online sale and ordering solution to businesses, merchants and any online shop

SudPay in Senegal: a fintech proposing payment solutions for ticketing and local taxes

“Congratulations to the seven winners of the challenge, whom I am very happy to welcome to our community as we launch our new Seed activity” says Jérôme Berger, Chief Executive Officer, Orange Ventures. “Their diversity in terms of countries of origin, as well sectors of activity (consumer, e-health, B2B, fintech) proves the abundance of promising high quality projects on the continent”.

€670,000 will be invested as a result of this highly competitive selection process, subject to the usual conditions precedent.

Applications for Seed funding are now open here on permanent basis for tech driven seed stage startups operating in one of the 18 countries Orange operates in MEA region.

 

Stay tuned for more news on this subject. Follow us on Twitter or sign up to our Newsletter
Read the challenge results press release here in French and in English

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Paddle Raises $68 Million Series C to Power Next Wave of B2B SaaS Companies

FTV Capital

Revenue Delivery Platform leader backed by FTV Capital, Kindred, Notion and 83North

LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Paddle, the Revenue Delivery Platform for B2B Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies, today announces it has raised $68 million (£52 million) in Series C funding. The most recent investment was led by FTV Capital, a sector-focused growth equity investor in innovative companies in enterprise technology and services, financial services, payments and transaction processing, with participation from Kindred Capital, Notion Capital and 83North. This brings the total investment raised to date by Paddle to $93 million (£72 million). The funding will be used for continued expansion in the US and globally, as well as further investments in the company’s product, engineering, sales and marketing teams.

Paddle was founded in 2012 by British co-founders Christian Owens and Harrison Rose, with a vision of providing a complete solution to help software companies sell their products. The Paddle team has grown to 140 employees, and Paddle’s Revenue Delivery Platform today serves over 2,000 software companies in 245 countries and territories globally, empowering them to respond to every growth opportunity across customer acquisition, renewals and expansion.

Powerful market forces are reshaping the software industry, particularly the SaaS market, which is predicted to be worth over $105 billion in 2020. Many SaaS companies have seen demand surge during the Covid-19 pandemic as businesses and consumers became increasingly reliant on digital products and services. In fact, Paddle has seen sales by existing sellers accelerate during the pandemic, with particularly strong demand for software that supports distributed teams and collaboration, from VPNs to video calling.

However, SaaS companies are also facing unprecedented competition in an environment where they live or die by customer acquisition costs and their ability to maintain customer loyalty. They have the opportunity to compete and sell in any market in the world, but to do so must manage payments and operations in multiple markets, and navigate an increasingly complex web of international and local tax and data regulations.

As a result, scaling up is no longer just about focusing on building the right product and having the right go-to-market strategy. High-velocity SaaS companies are shifting their focus to a third powerful growth lever, Revenue Delivery, to drive hyper-scale growth by optimising Net Dollar Retention (NDR). Unfortunately, existing revenue delivery infrastructure isn’t ready for the scale and ambition of today’s software companies and businesses are stuck trying to force-fit integrations between legacy payment gateways, billing engines, subscription management tools, and multiple tax, compliance and data governance systems. This is a huge drain on time and resources that can severely limit SaaS companies’ ability to scale.

Paddle’s Revenue Delivery Platform makes it easy for SaaS companies to respond faster and more precisely to every growth opportunity for their business. A single unified platform, Paddle integrates checkout, payment, subscription management, and financial compliance; meaning sellers on the platform can activate new business models instantly, enter new markets with ease, turn on new offerings with one-click, and enable friction-free renewals. This modern approach to revenue delivery empowers CEOs to make informed business decisions quickly and confidently, and frees up teams to focus on the core business rather than operational headaches. Ultimately, using Paddle enables businesses to optimise NDR and deliver business impact that outperforms expectations.

Paddle has seen incredible demand to date, recording an average annual revenue growth of over 175% over the last four years and doubling in the last year alone.

Christian Owens, CEO and co-founder of Paddle, said:

“The beauty of the SaaS model is that if you build a great product, you can sell it to anyone, anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, it is rarely that simple. We created Paddle because we’ve seen first hand the things that limit the growth of a SaaS company often have very little to do with the quality of your product. Dealing with payments, managing subscriptions, localising checkouts in multiple languages and handling tax and compliance across dozens of markets is hugely complex and each of these challenges makes it harder for businesses to scale quickly. Our Revenue Delivery Platform has been built to remove all of this friction for B2B SaaS companies, empowering them to increase NDR by responding faster to every growth opportunity. We’re excited to continue our own growth with this investment and look forward to maintaining momentum in the months and years ahead.”

Kyle Griswold, partner, who led the investment for FTV Capital, added:

“We are witnessing a systemic shift within software, with the ‘growth at any cost’ mindset gradually being replaced by a realisation that businesses must scale more efficiently and with clearer purpose. We’ve been extremely impressed with Christian and Harrison’s ambition and Paddle’s growth to date and we believe they are defining a new category with Paddle’s Revenue Delivery Platform — one that will be critical to helping companies adapt to change while empowering them to take advantage of the huge acceleration in demand for digital products. With more than two decades investing in the SaaS and payments sectors, FTV will bring the best of our domain expertise to accelerate Paddle’s exciting growth.”

About Paddle
The Paddle Revenue Delivery Platform for B2B SaaS companies powers growth across acquisition, renewals and expansion. With Paddle, companies are finally able to transform their revenue delivery infrastructure into a strategic growth lever to respond faster and more precisely to every opportunity. Paddle has 140 talented employees serving over 2,000 software sellers in 245 countries and territories globally. Backed by investors including FTV Capital, Kindred, Notion, and 83North, Paddle aims to define the next wave of B2B SaaS leaders. Visit www.paddle.com or www.twitter.com/PaddleHQ for more information.

About FTV Capital
FTV Capital is a growth equity investment firm that has raised nearly $4 billion to invest in high-growth companies offering a range of innovative solutions in three sectors: enterprise technology and services, financial services, and payments and transaction processing. FTV’s experienced team leverages its domain expertise and proven track record in each of these sectors to help motivated management teams accelerate growth. FTV also provides companies with access to its Global Partner Network®, a group of the world’s leading enterprises and executives who have helped FTV portfolio companies for two decades. Founded in 1998, FTV Capital has invested in more than 120 portfolio companies, including CloudFactory, Derivative Path, EBANX, Enfusion Systems, InvestCloud, Liberis, ReliaQuest, Riskalyze, Sunlight Financial, Sysnet, Tango Card, Vagaro, VPay and successfully exited companies including Empyrean Benefits (acquired by Securian Financial), ExlServices (IPO), Fleet One (acquired by WEX), Globant (NYSE IPO), Health Credit Services (acquired by Ally Financial), MedSynergies (acquired by Optum), Mu Sigma (acquired by shareholders), and WorldFirst (acquired by Ant Financial). FTV has offices in San Francisco and New York. For more information, please visit www.ftvcapital.com.

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Why Dawn Invested in Harbr

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Dawn

For data to be truly powerful, everything has to work in concert. If one part of the value chain — whether that’s preparing data, storing it, or creating insights — is broken, then the gains made elsewhere are negated, or even nullified. Think of it like lights on a Christmas tree: if one bulb has blown, none of them light up.

Today, some of the most exciting businesses are innovating across the data value chain, like Dawn portfolio companies Collibra and Dataiku, moving us all towards an inflection point where the entire data process is automated. This is where huge value is unlocked: when we don’t have to worry about the infrastructure, there are countless opportunities to use data to create new products, reach new customers and operate more efficiently.

The data value chain

The data value chain

Simplified data value chain

Within the data value chain, Harbr solves a key challenge that’s essential both today and even more so in the automated world of the future: how do you bridge the gap between when you’ve prepped your data, and sharing it with someone else to derive value from it?

Today, this permissioning and exchange stage is handled manually — through side letters, offline agreements, contracts and laborious manual follow-ups. There’s no universal software standard for delivering data to the other party.

Harbr creates a new paradigm: an enterprise data exchange platform enabling companies to productise and securely share their data, both internally and with other organisations. The controlled, software-based environment removes a major friction point in the analytics pipeline and powers trusted collaboration — today between humans, but in the future also between machines running automated data pipelines.

The first stage is to package data up and turn it into a more digestible “data product”. For example, an e-commerce company’s finance department might want to share data with the marketing team to improve customer lifetime value. But rather than handing over a complete dump of all the CRM data, the data owner could instead create a “product” consisting of only the parts that the analytics team need, such as customer postcodes and order values.

Crucially, the data owner can set rules for how that data product can be used, and see at all times what the counter-party is doing with it. So if they’re using it for a purpose that wasn’t agreed to, the owner can pull the plug, reeling their data back in and destroying any derivatives. Similarly, the data consumer can use the data, safe in the knowledge that they can’t inadvertently break laws or regulations. And users can test and learn from a small sample before accessing or purchasing entire datasets.

The primary reason that analytics projects fail is that the simplest answer to a data-sharing request is “no”. For a data owner, handing over any data to another party is fraught with risk and potential liability. This reluctance to share is driven by the lack of suitable infrastructure, but Harbr cuts the knot by giving data owners the toolkit to package and exchange their data in a safe way.

Where Harbr sits in the data exhange market

Harbr’s platform uniquely enforces collaboration policies through software, while also supporting data from any source and for complex workflows

Harbr also helps data owners justify and recoup the expense of their data efforts. By turning their data into products and publishing them, data owners can show the value of all their investment. What’s perhaps even more exciting is that every enterprise can now turn their vast datasets into saleable assets, monetising them for the very first time in a way a data vendor does today but a large telco, for example, could not have imagined being able to do. (Until now.)

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When I met Harbr’s co-founder and chief strategy officer Anthony Cosgrove for the first time, we could compare notes on experiencing this problem first-hand in our previous lives as bankers. Anthony is the former tech chief of HSBC, and while there was responsible for building out the bank’s financial intelligence structure, helping it recognise if it was dealing with bad actors. The sheer volume of data banks have to collect for financial and non-financial risk management is staggering: what if any of it could be cross-pollinated and shared, rather than duplicated, across institutions?

Anthony Cosgrove

Harbr’s co-founder and CSO Anthony Cosgrove

If banks could share their data with one another, packaging it up so it was limited just to sanctioned entities, risk and compliance processes would be transformed. The global financial system — and consumers — would be far safer. Of course, things weren’t this simple. And that’s why Anthony and Gary created Harbr.

Anthony couldn’t have found a better partner than Gary Butler to build Harbr with. Gary, co-founder and CEO of the business, is an alumnus of Pivotal Software, a business that went public in 2018 and was acquired last year by VMWare for $2.7bn. Both Gary and Anthony have over 15 years’ experience of building and delivering data systems as vendors, and in-house, for companies like HSBC.

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Harbr’s co-founder and CEO Gary Butler

But Gary isn’t just a seasoned entrepreneur; he is, most importantly, an inspirational leader. While Harbr may be early on its journey, it has assembled a truly incredible team. If there was a Hall of Fame in data, Harbr is already in it. Its Chairman Leo Spiegel and Head of Sales Bill Serino also hail from Pivotal, having been instrumental to the business’ tremendous success. Amy Chalfen, the COO, spent more than a decade at Experian and OpenReach, and has lived and breathed the data problem Harbr is solving on a daily basis. The list goes on, and permeates every level of the business: during our diligence, we met many a rising star, who are, no doubt, the data founders of tomorrow.

Now, three-year-old Harbr counts one of the largest data owners in the world, Moody’s, as well as numerous Fortune 500 companies among its clients. Thanks to Harbr, the “data projects’’ we all talked excitedly about while vaunting Big Data five years ago are now happening. The Christmas trees are lighting up.

This funding round will enable the Harbr team to go even harder and faster, with growth across the US very much front and centre. Gary and Anthony will be focusing on attracting and retaining the highest calibre of people, in sales and marketing and beyond (we are hiring!), and continuing to invest in product so that it always delivers an amazing experience for their users.

Truly moving on from the picks and shovels era in data means automation — full, at-scale automation. With data, ushering this in means building not just a new way of working with it, but a new way of thinking about it. This is the paradigm of the enterprise data exchange — for evolving beyond marketplaces and exchanging value — and we are so excited to be partnering with the Harbr team as they grow and continue to define this category.

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