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Why We Invested in Arctic Wolf – Ending Cyber Risk

Adams Street

Dec 03, 2020 Insights

Adams Street is excited to announce our follow-on investment in Arctic Wolf, a SaaS-based security operations platform that allows businesses of all sizes to dramatically improve their security posture without adding costly cybersecurity professionals.

Massive Market Need

Ending cyber risk is an audacious goal. The velocity at which large-scale cybersecurity breaches garner news headlines is accelerating. Especially in recent months, cybercrime has been up as businesses are increasingly vulnerable with employees working remotely. The common solution has been to deploy new cybersecurity tools and see what sticks. After all, there is no shortage of products in the market. This strategy, however, typically creates new challenges for security teams: excessive alerting, complexity of managing myriad products, and difficulty in hiring security professionals to actually run the show. As Arctic Wolf CEO, Brian NeSmith, observes, “organizations are realizing that they don’t have a tools problem, but an operational one”.

Organizations are realizing that they don’t have a tools problem, but an operational one.

— Brian NeSmith, CEO of Arctic Wolf

The major challenge of implementing a comprehensive security program is operationalizing disparate sources of information and responding appropriately to security threats. At the center of this challenge is an organization’s security operations center (SOC), which refers to the people, processes, and technologies that a company puts in place to detect and respond to cybersecurity threats. SOCs are critical to modern security architectures yet are expensive to configure, complicated to operate, and require a significant human capital investment. This challenge has given rise to a category of businesses offering Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services or a “SOC-as-a-Service”, which allow organizations to add 24/7 threat monitoring, detection, and response via a turnkey solution. According to Gartner, 25% of organizations will be using MDR services by 2025.

Superior AI-Based Solution

Arctic Wolf’s cloud-native security operations solution is leading the pack within the MDR space. The platform integrates with a customer’s existing tech stack to collect over 65 billion events daily across cloud, network, and endpoint. Using advanced AI, Arctic Wolf correlates all of these captured events with industry-leading threat intelligence to identify possible behavioral patterns of a cyberattack. From there, it’s time to act. Arctic Wolf has a dedicated “Concierge Team” of security operations specialists that work 24/7 to triage alerts, manage threats, and offer guidance on how a customer can mitigate issues in the future. The product is easy to implement, effective, and can be the difference in preventing a cyber breach. Arctic Wolf continues to innovate and broaden their product offering to include capabilities like risk management and cloud monitoring. The effectiveness of the platform has underpinned tremendous growth for the Company, which saw 106% YoY growth in subscription revenue and 301% YoY growth in the number of customers using multiple solutions.

The effectiveness of the platform has underpinned tremendous growth for the Company, which saw 106% YoY growth in subscription revenue and 301% YoY growth in the number of customers using multiple solutions

Deeply Experienced Management Team

It is rare to meet a cybersecurity executive that brings as much experience and industry vision as NeSmith, CEO and co-founder of Arctic Wolf. Scaling cybersecurity companies is not new to him. Previously, he served as CEO of Blue Coat Systems, a leading provider of content and web security. As CEO, he oversaw Blue Coat’s IPO, acquired 8 companies, and grew the business from $5mm annual revenue to $500mm revenue and 1,300+ employees. Brian has surrounded himself with a team of experienced executives with deep security expertise. The management team brings a wealth of experience from other leading companies such as Cylance, CrowdStrike, Code42, and FireEye. When Adams Street originally invested in Arctic Wolf in 2018, we knew that they were up to something special. NeSmith and team continue to impress with their product vision and execution. If there is any company that can end cyber risk, Adams Street believes that Arctic Wolf stands the best chance.

Important Considerations: This information (the “Paper”) is provided for educational purposes only and is not investment advice or an offer or sale of any security or investment product or investment advice. Offerings are made only pursuant to a private offering memorandum containing important information. Statements in this Paper are made as of the date of this Paper unless stated otherwise, and there is no implication that the information contained herein is correct as of any time subsequent to such date. All information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable and current, but accuracy cannot be guaranteed. References herein to Adams Street Partners’ portfolio companies are not to be considered a recommendation or solicitation for any such company. Projections or forward-looking statements contained in the Paper are only estimates of future results or events that are based upon assumptions made at the time such projections or statements were developed or made; actual results may be significantly different from the projections. Also, general economic factors, which are not predictable, can have a material impact on the reliability of projections or forward-looking statements.

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IK portfolio company Klingel medical metal acquires puracon GmbH from SHS, a medical technology investo

ik-investment-partners

SHS Gesellschaft für Beteiligungsmanagement mbH, based in Tübingen, is selling its shares in puracon GmbH to Klingel medical metal GmbH, a portfolio company of IK Investment Partners. With 600 employees, Klingel Group is one of the leading companies in the field of precision machining of high-strength materials such as stainless steel and titanium for the production of medical technology products made of metal. The purchase of puracon allows Klingel to benefit from valuable synergies as contract developer, manufacturer and packer and offer its worldwide medical technology customers a complete range of services based on the “one-stop-shop” principle. This is already the third acquisition for Klingel since IK Investment Partners acquired a stake in 2018.

SHS Gesellschaft für Beteiligungsmanagement mbH, based in Tübingen, has been active as an investor in the field of medical technology and life sciences for more than two decades. This makes SHS one of the most experienced investment companies in this sector currently investing from SHS fund V.

At the end of 2015, SHS took a stake in puracon GmbH based in Rosenheim. As a full-service partner for the medtech industry, puracon offers efficient packaging and validation solutions for medical technology products: primarily implants and instruments. Thus, puracon is part of the validated process chain of implants and the final station before the sterile product is used for patients in the hospital.

Sascha Alilovic, Managing Partner of SHS, says: “With Klingel medical metal, puracon is able to continue to pursue a targeted course of growth. Klingel thinks about the long-term. The company has been in the market since 1986 and is today one of the leading suppliers in its field. Our goal was to support puracon on the road to profitable growth. We’ve achieved this, and now it’s time to ignite the next stage – and Klingel is the perfect partner for this.”

Ralf Petrawitz, Managing Partner and CEO of Klingel, plans to significantly expand the group’s offering for medical technology customers worldwide on the basis of this acquisition. “puracon is a very good addition to an already extensive product range for our demanding customers from the medical technology sector. As a result, we are now able to offer services in the field of validation and packaging within the Klingel Group. These factors enable us to specifically strengthen our competitive position and make us fit for the future.”

Ruth Gessner, Managing Director of puracon, is also pleased with this development: “Together with SHS, we as a puracon team have been able to significantly expand our customer base over the last five years, thereby generating strong growth. With Klingel Group, we will take the next step and achieve synergies that will benefit both our customers and our employees. We look forward to working with them.”

For further questions, please contact:

IK Investment Partners
Charles Barker Communications GmbH
Tobias Eberle
Telefon +49 69 794090 24

Klingel medical metal
Ralf Petrawitz
Telefon +49 7231 6519 0 

SHS Gesellschaft für Beteiligungsmanagement mbH
Regine Hujer
Bismarckstraße 12
72072 Tübingen
Telefon +49 7071/9196-100
tuebingen@shs-capital.eu

About IK Investment Partners

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is a pan-European private equity firm with a focus on investments in the Nordic regions, the DACH countries, Benelux and France. IK has received more than EUR 13 billion in capital commitments since 1989 and has invested in over 140 companies. IK supports high-growth companies with further potential for international expansion and add-on acquisitions. For more information: www.ikinvest.com

About Klingel medical metal:

Klingel has been a leading European company in the field of precision technology for more than 30 years with a strategic focus on the medical technology sector. With more than 600 employees, Klingel focuses on the processing of complex metal components and instruments made of titanium and stainless steel. Klingel provides the highest possible technical quality while maintaining aesthetic precision. For more information: www.klingel-med.de

About SHS Gesellschaft für Beteiligungsmanagement mbH:

SHS Gesellschaft für Beteiligungsmanagement based in Tübingen invests in medical technology and life sciences companies with a focus on expansion financing, changes in the shareholder structure and succession scenarios. SHS acquires both minority and majority stakes. Founded in 1993, the company is an experienced industry investor and supports the growth of its portfolio companies through a network of cooperations. This includes the introduction of new products, dealing with regulatory issues and gaining a foothold in additional markets, among other things. European investors in SHS funds include pension funds, strategic investors, funds of funds, family offices, entrepreneurs and the SHS management team. The company is a registered AIFM and makes equity investment of up to EUR 30 million. Volumes exceeding this limit can be implemented with a network of co-investors. SHS is currently investing from its fifth fund. The fund has received capital commitments of more than EUR 130 million. For more information: http://www.shs-capital.eu

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Fairfax announces sale of Riverstone Europe to CVC Strategic Opportunities II

02 Dec 2020

OMERS has also agreed to sell all of its interests in RiverStone Europe as part of the transaction

Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited (“Fairfax”) (TSX: FFH and FFH.U) announces that it has entered into a binding agreement with CVC Capital Partners (“CVC”) to sell all of its interests in RiverStone Europe to CVC Strategic Opportunities Fund II. OMERS, the pension plan for Ontario’s municipal employees, has also agreed to sell all of its interests in RiverStone Europe as part of the transaction.

The purchase price to be received by Fairfax on closing of the transaction is approximately US$750 million. Fairfax will also be entitled to receive up to US$235.7 million post-closing under a contingent value instrument. Luke Tanzer will remain the Managing Director of RiverStone Europe and Nick Bentley, the Chief Executive Officer of the RiverStone Group, will remain on the board of RiverStone Europe post-closing.

After closing, RiverStone Europe will also operate under the name RiverStone International and will seek to continue its successful track record of acquisitions and growth led by its existing management team.

“We are very pleased to enter into this transaction with CVC,” said Prem Watsa, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fairfax. “RiverStone Europe is an industry leader in run-off insurance services, and CVC’s scale and vision will give RiverStone Europe, under the continued leadership of Luke and his management team, the opportunity to further grow the business. Nick and Luke are also fully supportive of this transaction, based on their strong beliefs that it was the best way for RiverStone Europe to continue to grow and pursue run-off transactions. We wish Luke and all of the employees at Riverstone Europe much success in the future. Fairfax remains committed to continuing to grow its other European businesses, including its Lloyd’s of London activities.”

“I am extremely happy to partner with CVC in this next chapter of our development,” said Luke Tanzer, Managing Director of RiverStone Europe. “This transaction will provide us with a runway for further growth as we continue to offer the most trusted and effective run-off solutions in the insurance market. We look forward to joining the CVC family and benefitting from their deep experience of financial services, global network and long term pool of capital.”

“As one of the largest global consolidators of non-life run-off insurance books, with a leading position in the UK and Lloyd’s market, embedded cash flows and a predictable financial profile, RiverStone Europe is ideally suited to CVC’s Strategic Opportunities platform, which specializes in backing established businesses in stable markets that have long term growth ambitions,” said Peter Rutland, Managing Partner and Head of Financial Services at CVC. “We have got to know RiverStone and Fairfax over many years, and are delighted to now have the opportunity to work with Luke Tanzer and his experienced team.”

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including various regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in early 2021.

Fairfax is a holding company which, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance and the associated investment management.

CVC is making this acquisition through Strategic Opportunities Fund II, a vehicle designed to invest in high-quality businesses that are suited to longer hold investment horizons.

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PDFTron Acquires PDF Editing and Translation Innovator Iceni Technology

Acquisition Adds EMEA Footprint and 11,000 Global Customers, Deepens PDF Editing and Translation Product Offering

Market-leading provider of document technology solutions for software developers, PDFTron Systems Inc., today announces the acquisition of Norwich, UK-based Iceni Technology Ltd., specialists in PDF editing and translation software and producers of a series of firsts in the field of PDF manipulation.

PDFTron Founder and CTO Ivan Nincic stated, “At PDFTron, we partner with innovative companies that are leaders in their fields and offer superior value propositions to their customers. With Iceni, we’re excited to bring on an incredible team with over 15 years of developer experience innovating PDF editing and automated PDF translation. Both companies stand to benefit from each other’s strengths as we combine our offerings to power the next generation of document processing applications.”

“With PDFTron’s scale and broad platform, we can now provide our 11,000 customers worldwide greater value in terms of access to hundreds of unique PDFTron SDK features, top-quality rendering performance, and market-leading support service and responsiveness,” stated Iceni Co-Founder and Director Simon Crowfoot. “We also see synergies in the document understanding field, where our advanced PDF editing and translation features naturally augment PDFTron’s content extraction, document reflow, form and invoice recognition, and next-gen search capabilities using Deep Learning and AI.”

The Iceni acquisition marks PDFTron’s entry into the European market and builds on recent acquisitions of North American enterprise document software providers ActivePDF and BCL Technologies earlier this year. PDFTron continues to be engaged in a global search for best-in-class technology to add to its growing, end-to-end document SDK platform, including the #1-ranked commercial PDF SDK.

With PDFTron’s planned integration of the trailblazing Iceni Infix PDF Editor and its Infix TransPDF functionality, PDFTron customers can now look forward to giving their users a deep Word processor-style editing experience on PDFs and accurate, push-button translations of PDFs in 60+ languages across all platforms.

About Iceni Technology Ltd.

Formed in 1996 with a background in pre-press, newspapers and PostScript, today, Iceni Technology is an established software development company based in the city of Norwich in the UK. Iceni continues to innovate in translation and web-based PDF interaction, having previously produced a series of firsts in the field of PDF manipulation. Its products on desktop, server and web hosts, including the Infix PDF editor, are translated into most European languages for its over 11,000 professional, corporate, educator, and estate agent customers in 39 different countries. For more information, visit www.iceni.com.

About PDFTron Systems Inc.

Headquartered in Vancouver, BC, PDFTron is a premier global provider of high-performance document processing technology serving customers across a broad spectrum of industries. PDFTron’s market-leading SDK drives digital transformation and powers next generation software applications with dynamic document viewing, annotation, processing, and conversion capabilities, as well as advanced features such as document understanding, data extraction, and redaction. PDFTron technology supports all major platforms and dozens of unique file types, including support for PDF, MS Office, and CAD formats. For more information, visit www.pdftron.com.

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Novacap Acquires Logibec

Novacap

Montreal, December 2, 2020 – Novacap, one of Canada’s leading private equity firms, in partnership with Investissement Québec, today announced that it has acquired Logibec, a Montreal-based healthcare software company. The transaction brings back Logibec to Canadian ownership.

 

« We are grateful for the enthusiastic support of Novacap and its partners in this transaction, which not only brings our company back to Canadian ownership, but also positions us for expansion outside of North America. Our most recent breakthrough in foreign markets confirms that Logibec has invested in the right growth areas such as data management solutions. The Novacap team understands our Canadian heritage and is well positioned to support us in the next phase of our development. »

Marc BrunetCEO, Logibec

« Novacap has always been committed to fostering entrepreneurship and innovation right here in Quebec, and Logibec has epitomized that since inception. Novacap has a long history of successfully partnering with Canadian companies and helping them grow significantly. We are very excited to lead this investment alongside Investissement Québec and management in Logibec, a flagship provider of IT and software solutions to the Canadian healthcare ecosystem and support the company in its international expansion »

Pascal TremblayPresident, CEO and Managing Partner, Novacap

Founded in 1982, Logibec is one of Canada’s largest healthcare technology companies and is entirely dedicated to contributing to the better delivery of patient care and to assisting healthcare managers in their day to day operations through technology.

“We are grateful for the enthusiastic support of Novacap and its partners in this transaction, which not only brings our company back to Canadian ownership, but also positions us for expansion outside of North America,” said Marc Brunet, CEO, Logibec.

“Our most recent breakthrough in foreign markets confirms that Logibec has invested in the right growth areas such as data management solutions. The Novacap team understands our Canadian heritage and is well positioned to support us in the next phase of our development.”

“Novacap has always been committed to fostering entrepreneurship and innovation right here in Quebec, and Logibec has epitomized that since inception,” said Pascal Tremblay, President, CEO and Managing Partner, Novacap. “Novacap has a long history of successfully partnering with Canadian companies and helping them grow significantly. We are very excited to lead this investment alongside Investissement Québec and management in Logibec, a flagship provider of IT and software solutions to the Canadian healthcare ecosystem and support the company in its international expansion.”

“Logibec has a long history of working in collaboration with private equity sponsors, and as their new partners, we are thrilled to support management’s growth initiatives and to contribute improving healthcare by bringing innovative solutions to the market,” said Eric Desrosiers, Senior Partner, Novacap. “Our investor group is committed to providing Logibec all the resources it needs to develop new solutions and expand its footprint in new geographies.”

“The investment that our government is making in Logibec is strategic for Québec’s position in this highly competitive sector. It will enable the company to remain among the leaders in information systems for the health and social services sector. The company will thus be able to focus on developing solutions essential to the quality of care offered to patients, particularly in hospitals,” said Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of the Economy and Innovation.

“We’re proud to be involved in this major investment, which is helping to bring Logibec’s ownership back to Québec and consolidate the vitality of our healthcare IT ecosystem. For more than four decades, the company has applied its expertise in our healthcare institutions, standing out because of its leading-edge technologies. Alongside solid financial partners like Novacap, Investissement Québec plans to continue supporting the players and key sectors of our economy in order to spotlight our know-how and grow our investments and exports,” said Guy LeBlanc, President and CEO of Investissement Québec.

Fasken Martineau Dumoulin LLP, Ernst Young LLP, Tectonic Advisory Services Inc., Crosslake Technologies, LLC and National Bank Financial Inc. acted as advisors to Novacap.

Logibec was formerly a portfolio company of GI Partners.

 

About Novacap

Founded in 1981, Novacap is a leading Canadian private equity firm with CA$3.6 billion of assets under management. Its distinct investment approach, based on deep operational expertise and an active partnership with entrepreneurs, has helped accelerate growth and create long-term value for its numerous portfolio companies. With an experienced management team and substantial financial resources, Novacap is well positioned to continue building world-class businesses. Backed by leading global institutional investors, Novacap’s deals typically include leveraged buyouts, management buyouts, add-on acquisitions, IPOs, and privatizations. Over the last 39 years, Novacap has invested in more than 90 companies and completed more than 140 add-on acquisitions. Novacap has offices in Brossard, Quebec and Toronto, Ontario. For more information, please visit www.novacap.ca.

About Logibec

Headquartered in Montreal, Canada for nearly 40 years, Logibec deploys information systems that span the clinical, operational, and business needs of complex healthcare organizations. Logibec’s clients are also empowered to improve and innovate by utilizing our industry-leading suite of actionable analytics solutions and advisory services.

For more information, visit www.logibec.com.

About Investissement Québec

Investissement Québec’s mission is to play an active role in Québec’s economic development by spurring business innovation, entrepreneurship and business acquisitions, as well as growth in investment and exports. Operating in all the province’s administrative regions, the Corporation supports the creation and growth of businesses of all sizes with investments and customized financial solutions. It also assists businesses by providing consulting services and other support measures, including technological assistance available from Investissement Québec – CRIQ. In addition, through Investissement Québec International, the Corporation also prospects for talent and foreign investment and assists businesses with export activities.

 

For further information: Novacap: Alexandra Troubetzkoy, NOVACAP, +1 450-651-5000 ext.291, atroubetzkoy@novacap.ca

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Speechmatics wins the Scale-up Award at Barclays’ High Growth and Entrepreneurs National Awards

IQ Capital

Speecmatics, based at Cambridge Science Park, has won the Scale-up Award at the Barclays’ annual High Growth and Entrepreneur National Awards ceremony.

The awards were announced by actor, television presenter and radio DJ, Reggie Yates, during a live stream virtual event last week.

A key note speech was given by businesswoman, entrepreneur and TV Dragon, Deborah Meaden.

Speechmatics powers applications that require mission-critical, accurate speech recognition through its any-context speech recognition engine. Speechmatics’ speech recognition technology is used by enterprises in scenarios such as contact centers, legal, compliance, eDiscovery, security, media & entertainment and software. Speechmatics processes millions of hours of transcription worldwide every month in 30+ languages.

Having pioneered machine learning voice engineering, Speechmatics is enabling companies to build applications that detect and transcribe voice in any context and in real-time. Its neural networks consider acoustics, languages, dialects, multiple speakers, punctuation, capitalization, context and implicit meanings.

Katy Wigdahl, CEO, Speechmatics (pictured) said: “It has been a phenomenally challenging year for businesses across the world. Winning the scale-up of the year award for consistent and rapid growth means even more to our business in testing times. We have focused on building an innovative, automated technology that is vital to the growth and scale of many use cases and markets which has become even more critical during the pandemic.”

Juliet Rogan, National Head of High Growth at Barclays, said: “The awards are a celebration of the exceptional innovation and leadership entrepreneurs show, disproportionately driving job growth, attracting investment, and creating innovative products and services. In what has been a difficult time for businesses due to the coronavirus outbreak it is even more important than ever we celebrate and recognise their achievements. Entrepreneurs are fundamental to the UK’s economic competitive advantage, that shape our todays as well as tomorrows.”

A national judging panel made up of key industry leaders and influencers selected the overall national winners.

The awards bring the full entrepreneurial community together. This year, for the first time, Barclaycard joined the event alongside Barclays Rise and Eagle Labs as partners of the Awards. This group wide initiative started five years ago and forms an integral part of its support for entrepreneurship across the bank.

Originally published here.

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Gryphon’s Smile Brands Completes Acquisition Of Midwest Dental

Gryphon Investors

Irvine, CA – December 2, 2020 —

 

Smile Brands Inc. announced today that it completed the acquisition of Midwest Dental, a Dental Services Organization (“DSO”) with over 230 offices located primarily in the upper Midwest and New England regions. Smile Brands is a portfolio company of Gryphon Investors (“Gryphon”), a leading middle-market private equity firm based in San Francisco, CA. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The combined company is one of the largest DSOs in the country, representing 650 offices and over 8,000 employees, including 2,200 dentists and hygienists operating in 30 states.

Steve Bilt, CEO of Smile Brands, said, “Our combination with Midwest Dental is a game changer for Smile Brands, and highly impactful to our industry, increasing Smile Brands’ scale and footprint by over 50% while furthering our mission of delivering ‘Smiles for Everyone.’ Midwest Dental is a top-10 DSO nationwide and a long-standing market leader. We believe the combined company will continue to deliver best-in-class support to dental practices, and thereby patient care to individuals and families nationwide, and be ideally positioned for future growth.”

Midwest Dental, founded in 1968 and based in Mondovi, WI, provides general dentistry, hygiene, and specialty dental services through a network of over 230 offices. With a staff of 2,300, Midwest Dental operates in 17 states through four brands: Midwest Dental, Mondovi Dental, Merit Dental, and Mountain Dental. Smile Brands will retain Midwest Dental’s brand identity and strong company culture, and Smile Brands’ management is very excited to work with the talented leadership team at Midwest Dental to deliver best in class support to the Midwest Dental and Smile Brands clinical teams. The combined company will continue to provide full-service administrative support to the company’s affiliated dental practices, including recruiting, purchasing, payroll, accounting, IT, billing, facilities management, and marketing.

Dr. Robert Crim, Smile Brands’ Chief Dental Officer, added, “It has certainly been a challenging year globally. The early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically impacted dental practices nationwide, including both Smile Brands and Midwest Dental. Both companies have instituted exceptional safety measures, which allowed Smile Brands and Midwest Dental to re-open rapidly following the initial stages of the pandemic and provide needed care to patients with acute dental needs. Dentistry is now correctly viewed as an essential service and vital component of the healthcare services landscape for American families, and we expect the industry to experience continued strong fundamentals and steady volumes.”

Luke Schroeder, Gryphon Deal Partner and Co-Head of Gryphon’s Healthcare Group, said, “The transaction is highly strategic for Smile Brands, which has a successful 20-year track record of growth through M&A. We believe that the pace of consolidation in the dental industry will quicken as a result of the pandemic, and Smile Brands is ideally positioned to support an increasing number of high-quality dental providers based on its unique history of successfully completing large corporate combinations.”

Kirkland & Ellis provided legal advice to Gryphon and Smile Brands. Harris Williams provided financial advice and Willkie Farr & Gallagher provided legal advice to Midwest Dental.

About Midwest Dental
Founded in 1968 and based in Mondovi, WI, Midwest Dental (www.midwest-dental.com) is a top-10 nationwide DSO with over 230 dental practices under 4 regional brands across 17 states. The company is focused on providing general dentistry, hygiene, and specialty dental services through four brands: Midwest Dental, Mondovi Dental, Merit Dental, and Mountain Dental.

About Smile Brands
Based in Irvine California, Smile Brands Inc. is one of the largest providers of support services to dental groups in the United States. Smile Brands provides comprehensive business support services through exclusive long-term agreements with affiliate dental groups, so dentists can spend more time caring for their patients and less time on the administrative, marketing, and financial aspects of operating a dental practice. The organization was founded in 1998 by a management team that included co-founder and CEO Steve Bilt and CFO Brad Schmidt and supports approximately 420 affiliated practices, with more than 700 dentists across 18 states. For more information, visit www.smilebrands.com.

About Gryphon Investors
Based in San Francisco, Gryphon Investors is a leading private equity firm focused on growing and enhancing mid-market companies in partnership with management. The firm has managed over $5 billion of equity investments and capital since 1997. Gryphon targets making equity investments of $50 million to $300 million in portfolio companies with sales ranging from approximately $100 million to $600 million. Gryphon prioritizes investment opportunities where it can form strong partnerships with owners and executives to build leading companies, utilizing Gryphon’s capital, specialized professional resources, and operational expertise. For more information, visit www.gryphoninvestors.com.

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Bizzabo Raises $138 Million to Power the Hybrid Future of Professional Events

Insight Partners

Investment led by Insight Partners will help the company meet global demand amid COVID-19 & beyond

NEW YORK, Dec. 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —  Bizzabo, the world’s leading Event Success Platform, today announced it has raised $138 million in Series E funding. The investment is led by Insight Partners, with participation from previous investors, Viola Growth, Next47, and OurCrowd. Bizzabo will use the investment to meet surging demand for its platform globally and expand its category-leading capabilities as COVID-19 reshapes the future of the professional events industry. With the round, Bizzabo sets a new precedent for the largest private investment in an event technology platform.Without in-person events, organizations have turned to virtual conferences and trade shows to connect with customers and grow their business. With that, virtual events have enabled organizers to safely reach a wide audience, ensure event ROI, and deliver valuable data points to shape future strategies. Given the benefits, even with a COVID-19 vaccine imminent, virtual events aren’t going away anytime soon. Looking forward, events that combine in-person experiences with digital components will become the new normal.“The future of professional events isn’t virtual-only,” said Eran Ben-Shushan, CEO & Co-Founder of Bizzabo. “Our data shows very clearly that while virtual events have major benefits, attendees and businesses want to get back to live events. To stay relevant, marketers and event organizers will need to implement a hybrid strategy that blends together the best parts of virtual and in-person experiences.”Bizzabo’s event success platform empowers organizations to manage, measure, and grow professional events across the globe and in any format — virtual, in-person, or hybrid.“COVID-19 has permanently transformed the professional events category,” said Matt Gatto, a Managing Director at Insight Partners, who will join the Bizzabo board of directors. “Bizzabo’s impressive growth and momentum began pre-pandemic and accelerated during it as they launched the industry’s first end-to-end event technology solution. Their pedigree in both in-person and virtual events and their impressive execution capabilities have them well-positioned to lead this rapidly evolving space. We are excited to partner with their leadership team and to support them in this new phase of growth.”

In the past year, Bizzabo has seen revenue explode over 100 percent. This is powered by a substantial shift upmarket in 2020, with a significant portion of its customer base coming from the enterprise segment. Bizzabo has powered events for the world’s leading Fortune 100 in eCommerce, technology, education and media. Bizzabo’s Event Success Platform is used to support hybrid, virtual, and in-person professional events for enterprise and mid-market organizations across industries and verticals.

“Our platform has seen unprecedented demand this year,” said Ben-Shushan. “Compared to the year prior, the number of events organized through us has grown 65 percent. Additionally, the number of attendees registering for events with Bizzabo has grown 500 percent, while overall usage is up 150x. With a vaccine likely and more hybrid events in the future, we anticipate even greater growth. Bizzabo has been the category leader, experiencing hyper-growth both pre-pandemic and during the virtual transition, we are excited to continue to lead the market forward by doubling down on product, technology, and user experience, to help organizations unlock the power of hybrid experiences.”

To meet global demand for its platform, Bizzabo will use its investment to build a comprehensive technology that successfully integrates the experiences of virtual and in-person — for both organizers and attendees. The company will also expand its go-to-market operations and triple its engineering, product, and experience teams with the opening of two new offices in Europe in the first half of 2021. In addition, Bizzabo is looking to hire over a hundred new employees, globally, in 2021.

“This investment, led by ScaleUp software investor Insight Partners, is a testament to how Bizzabo is leading the charge in the future of event technology,” added Ben-Shushan. “Events have changed overnight and event technology needs to move as quickly.”

About Bizzabo

Bizzabo is the only Event Success Platform. Bizzabo’s all-in-one event software enables in-person, virtual, and hybrid events to deliver unique attendee experiences through intelligent and intent-based personalized engagement. We help companies measure, manage and scale events towards key business outcomes, empowering every organizer, marketer, exhibitor, and attendee to unleash the power of professional events. The company was founded by Boaz Katz, Alon Alroy, and Eran Ben-Shushan, and has more than 175 employees in its New York, Tel-Aviv and Kyiv offices. For more information on Bizzabo, visit www.bizzabo.com or follow us on Twitter @bizzabo

About Insight Partners

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

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Shop-Ware Announces $15 Million in Series A Funding Led by Insight Partners

Insight Partners

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Shop-Ware, the automotive aftermarket’s premier cloud-based shop management software for independent repair shops, announced today that it has secured $15M in series A funding, led by Insight Partners, a leading global venture capital and private equity firm. The investment will support Shop-Ware’s continued growth, accelerate its innovation, and allow for a more aggressive go-to-market.

Carolyn Coquillette founded Shop-Ware out of her own repair shop in San Francisco to provide the transparency and sophistication that customers needed and that other systems lacked.

Shop-Ware handles everything for the next generation of auto repair, from digital customer communication to paperless shop operations, with an expansive product offering designed to reduce or remove the human effort needed to run the business. Repair shops experience 20% efficiency gains, higher gross profit, and a 12% increase in sales than over the phone. Their customers consistently boast increased satisfaction, mentioning the software in online reviews.

“Repair shops have to adapt quickly to the increased complexity of the cars they service. Shop-Ware brings automated, customized solutions to allow shops to thrive in business and inspire their customers,” said Shop-Ware founder and CEO Carolyn Coquillette. “Our team is proud to serve the community of hard-working, intelligent professionals that make auto repair possible, and Insight Partners shares our passion for delivering best-in-class products and services that this industry needs to transform.”

“With Shop-Ware, repair shop owners and technicians can maximize operational efficiencies and customer interaction using the company’s cloud-based management solution,” said Nikhil Sachdev, Managing Director at Insight Partners, who is joining Shop-Ware’s Board of Directors. “We are excited to partner with Shop-Ware to further scale their best-in-class product and capitalize on this growing market opportunity.”

The investment will be used to expand Shop-Ware’s engineering, support, and sales teams, to ramp the number of repair shops adopting the platform and speeding their onboarding period.

About Shop-Ware

Founded in 2013, Shop-Ware delivers professional-grade innovation to independent automotive service providers. As the industry’s premier enterprise-grade SaaS platform for shop management, Shop-Ware is committed to developing sophisticated tools to help the automotive aftermarket thrive and grow. Industry-first features include fully digital, cloud-based repair orders with native vehicle inspections, rich media, and customer live chat; real-time shop workflow and “expeditor” dispatch; native parts allocation and tracking for each job in progress; parts gross-profit “optimizer” that automatically seeks and attains a parts GP target; advanced analytics across unlimited repair facilities, and much more. For more information on Shop-Ware, visit www.shop-ware.com.

About Insight Partners

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

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AURELIUS Equity Opportunities completely repays its 2015/20 convertible bond

Aurelius Capital

Munich, December 2, 2020 – AURELIUS Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA (ISIN DE000A0JK2A8) completely repaid its 2015/20 convertible bond (ISIN: DE000A168544) maturing on December 1, 2020 to the bond creditors. The repayment amounted to 100 percent of the aggregate principal amount plus interest for the past 12 months.

The aggregate principal amount of the AURELIUS convertible bond was originally EUR 166.3 million; this amount was reduced to EUR 103.1 million in July 2018 as a result of conversions.

“We are seeing a lot of interesting acquisition candidates right now. After the repayment of the convertible bond we are and remain very well equipped and funded to pursue opportunities we currently see in the market,” said Matthias Täubl, CEO of AURELIUS Equity Opportunities. “As a general rule we keep all financing options under consideration.”

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