Longship Fund II acquires GEXCON AS

Longship

Longship Fund II (“Longship”) has as of February 19th, 2021 acquired 100% of the shares in Gexcon AS from NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS (“NORCE”).

Gexcon is a global leader in process safety software, safety consulting and testing services, and specializes in analysis of dispersion, explosion and fire related risk and consequences. Based on experience developed in cooperation with the oil and gas industry, Gexcon has become the preferred supplier of safety studies also to the global Hydrogen industry, as well as other industries requiring high-end safety solutions. In 2020, consolidated revenues were NOK 180 million and Gexcon employed a total of 147 employees. Gexcon is headquartered in Bergen, Norway, with 11 subsidiaries and branch offices across the globe.

“Gexcon has developed world class software and services, based on decades of significant R&D investments and achievements. Longship has thoroughly enjoyed the process of getting to know the people and the company and we are looking forward to supporting Gexcon, as it is now further commercialising its products and services for a global market”, says Bernt Østhus, lead partner for Longship’s investment in Gexcon.

“This transaction will enable Gexcon to further strengthen the company’s wide range of software products and consulting services and expand its global presence. In this way, NORCE will conclude many years of guidance and ownership with a lasting contribution towards reaching the vision for Gexcon, which is to make the world a safer place.”, says Christopher Giertsen, Executive Vice President Commercialisation, NORCE.

Longship is a transformational growth investor, developing successful lower mid-market companies into mature growth businesses with institutional and strategic value. We aim to create a scalable platform for sustainable growth and profitability in our portfolio companies and support them on their accelerated growth journey. Longship is targeting excess return from its transformational approach.

Management and employees will become owners in Gexcon AS, as part of a broad Management Investment Program.

Longship was advised by McKinsey & Co, Schjødt, Deloitte, Simula Consulting and Lighthouse8. NORCE was advised by Alpha Corporate Finance, Thommessen, KPMG and Bearingpoint.

For more information, please contact:

Bernt Østhus, Partner, Longship AS
+47 93 44 99 10
bernt.osthus@longship.no

Christopher Giertsen, Executive Vice President Commercialization, NORCE,
+47 957 52 125
chgi@norceresearch.no

About Longship:

Longship is a Norwegian private equity investor established by a group of experienced investment professionals in 2015. Longship identifies and invest in companies with significant growth potential in the Norwegian lower mid-market and are applying a transformational growth approach. The investment team currently consists of eleven professionals, making it the leading player in the Norwegian lower mid-market. Longship closed its second fund in November 2020 with commitments of NOK 1.7 billion.

About NORCE:

NORCE is a Norwegian research institute, with expertise in a wide range of fields and strong communities of knowledge. NORCE deliver research and innovation in energy, health care, climate, the environment, society and technology. The solutions from NORCE address key challenges for the society and contribute to value creation for numerous public and private organisations on local, national, and global levels. Commercialisation of results from research and innovation is an integrated part of the core activities in NORCE. At the corporate level (2020), NORCE had about 1000 employees, and a turnover of about NOK 1.4 billion.

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Investment of $58M Endorses vArmour as Leader in Accelerating Application Relationship Management Market

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Nightdragon

AllegisCyber Capital and NightDragon lead round to validate market demand for relationship-based application security

vArmour, the leading provider of Application Relationship Management, today announced it has raised $58M in its latest round of funding to accelerate company growth. The latest, oversubscribed round is led by AllegisCyber Capital and NightDragon, with support from existing investors Standard Chartered Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, Telstra, Redline Capital, and EDBI. vArmour has seen strong momentum, doubling net new annual recurring revenue year over year with a trajectory to exceed that in the next fiscal year.

The year 2020 saw an ever-increasing number of enterprises worldwide moving their applications and infrastructure to hybrid cloud environments. Gartner estimates that by 2024, more than 45% of IT infrastructure spending will shift to the cloud. However, conventional tools, applications, and processes have not kept pace. Organizations still cannot “see” in real-time how people and applications interact, impeding their ability to manage risk. vArmour is focused on solving this fundamental challenge through a novel approach called Application Relationship Management. This enables organizations to visualize and control relationships between every user, every application, and across every environment to ultimately better manage risk, increase resiliency, speed application deployment — all without adding costly new infrastructure components or agents.

AllegisCyber Capital has been instrumental in steering vArmour towards its accelerated growth. “Managing risk and resiliency in the hybrid cloud is one of the most significant security challenges for enterprises,” said Bob Ackerman, Founder and Managing Director at AllegisCyber Capital. “vArmour’s platform provides the visibility, controls, and accountability necessary to actively manage these challenges and has done this for hundreds of customers. We are ecstatic to be part of their next stage of growth.”

“As applications become more complex, more distributed, and more targeted by attackers, the importance of full visibility into the relationships between applications becomes increasingly important.” said Dave DeWalt, founder of NightDragon. “vArmour’s approach to application relationship management ensures that enterprises of all sizes can continuously audit, respond, and control identity relationships to best protect their important IP, and mitigate risk to the business.”

vArmour’s focus and investment in product innovation and people are key drivers to their growth. Their latest offering, the Application Access & Identity Module, is equipping security and operations teams with unprecedented visibility and control over user access to critical applications, freeing up time and energy spent mining through thousands of relationship networks. Their new AI and ML research branch in Calgary, Canada is dramatically speeding up time to value for customers by using automation to make faster and more accurate business decisions. Investments in people will continue as they hire global go-to-market teams in Munich, Toronto, Singapore, and Melbourne, along with growing their research and development team in the Bay Area.

“Our innovation, partnerships, and overall customer momentum have been critical in helping us with our growth toward the path to the public marketplace,” said Tim Eades, CEO of vArmour. “By giving our customers unparalleled insights into their applications and the identity of each relationship, we equip them to make real-time decisions regarding their critical assets, which helps enhance both their security posture and their end-user experience.”

For more information on vArmour, please visit www.vArmour.com.

About vArmour

vArmour is the leading provider of Application Relationship Management. Enterprises around the world rely on vArmour to control operational risk, increase application resiliency and secure hybrid clouds — all while leveraging the technology they already own without adding costly new agents or infrastructure. Based in Los Altos, CA, the company was founded in 2011 and is backed by top investors including Highland Capital Partners, AllegisCyber Capital, NightDragon, Redline Capital, Citi Ventures, and Telstra. Learn more at www.vArmour.com.

About AllegisCyber Capital

AllegisCyber Capital is passionate about identifying companies and entrepreneurs developing disruptive and innovative approaches to address the crucial issues on the fast-changing cybersecurity landscape. AllegisCyber Capital uses an integrated investment platform and a game-changing strategic partnership with cybersecurity start-up studio DataTribe to give its entrepreneurs an unfair competitive advantage. DataTribe, a cybersecurity startup foundry located in Maryland, focuses on launching start-ups based on cyber domain expertise out of the intelligence community and national laboratories. Representative portfolio companies of AllegisCyber Capital include: vArmour, Shape, Prevailion, Synack, Enveil, and Dragos. www.allegiscyber.com

About NightDragon

NightDragon is an investment firm focused on investing in growth and late-stage companies within the cybersecurity, safety, security, and privacy industry. Its flexible model allows it to lead or co-invest alongside leading venture capital and private equity firms in the pursuit of driving growth and increasing shareholder value. NightDragon is unique in providing deep operational expertise in cybersecurity gained by its founders Dave DeWalt and Ken Gonzalez from years serving as senior executives leading technology companies such as Documentum, EMC, Siebel Systems (Oracle), McAfee, Mandiant, Avast, and FireEye. www.nightdragon.com

Media Contact:
Mariah Gauthier, Highwire PR
vArmour@highwirepr.com
(951) 314-0760

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CVC backs leading healthcare IT solutions provider System C

CVC Capital Partners

CVC backs leading healthcare IT solutions provider System C

11 Feb 2021

CVC Capital Partners today announced that CVC Fund VII has completed an investment in System C Healthcare and its partner company Graphnet Health.

System C provides vertical software solutions for hospitals, social care, immunisation management and population health that help to improve the quality and efficiency of patient care.

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Quadrum Capital Home Portfolio News Contact Investor Portal Nederlands Interstellar, new IT group and participation of Quadrum Investment Fund III, sees the light of day

Quadrum Capital

02-02-2021

With the launch of Interstellar Interstellar on 1 February 2021, the Netherlands can boast a new IT group. Interstellar is a joining of forces of six autonomous IT companies, each with its own quality, specialisation and identity. The basis for this participation by Quadrum Investment Fund III was laid by Quadrum Capital in 2017 with its participation in cloud expert Fundaments.

Managing Partner at Quadrum Capital, Arjan Hoop: “Since then, we have developed a strong portfolio in the IT domain. The launch of this new group is a fantastic crowning achievement. With its combination of generalists and specialists, the group has everything it needs to support customers on their digital journey at the very highest level. The independence of the companies within the group also guarantees a strong entrepreneurial DNA. In combination with their new combined strength, the Interstellar companies are able to successfully realise their ambition to grow into the most relevant IT service provider in the Netherlands.”

Read the press release regarding the launch of Interstellar below.

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Signavio to be Acquired By SAP

Apax

27 January 2021

The Apax Digital Fund (“ADF”), DTCP and Summit Partners, today announced they have agreed to sell portfolio company Signavio, a leader in the enterprise business process intelligence and process management space, to SAP. The transaction is expected to close by Q2 2021, subject to approvals by antitrust authorities. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Signavio to be Acquired By SAP

Founded in 2009, Signavio is a leading provider of SaaS-based business-process analysis and decision-management software that helps companies design, implement, analyse and manage complex processes, decisions and workflows. Signavio’s Business Process Intelligence Suite includes a centralised collaborative hub and three core product offerings : ‘Signavio Process Manager’, which allows customers to design and build process and decision models; ‘Signavio Workflow Accelerator’ which transforms business process models into standardised workflows; and ‘Signavio Process Intelligence’, which ingests transactional data from customers’ systems to analyse and optimise processes.

Following the 2019 investment round, led by ADF with participation from DTCP, Signavio has achieved high growth while continuing to deliver its innovative business transformation suite to over one million users worldwide.

Dan O’Keefe, Managing Partner of Apax Digital, said: “We are pleased to announce the sale of Signavio. When ADF invested, we backed an incredible management team, led by CEO and co-founder Gero Decker, in what we knew was a stand-out offering in an exciting space. The progress we’ve made together in partnership, against such a dynamic backdrop, is humbling to have witnessed.” Mark Beith, Partner of Apax Digital, added: “It has been a pleasure working with Gero and the whole Signavio family, we’re thrilled by the rapid progress we’ve made together, and wish them all the best for the future in partnership with SAP.”

Matthias Allgaier, Managing Director with Summit Partners, added: “Summit partnered with Signavio in 2015 as the company’s first institutional investor, and over the course of the last five years we have been fortunate to have a front row seat to this great growth story. The company has grown significantly in that time, expanding its geographic reach and impact to serve more than 1 million users across 2,000 organizations around the world. Today, we want to celebrate the vision and execution of Gero and the entire Signavio team – and to recognize the beginning of a new chapter on their growth journey.”

Thomas Preuss, Partner at DTCP, commented: “We knew Gero and his team long before we invested and always believed in their ability to deliver the strong growth and fast developments of recent years. This transaction is a testament to the great work of the team, and we are delighted that a German corporation like SAP is acquiring a German leader in Enterprise SaaS. We are happy that DTCP Growth could team up with Apax to become part of this tremendous success story.”

ENDS

About Signavio
Over 1 million users in more than 2,000 organizations worldwide rely on Signavio’s unique offering to make process part of their DNA. With its powerful mining, modelling and automation capabilities, Signavio’s Business Process Intelligence Suite is a cloud-based management platform that enables mid-size and large organizations to understand, improve and transform all of their business processes faster than ever and at scale, providing new levels of business process speed and real-time intelligence. Its intelligent decision-making tools address digital transformation, operational excellence and customer centricity, placing them at the heart of the world’s leading organizations. Headquartered in Berlin, with offices in the US, UK, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Canada, Singapore, Japan, India and Australia, Signavio has helped optimize over 2 million processes across the globe. The company is backed by Apax Digital, DTCP and Summit Partners. For more information, visit www.signavio.com.

About the Apax Digital Fund
The Apax Digital Fund specializes in growth equity and buyout investments in high-growth enterprise software, consumer internet, and technology-enabled services companies worldwide. The Apax Digital team leverages Apax Partners’ deep tech investing expertise, global platform, and specialized operating experts, to enable technology companies and their management teams to accelerate the achievement of their full potential. For further information, please visit digital.apax.com.

Over its more than 40-year history, Apax Partners has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of c.$50 billion. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For more information see: www.apax.com.

About DTCP
DTCP is an investment management firm focused on growth equity and digital infrastructure. Founded in 2015, the firm has raised more than $1 billion in funds from corporate and institutional investors and invested in over 60 companies. DTCP Growth invests in leading enterprise application and infrastructure software companies. To learn more about DTCP, please visit dtcp.capital.

About Summit Partners
Founded in 1984, Summit Partners is a global alternative investment firm that is currently managing more than $23 billion in capital dedicated to growth equity, fixed income and public equity opportunities. Summit invests across growth sectors of the economy and has invested in more than 500 companies in technology, healthcare and other growth industries. Summit maintains offices in North America and Europe and invests in companies around the world. For more information, please see www.summitpartners.com or follow on LinkedIn.

In the United States of America, Summit Partners operates as an SEC-registered investment advisor. In the United Kingdom, this document is issued by Summit Partners LLP, a firm authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Summit Partners LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with registered number OC388179 and its registered office is at 11-12 Hanover Square, London, W1S 1JJ, UK. This document is intended solely to provide information regarding Summit Partners’ potential financing capabilities for prospective portfolio companies.

Media Contacts 

Apax Partners
Katarina Sallerfors / +44 20 7666 6526 / Katarina.Sallerfors@apax.com
Luke Charalambous / +44 20 7872 6494 / Luke.Charalambous@apax.com
Matthew Goodman / James Madsen, Greenbrook | +44 20 7952 2000 | apax@greenbrookpr.com

DTCP
John Klein
john.klein@dtcp.capital
+49 160 680 9906

Summit Partners
Meg Devine
mdevine@summitpartners.com
+1 617 824 1047

 

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Signavio Acquired By SAP

DTCP

The Apax Digital Fund (“ADF”), DTCP and Summit Partners, today announced they have agreed to sell portfolio company Signavio, a leader in the enterprise business process intelligence and process management space, to SAP

The transaction is expected to close by Q2 2021, subject to approvals by antitrust authorities. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2009, Signavio is a leading provider of SaaS-based business-process analysis and decision-management software that helps companies design, implement, analyse and manage complex processes, decisions and workflows. Signavio’s Business Transformation Suite includes a centralised collaborative hub and three core product offerings : ‘Signavio Process Manager’, which allows customers to design and build process and decision models; ‘Signavio Workflow Accelerator’ which transforms business process models into standardised workflows; and ‘Signavio Process Intelligence’, which ingests transactional data from customers’ systems to analyse and optimise processes.

Following the 2019 investment round, led by ADF with participation from DTCP, Signavio has achieved high growth while continuing to deliver its innovative business transformation suite to over one million users worldwide.

Dan O’Keefe, Managing Partner of Apax Digital, said: “We are pleased to announce the sale of Signavio. When ADF invested, we backed an incredible management team, led by CEO and co-founder Gero Decker, in what we knew was a stand-out offering in an exciting space. The progress we’ve made together in partnership, against such a dynamic backdrop, is humbling to have witnessed.” Mark Beith, Partner of Apax Digital, added: “It has been a pleasure working with Gero and the whole Signavio family, we’re thrilled by the rapid progress we’ve made together, and wish them all the best for the future in partnership with SAP.”

Matthias Allgaier, Managing Director with Summit Partners, added: “Summit partnered with Signavio in 2015 as the company’s first institutional investor, and over the course of the last five years we have been fortunate to have a front row seat to this great growth story. The company has grown significantly in that time, expanding its geographic reach and impact to serve more than 1 million users across 2,000 organizations around the world. Today, we want to celebrate the vision and execution of Gero and the entire Signavio team – and to recognize the beginning of a new chapter on their growth journey.”

Thomas Preuss, Partner at DTCP, commented: “We knew Gero and his team long before we invested and always believed in their ability to deliver the strong growth and fast developments of recent years. This transaction is a testament to the great work of the team, and we are delighted that a German corporation like SAP is acquiring a German leader in Enterprise SaaS. We are happy that DTCP Growth could team up with Apax to become part of this tremendous success story.”

 

ENDS

 

About Signavio
Over 1 million users in more than 2,000 organizations worldwide rely on Signavio’s unique offering to make process part of their DNA. With its powerful mining, modelling and automation capabilities, Signavio’s Business Transformation Suite is a cloud-based management platform that enables mid-size and large organizations to understand, improve and transform all of their business processes faster than ever and at scale, providing new levels of business process speed and real-time intelligence. Its intelligent decision-making tools address digital transformation, operational excellence and customer centricity, placing them at the heart of the world’s leading organizations. Headquartered in Berlin, with offices in the US, UK, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Canada, Singapore, Japan, India and Australia, Signavio has helped optimize over 2 million processes across the globe. The company is backed by Apax Digital, DTCP and Summit Partners. For more information, visit www.signavio.com.

 

About the Apax Digital Fund
The Apax Digital Fund specializes in growth equity and buyout investments in high-growth enterprise software, consumer internet, and technology-enabled services companies worldwide. The Apax Digital team leverages Apax Partners’ deep tech investing expertise, global platform, and specialized operating experts, to enable technology companies and their management teams to accelerate the achievement of their full potential. For further information, please visit digital.apax.com.

Over its more than 40-year history, Apax Partners has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of c.$50 billion. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For more information see: www.apax.com.

 

About DTCP

DTCP is an investment management firm focused on growth equity and digital infrastructure. Founded in 2015, the firm has raised more than $1 billion in funds from corporate and institutional investors and invested in over 60 companies. DTCP Growth invests in leading enterprise application and infrastructure software companies. To learn more about DTCP, please visit dtcp.capital.

 

About Summit Partners
Founded in 1984, Summit Partners is a global alternative investment firm that is currently managing more than $23 billion in capital dedicated to growth equity, fixed income and public equity opportunities. Summit invests across growth sectors of the economy and has invested in more than 500 companies in technology, healthcare and other growth industries. Summit maintains offices in North America and Europe and invests in companies around the world. For more information, please see www.summitpartners.com or follow on LinkedIn.

In the United States of America, Summit Partners operates as an SEC-registered investment advisor. In the United Kingdom, this document is issued by Summit Partners LLP, a firm authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Summit Partners LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with registered number OC388179 and its registered office is at 11-12 Hanover Square, London, W1S 1JJ, UK. This document is intended solely to provide information regarding Summit Partners’ potential financing capabilities for prospective portfolio companies.

 

Media Contacts

 

Apax Partners

Katarina Sallerfors / +44 20 7666 6526 / Katarina.Sallerfors@apax.com

Luke Charalambous / +44 20 7872 6494 / Luke.Charalambous@apax.com

Matthew Goodman / James Madsen, Greenbrook | +44 20 7952 2000 | apax@greenbrookpr.com

 

DTCP

John Klein

john.klein@dtcp.capital

+49 160 680 9906

 

Summit Partners

Meg Devine

mdevine@summitpartners.com

+1 617 824 1047

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LiveVox, a Leading Cloud-Based Contact Center Platform, to Merge with Crescent Acquisition Corp to Become a Publicly Traded Company in an $840 Million Transaction

Golden Gate Capital

LiveVox will be only the second publicly-traded pure-play CCaaS compan
• Transaction includes $75 million PIPE anchored by top-tier mutual fund and institutional investors
• Current LiveVox owners, led by majority shareholder Golden Gate Capital, expect to hold approximately 59% of the newly public company

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–LiveVox, a leading cloud-based provider of customer service and digital engagement tools, today announced it has entered into a merger agreement with Crescent Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ: CRSA), a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company. Upon closing of the transaction, LiveVox will become a publicly traded company, and its common stock will be listed on NASDAQ under the symbol “LVOX”.

Founded in 2000, LiveVox is a next-generation contact center platform that seamlessly unifies omnichannel communications, CRM, and WFO functionality into a single cloud-based customer engagement solution. Facilitating over 14 billion interactions annually, LiveVox simplifies the customer engagement process by unifying all conversations and interactions into a single pane of glass, creating a seamless transition for agents across communication mediums. The Company distinguishes itself from its closest competitors by reducing or eliminating the greatest friction points that prospective customers face, including security, compliance, and data integration. By removing these barriers, LiveVox makes the AI and digital applications customers want easy to implement. The Company expects to generate $129 million of revenue in 2021, approximately 26% higher than its 2020 revenue.

“We capitalize on the growing need for support agents to provide an unparalleled customer experience with our unique solutions platform,” said Louis Summe, co-founder & CEO of LiveVox, who will continue to lead the business post-transaction. “Our full-service offering allows our clients to provide their customers with the exceptional relationship management they deserve along with the safety, security and ease of integration they have long come to expect.”

“We believe that LiveVox’s state-of-the-art software, its visionary management and its broad enterprise customer base position it perfectly to accelerate its growth with the visibility and capital from this transaction,” Robert Beyer, Executive Chairman, and Todd Purdy, CEO of Crescent Acquisition Corp, jointly said. “Global conditions have pushed digital transformation to the forefront, and customer-facing businesses are anxious for a decisive leap towards a unified, cloud-based solution. We are also fortunate to have found such an exciting growth opportunity within the portfolio of an industry-leading private equity firm, Golden Gate Capital, who will remain a significant shareholder and partner and continue to guide the Company’s next level of substantial growth in the public markets.”

“We have been incredibly impressed by LiveVox’s expansive growth since we invested in the Company seven years ago,” said Rishi Chandna, Managing Director of Golden Gate Capital. “LiveVox’s meaningful investment in its product portfolio and focus on building out the Company’s sales and marketing efforts has transformed the business into a leading pure-play CCaaS provider with a larger total addressable market. We are excited to continue working closely with LiveVox, alongside our new partner in Crescent, to support the Company’s management team in delivering mission critical, easy-to-deploy contact center software to enterprise customers.”

Transaction Overview

The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of Crescent Acquisition Corp, as well as the Board of Directors of LiveVox and is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including the approval of the shareholders of Crescent Acquisition Corp.

The combined entity will receive approximately $250 million from Crescent’s trust account, assuming no redemptions by Crescent’s public stockholders, as well as $75 million in proceeds from a group of institutional investors and $25 million from a forward purchase agreement entered into by Crescent Capital Group Holdings LP. Upon completion of the transaction and assuming no redemptions, Golden Gate Capital and various current minority owners of LiveVox expect to hold approximately 59% of the newly public company, subject to various purchase price adjustments. Of the total approximately $350 million of cash from Crescent and the other institutional investors, up to $220 million will be used to purchase a portion of the equity owned by existing LiveVox shareholders, an anticipated $100 million will be added to LiveVox’s balance sheet to be used to accelerate and enhance the Company’s commitment to providing a superb customer experience through its next-generation contact center platform, and the remainder will be used to pay transaction expenses. Upon the closing of the transaction, Crescent Acquisition Corp’s name will be changed to “LiveVox Holdings, Inc.”

Additional information about the proposed transaction, including a copy of the merger agreement and investor presentation, will be provided in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed by Crescent Acquisition Corp with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and available at www.sec.gov.

Conference Call Information

Crescent Acquisition Corp’s investor conference call and presentation discussing the transaction can be accessed by visiting www.crescentspac.com. A telephone replay of the call is available by dialing 412-317-6671 and entering passcode 14296511. A transcript of the call will also be filed by Crescent Acquisition Corp with the SEC.

Advisors

Credit Suisse is acting as lead placement agent, financial advisor and capital markets advisor and BofA Securities, Inc. is acting as private placement agent and capital markets advisor for Crescent Acquisition Corp. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Jefferies Group LLC and Stifel Financial Corp. are serving as financial advisors to LiveVox. Kirkland & Ellis LLP is acting as legal counsel to LiveVox and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is acting as legal counsel to Crescent Acquisition Corp.

About LiveVox

LiveVox is a next-generation contact center platform that powers more than 14 billion transactions a year. By seamlessly integrating omnichannel communications, CRM, and WFO, LiveVox delivers exceptional agent and customer experiences, while helping to reduce compliance risk. LiveVox’s reliable, easy-to-use technology enables effective engagement strategies on channels of choice to help drive contact center performance. Founded in 2000, LiveVox is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Atlanta, Denver, St. Louis, Colombia, and Bangalore. To learn more, visit www.livevox.com.

About Crescent Acquisition Corp

Crescent Acquisition Corp is a Special Purpose Acquisition Company formed by Crescent Capital, Robert D. Beyer and Todd M. Purdy for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or assets.

About Golden Gate Capital

Golden Gate Capital is a San Francisco-based private equity investment firm with over $17 billion of committed capital. The principals of Golden Gate Capital have a long and successful history of investing across a wide range of industries and transaction types, including going-privates, corporate divestitures, and recapitalizations, as well as debt and public equity investments. Notable software and services investments sponsored by Golden Gate Capital include Infor, BMC, Neustar, Ensemble Health Partners, Vector Solutions, and 20-20 Technologies.

Additional Information about the Proposed Transaction and Where to Find It

This communication may be deemed solicitation material in respect of the proposed business combination between Crescent Acquisition Corp and LiveVox (the “Business Combination”). The Business Combination will be submitted to the stockholders of Crescent Acquisition Corp and LiveVox for their approval. In connection with such stockholder vote, Crescent Acquisition Corp intends to file with the SEC a preliminary proxy statement on Schedule 14A and, when completed, will mail a definitive proxy statement to its stockholders in connection with Crescent Acquisition Corp’s solicitation of proxies for the special meeting of the stockholders of Crescent Acquisition Corp to be held to approve the Business Combination. This communication does not contain all the information that should be considered concerning the proposed Business Combination and the other matters to be voted upon at the annual meeting and is not intended to provide the basis for any investment decision or any other decision in respect of such matters. Crescent Acquisition Corp’s stockholders and other interested parties are urged to read, when available, the preliminary proxy statement, the amendments thereto, the definitive proxy statement and any other relevant documents that are filed or furnished or will be filed or will be furnished with the SEC carefully and in their entirety in connection with Crescent Acquisition Corp’s solicitation of proxies for the annual meeting to be held to approve the Business Combination and other related matters, as these materials will contain important information about LiveVox and Crescent Acquisition Corp and the proposed Business Combination. The definitive proxy statement will be mailed to the stockholders of Crescent Acquisition Corp as of the record date to be established for voting on the proposed Business Combination and the other matters to be voted upon at the special meeting. Such stockholders will also be able to obtain copies of the proxy statement, without charge, once available, at the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov, at the Company’s website at http://www.crescentspac.com or by directing a request to Crescent Acquisition Corp, 11100 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 2000, Los Angeles, CA 90025.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements may be made directly in this communication. Some of the forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking words. Statements that are not historical in nature, including the words “anticipate,” “expect,” “suggests,” “plan,” “believe,” “intend,” “estimates,” “targets,” “projects,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “may,” “will,” “forecast” and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based upon management estimates and forecasts and reflect the views, assumptions, expectations, and opinions of Crescent Acquisition Corp or LiveVox, as the case may be, as of the date of this communication, and may include, without limitation, changes in general economic conditions, including as a result of COVID-19, all of which are accordingly subject to change. Any such estimates, assumptions, expectations, forecasts, views or opinions set forth in this communication constitute Crescent Acquisition Corp’s or LiveVox’s, as the case may be, judgments and should be regarded as indicative, preliminary and for illustrative purposes only. The forward-looking statements and projections contained in this communication are subject to a number of factors, risks and uncertainties, some of which are not currently known to Crescent Acquisition Corp or LiveVox, that may cause Crescent Acquisition Corp’s or LiveVox’s actual results, performance or financial condition to be materially different from the expectations of future results, performance of financial condition. Although such forward-looking statements have been made in good faith and are based on assumptions that Crescent Acquisition Corp or LiveVox, as the case may be, believe to be reasonable, there is no assurance that the expected results will be achieved. Crescent Acquisition Corp’s and LiveVox’s actual results may differ materially from the results discussed in forward-looking statements. Additional information on factors that may cause actual results and Crescent Acquisition Corp’s performance to differ materially is included in Crescent Acquisition Corp’s periodic reports filed with the SEC, including but not limited to Crescent Acquisition Corp’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Copies of Crescent Acquisition Corp’s filings with the SEC are available publicly on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov or may be obtained by contacting Crescent Acquisition Corp. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and neither Crescent Acquisition Corp nor LiveVox undertake any obligations to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

No Offer or Solicitation

This communication is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer or invitation for the sale or purchase of securities, assets or the business described herein or a commitment to the Company or the LiveVox with respect to any of the foregoing, and this Current Report shall not form the basis of any contract, nor is it a solicitation of any vote, consent, or approval in any jurisdiction pursuant to or in connection with the Business Combination or otherwise, nor shall there be any sale, issuance or transfer of securities in any jurisdiction in contravention of applicable law.

Participants in Solicitation

Crescent Acquisition Corp and LiveVox, and their respective directors and executive officers, may be deemed participants in the solicitation of proxies of Crescent Acquisition Corp’s stockholders in respect of the Business Combination. Information about the directors and executive officers of Crescent Acquisition Corp is set forth in the Company’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019. Information about the directors and executive officers of LiveVox and more detailed information regarding the identity of all potential participants, and their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be set forth in the proxy statement for the Business Combination when available. Additional information regarding the identity of all potential participants in the solicitation of proxies to Crescent Acquisition Corp’s stockholders in connection with the proposed Business Combination and other matters to be voted upon at the special meeting, and their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be included in the proxy statement that the Company intends to file with the SEC. Investors may obtain such information by ready such proxy statement when it becomes available.

Contacts
For LiveVox:

Investor Contact:
Michael Bowen and Marc Griffin
LiveVoxIR@icrinc.com
203-682-8299

Media Contact:
Katie Creaser
LiveVoxPR@icrinc.com
516-993-6584

For Crescent Acquisition Corp:

Investor Contact:
Lasse Glassen
Addo Investor Relations
lglassen@addoir.com
424-238-6249

Media Contact:
Bill Mendel
Mendel Communications
Bill@mendelcommunications.com

For Golden Gate Capital:

Sard Verbinnen & Co
David Isaacs / Chloe Clifford
GoldenGate-SVC@sardverb.com

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M-Files Secures $80 Million in Growth Investment

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Tesi

M-Files, the intelligent information management company, today announced that it has received a strategic investment of $80 million (€67 million). Bregal Milestone, a European growth capital firm, led the round with current investors Partech, Tesi and Draper Esprit also participating.

M-Files provides an intelligent, repository neutral platform that utilizes metadata and artificial intelligence (AI) to break down information silos and unify systems, data and content across an organization. M-Files seamlessly embeds within popular digital workplace platforms, including Microsoft 365, Salesforce and Google Workspace, enabling users to access and manage documents and information from the applications where they prefer to work.

From small and medium-sized businesses to large global enterprises, M-Files is a trusted partner to thousands of customers in over 100 countries, helping them increase efficiencies and drive productivity.  M-Files has more than 500 employees located across 11 global offices. The company’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) business model continues to propel its strong growth. M-Files has been featured in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Content Services Platforms (formerly Enterprise Content Management) since 2012 and named a Visionary for the last five consecutive years.

Cyrus Shey (on the left) and Antti Nivala (on the right)

Antti Nivala, CEO and founder of M-Files:

“Bregal Milestone’s extensive experience investing in the B2B enterprise software sector and their philosophy in partnering with fast-growing companies like M-Files made the firm an attractive investment partner. We’ve identified opportunities to accelerate our growth and further expand M-Files’ market penetration, especially in North America. The valuable investment from Bregal Milestone, bolstered by support from our existing shareholders Partech, Tesi and Draper Esprit, will enable M-Files to deliver further innovations in product development, AI and our cloud platform.”

Cyrus Shey, Managing Partner at Bregal Milestone:

“We are thrilled to partner with the M-Files team to support Antti and his team on their very exciting growth journey. M-Files has a robust and cutting-edge solution that brings tangible value-add to its customers. We look forward to supporting management in accelerating growth and further consolidating M-Files’ leadership position, namely in the US and other key geographies. The transaction is the 9th investment made by Bregal Milestone’s inaugural growth capital fund in just over 2 years, and we couldn’t be more proud to partner with Antti and the world-class M-Files team.”

Additional information:

Antti Nivala, CEO and founder, M-Files Oy
antti.nivala@m-files.com
+358 40 556 0471

Juha Lehtola, Director, venture capital invesments, Tesi Oy
juha.lehtola@m-files.com
+358 400 647 671

 

M-Files Oy

M-Files provides a next-generation intelligent information management platform that improves business performance by helping people find and use information more effectively. Unlike traditional enterprise content management (ECM) systems or content services platforms, M-Files unifies systems, data and content across the organization without disturbing existing systems and processes or requiring data migration. Using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in its unique Intelligent Metadata Layer, M-Files breaks down silos by delivering an in-context experience for accessing and leveraging information that resides in any system and repository, including network folders, SharePoint, file sharing services, ECM systems, CRM, ERP and other business systems and repositories. Thousands of organizations in more than 100 countries use M-Files for managing their business information and processes, including NBC Universal, OMV, Valmet, SAS Institute and thyssenkrupp. For more information, visit: m-files.fi.

Bregal Milestone

Bregal Milestone is a growth capital firm managing a €495 million pan-European fund dedicated to making investments in high-growth European companies. The firm provides growth capital and strategic assistance to support market-leading companies in the technology and technology-enabled services sectors. Bregal Milestone is part of Bregal Investments, who have invested over €15 billion to date.

Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment Ltd) is a Finnish state-owned investment company that wants to raise Finland to the front ranks of renewing economic growth by investing in funds and directly in companies. We invest profitably and responsibly, hand-in-hand with co-investors, to create the world’s new success stories. Our investments under management total 1.6 billion euros. Ambition for ownership and success – tesi.fi | @TesiFII

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Partners Group to acquire Idera, a leading global provider of software solutions

Partners Group

Partners Group, the global private markets investment manager, has agreed to acquire Idera (“Idera” or “the Company”), a leading global provider of software solutions for IT professionals, on behalf of its clients. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2003 and based in Austin, Texas, Idera provides infrastructure software solutions to businesses for testing, application development, and database architecture and management, both on premises and in the cloud. The Company’s products are sold under a large portfolio of brands across three business segments: database tools; developer tools; and “DevOps”, which combines software development and IT operations to build products designed to increase an organization’s ability to deliver applications and services faster. The Company has 700,000 users globally across a wide range of industries, including technology, financial services, legal, pharmaceuticals, government and non-profit, energy and education. Idera has over 570 full-time employees.

In 2019, Partners Group made an initial investment in Idera, on behalf of its clients, joining TA Associates and HGGC in supporting the Company’s growth organically and through M&A. Since then, Partners Group has become further convinced of the significant opportunity in the infrastructure software sector, given the critical need for applications and tools that support digital transition and the increasing complexity of software. Idera is well-positioned to capitalize on these transformative trends, identified by Partners Group’s Thematic Sourcing strategy, and it will benefit from the firm’s extensive experience in building platform companies and creating value in technology-related businesses. Partners Group will assist the management team in partnership with TA and HGGC, all of whom will retain a minority position in the business, in developing its pipeline of strategic M&A opportunities, optimizing sales and marketing processes, and advancing fast-growing business segments going forward.

Bilge Ogut, Partner, Head Private Equity Technology, Partners Group, states: “We are excited to continue our relationship with Idera and expand its strong platform. The USD 205 billion infrastructure software market is undergoing meaningful change that hinges on continuously improving the productivity of developers. Idera has been very effective at capturing this trend by integrating high-quality products into its platform, making it an excellent fit for Partners Group’s transformational investment strategy. Going forward, we plan to work closely with the management team on various value creation initiatives as well as identifying new M&A opportunities that will accelerate Idera’s already positive trajectory, benefiting from this secular trend.”

Randy Jacops, Chief Executive Officer, Idera, says: “Through a carefully implemented strategy, we have built a portfolio of brands at the forefront of the technology adoption life-cycle in their respective markets. The highly fragmented nature of the global infrastructure software market means there are still plenty of opportunities for us to expand our footprint. Partners Group’s history of supporting high-growth technology companies and building resilient businesses, combined with the invaluable contributions it has already provided, will be critical as we continue to grow.”

Chris Russell, Managing Director, Private Equity Technology, Partners Group, adds: “We have witnessed firsthand the truly unique organization that Randy and his team have built. Idera’s innovative products are used by thousands of businesses to perform mission critical tasks and the market for software tools and apps aimed at the developer community will continue to evolve and grow. The management team has proven Idera to be a true leader in building and continuously improving the efficiency of its products for a large customer base and has successfully identified opportunities to expand its platform. By deepening our partnership with the Company, Partners Group can offer additional operational knowledge and platform-building expertise.”

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Ardian invests in Elée, a leading provider of software asset management solutions

Ardian

21 January 2021 Growth France, Paris

Paris, January 21, 2021 – Elée is partnering with Ardian, a world-leading private investment house, to support its development and growth.

Headquartered in Paris, Elée is one of the pioneers and the leading independent tech-enabled managed services provider of software asset management and cloud computing solutions in France. Founded in 2010 in Paris by Alain Marbach (former CIO of BNP Paribas and former Executive Committee member for Schneider Electric), Elée received initial funding from Jean-Louis Beffa (former CEO of Saint Gobain) and Denis Kibler (founder of Infra+ and angel investor of Meilleursagents.com). The company has developed an innovative tech-enabled offering that allows its customers to rapidly reduce costs, minimize their risk of non-compliance with software publishers and consistently optimize the management of their software and cloud assets.

According to Gartner, software spending accounted for $459 billion worldwide in 2020. It is estimated that software customers are currently exposed to tens of billions of dollars of unidentified non-conformity risk. To minimize this risk and optimize companies’ IT asset management, pure players have emerged, such as Elée in France. These pure players will expand both organically, through partnerships and M&A consolidation.

Elée has over 60 employees, and has developed its own proprietary software, Sambox.io, which has been acknowledged as one of the best solutions on the market at the ITAM Review Excellence Awards 2020. The company is the only French player that is part of market research company Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, which acknowledges the best companies in the sector worldwide. With 40% annual average revenue growth, Elée serves more than 100 clients, including the French State and over half of the CAC40 companies.

With Ardian’s acquisition of a minority stake in the business, Elée has the financial resources to accelerate its development in France and abroad, and accelerate the commercialization of its proprietary software, Sambox.io.

“Our sustained growth since the company’s incorporation is testament to our ability to respond to market dynamics. Ardian’s support is a recognition of our team’s performance, our clients’ satisfaction and will be a major driver in our future development, particularly internationally and in the new ecological challenges of software management.” said Alain Marbach, CEO and founder of Elée.

Olivier Roy, Investment Manager in the Ardian Growth team, commented: “Elée’s strong expertise and proprietary platform make it a key player in the software asset management market. The company has impressive growth prospects, both in France and overseas.”

Geoffroy de La Grandière, Managing Director in the Ardian Growth team, added: “In the current environment, Ardian Growth is pleased to be able to support entrepreneurs with ambitious projects more than ever. We are therefore excited to support Elée and its team in its next growth chapter.”

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