Tag Archives: Information technology

Blue Cedar partners with Microsoft to combat BYOD issues

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Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) has been a divisive topic within corporations for years. Employees wanted the convenience of working on their own smart devices, and business decision-makers recognized the cost and productivity benefits. IT teams knew unmanaged devices would result in more work and security holes.

As you know, the business side won out. The line-of-business (LOB) mobile app market exploded, and BYOD became the rule rather than the exception. Today, corporate IT teams manage hundreds of mobile LOBs ranging from apps developed in house to Microsoft 365, with more on the horizon. There is one thing that everyone can agree on, however: Employers should not manage their employees’ personal devices.

Establishing data boundaries

IT teams constantly struggle to walk the delicate line of managing corporate data without impinging on personal data. The Microsoft Intune and Microsoft Office 365 teams set out to solve the problem together. The teams worked together to develop app protection policies (APPs) for what would become Microsoft Endpoint Manager (MEM). The APP places restrictions on how Office 365 data can be used on a completely managed or completely unmanaged device. Specifically:

  • Data can only be shared between managed Office 365 apps.
  • Users cannot forward it or save it to a non-Office 365 resource.

Blue Cedar’s solution for Microsoft

IT and security teams have been searching for a solution to accommodate BYOD that won’t compromise network security. The Blue Cedar Platform is a no-code Integration service that enables new capabilities to be added to Mobile apps post-build without requiring a developer. With a couple of clicks, you can add Intune MAM, Azure Active Directory Authentication, and other SDKs into your compiled mobile app. The platform works with native apps or apps written using a mobile framework and integrates into your existing app delivery workflow. Built-in integrations with GitHub and the Intune cloud allow you to build seamless workflows that add new app capabilities and skip manual operations.

Feature highlights:

  • Add Microsoft Endpoint Manager App Protection Policy capabilities.
  • Add new app authentication flows include the use of the Microsoft authenticator app.
  • Keep corporate data separate from personal data.
  • Allow users to BYOD without creating security vulnerabilities.
  • Maintains end-user privacy.

Secure VPN connections to on-premises resources

There is one last thing I’d like to tell you about today—and it’s a potential gamechanger for many organizations. Many companies still maintain critical data on-prem, meaning employees can’t easily access it from their mobile devices. Utilizing our patented No-code integration technology, VPN capabilities can be added to mobile apps allowing them to attach to the corporate network.

Our in-app VPN functionality enables users to automatically connect to on-premises and in-cloud networks without requiring device management or complex VPN configuration. Our VPN connectivity is transparent and secured via a multi-factor authentication backed by Azure AD.

Infographic showing Secure VPN connections to on-premises resources using Blue Cedar

Secure VPN feature highlights:

  • Extends network availability to on-prem networks.
  • Permits login with Azure AD credentials.
  • Separates corporate data from personal data.
  • Improves productivity.

The Blue Cedar platform is also the only way to securely connect Intune-enabled apps to both cloud and on-premises databases for a single sign-on (SSO) experience without bringing the devices under management.

Better BYOD for your organization

BYOD is here to stay; the Blue Cedar collaboration with Microsoft will save you time, resources, and budget while providing secure mobile access to your on-prem or cloud-based resources.

To learn more about Blue Cedar Platform, visit the Blue Cedar listing in the Azure Marketplace or visit our web page about Blue Cedar’s no-code integration service.

To learn more about the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA), visit the MISA website where you can learn about the MISA program, product integrations, and find MISA members. Visit the video playlist to learn about the strength of member integrations with Microsoft products.

For more information about Microsoft Security Solutions, visit the Microsoft Security website. Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage of security matters. Also, follow us at @MSFTSecurity for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.

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Montagu to acquire majority position in ITRS Group

Montagu

Montagu to acquire majority position in ITRS Group from TA Associates

Montagu, today announces it has agreed to acquire a majority position in ITRS Group (“ITRS”), a leading global provider of real-time monitoring and analytics software from TA Associates (“TA”), who will remain a minority holder alongside Montagu and Management. Completion is expected next month, subject to customary closing requirements. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

ITRS’ software portfolio supports the “always on” enterprise, ensuring operational resilience for businesses operating in environments where technology failure means business failure. Headquartered in London, the company has established itself as an innovative and trusted partner, and today has over 3,000 clients across the globe, including nine out of the ten Tier 1 investment banks. In addition, its recent acquisition of Uptrends, a Netherlands-based website and web performance monitoring solution, has further strengthened ITRS’ product suite.

Since its establishment in 1997, ITRS has transformed from a European, single product solution to the capital markets industry, to today providing a comprehensive product suite to customers across a range of industries, including capital markets, telecommunications and healthcare. This has been achieved through impressive organic growth and M&A activity, and Montagu intends to work with the management team and leverage its experience, network and resources to continue to drive growth and further expansion.

Guy Warren, CEO of ITRS, said: “We are delighted to welcome Montagu into ITRS Group. Under TA Associates’ ownership, we have broadened our product suite and significantly expanded our customer base, and we thank them for their continued support. The Montagu team have shown a strong understanding of our business and its potential, and share our ambitions, and we are excited to partner with them for the next stage of growth.”

Christoph Leitner-Dietmaier, Director at Montagu, said: “It is a privilege for Montagu to back Guy and his leadership team, and we look forward to partnering with TA on this investment in ITRS.  We are truly impressed by the leading position ITRS has established and are excited to support their vision of becoming the single pane of glass for IT monitoring for the enterprise customer.”

Morgan Seigler, Managing Director at TA, said: “We have greatly enjoyed partnering with Guy and the entire team at ITRS over the last four years to help drive the company’s growth and expansion. We look forward to collaborating with the ITRS team and Montagu to continue this successful journey.”

The sellers were advised by Jefferies International and Travers Smith LLP. Montagu was advised by Arma Partners and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

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FPE Capital portfolio company IWSR completes the strategic acquisition of Wine Intelligence

FPE Capital

FPE Capital LLP (‘FPE’), the specialist software and services growth investor in UK SMEs, announces that IWSR, the leading B2B data and information provider to the global drinks industry, has acquired the wine consumer research and insights expert, Wine Intelligence. The combined offering provides the industry with robust insight into consumption trends, consumer insights and growth opportunities for the global beverage alcohol sector.

Backed by FPE Capital in 2018, IWSR and its core Global Database has cemented its position as a unique source of data and insight for the largest global drinks brands. FPE Capital Managing Partner David Barbour commented

 

Since our investment, the team at IWSR has driven hugely impressive organic growth, including through the Covid pandemic, proving its criticality to its clients. The addition of Wine Intelligence enhances the coverage and product range of the combined group, including the creation of a world-class consumer insights division focused exclusively on the global beverage alcohol industry.

 

Founded in 2002, Wine Intelligence conducts projects on behalf of wine businesses in more than 35 global markets.

 

As Covid reshapes consumer behaviour and beverage alcohol drinking occasions, industry stakeholders are looking for a deeper understanding of the consumer attitudes driving the market,

 

remarks Mark Meek, CEO of IWSR.

 

Our vision is shaped by our clients, and this acquisition is a tremendous opportunity for us to expand on our existing offerings and work with the Wine Intelligence team to provide the industry with access to comprehensive consumer insight across all categories of the drinks industry, including beer, wine, spirits and the ready-to-drink sector.

 

 

We are delighted to join the IWSR family after nearly 10 years of our organisations working together on behalf of our client base,

 

says Lulie Halstead, CEO of Wine Intelligence.

 

I share Mark’s vision of us building a world-class and comprehensive offering of data and consumer insights to support the global beverage alcohol sectors, which we are uniquely positioned to do.

 

Advisers on the acquisition included Johnson Carmichael (financial and tax due diligence) and Stephenson Harwood (legal).

 

Media inquiries:

David Barbour

Managing Partner, FPE Capital LLP

020 3912 8800

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Memsource Acquires Phrase

Carlyle

Transaction creates the translation industry’s leading localization platform allowing Memsource to further expand its product portfolio, geographic footprint, and customer base

Prague, Czech Republic; Hamburg, Germany; and London, UK – Memsource, the leading AI-powered translation management system, together with its majority shareholder The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG), today announced that it has acquired Phrase, a leading software localization platform.

Headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic, Memsource is a leading translation technology provider that assists global corporations and the language services industry in automating the localization of large volumes of multilingual content. The company is a leader in AI-powered translation technology, which makes localization easier, faster, and more cost-effective. Memsource translation software is used by leaders in their respective industries, such as Uber, Zendesk, Supercell, and Vistaprint.

Headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, the Phrase platform provides cloud-based localization for software, websites, and mobile applications. Phrase enables customers of all sizes to scale their translation processes through advanced automation, eliminating unnecessary steps from the localization process. Through its unique value proposition, Phrase has built up a wide reaching customer base across multiple industries with customers such as Lufthansa Systems and Pizza Hut Digital Ventures.

The combination of Memsource and Phrase creates the industry’s leading translation management company. The transaction significantly expands Memsource’s product portfolio and customer base while also extending its operations into Germany, a country in which it previously did not have a presence. The combined group will seek to transform the localization industry, providing global brands with a streamlined solution that reduces costs, increases translation quality, and automates the localization process end-to-end.

The three founders of Phrase will become shareholders of the Memsource group. David Canek, the CEO of Memsource, will become the group CEO with immediate effect.

David Canek, Founder and CEO of Memsource, said: “Since Carlyle’s investment in Memsource in July 2020, we have focused on growing the business organically while exploring compelling acquisition opportunities. Phrase is a leading software localization platform bootstrapped by an incredibly talented team. As leaders in their respective fields (enterprise TMS and software localization respectively), Memsource and Phrase are determined to create the next generation of translation automation for the full range of enterprise localization use cases.”

Wolfram Grätz, Founder of Phrase, said: “Having established ourselves as a pioneer in software localization, partnering with Memsource and Carlyle is the next logical step for the company. We have a cross-industry customer base from the automotive to the financial sector and many of them are asking us about our plans to support additional localization use cases. We have continuously addressed their needs, and by combining our high-quality management teams and deep software expertise, we intend to create a market innovator with the vision, talent and scale to define the future of enterprise translation management.”

Fernando Chueca, a Managing Director in the Carlyle Europe Technology Partners (CETP) advisory team, said: “CETP IV invested in Memsource to accelerate the next phase of the company’s development, including a focus on expansion into new geographies and innovative technologies. The transaction with Phrase, the first since Carlyle’s investment, is testament to this strategy, providing an attractive entry point to the German market and access to its highly complementary product suite and established customer base. The enlarged group is uniquely positioned to establish itself as a leader in translation management systems, enabling sophisticated software localization across international markets.”

ENDS

About Memsource
Memsource helps global companies translate efficiently. Ranked as the most viable Translation Management System by CSA Research in 2019, Memsource supports 500+ languages, 50+ file types, and 30+ machine translation engines. Memsource enables its customers to increase translation quality while reducing costs using its patented, state-of-the-art AI technology. With a team of over 120 people in offices across Europe, US and Japan, Memsource serves thousands of global customers, including leading brands such as Uber, Zendesk, Supercell and Vistaprint. Further information is available at www.memsource.com.

About Phrase
Phrase is a cloud-based software localization platform that accelerates the development of multilingual digital products. Phrase enables organizations of all sizes to scale and centralize their translation processes through advanced automation and a broad variety of integrations. Founded in 2012 in the heart of Hamburg, Phrase has grown from a small start-up into an agile, ambitious team from around the world. Phrase is growing rapidly and currently partners with over a thousand businesses in over 60 countries. Further information is available at phrase.com.

About The Carlyle Group
The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global investment firm with deep industry expertise that deploys private capital across three business segments: Global Private Equity, Global Credit and Investment Solutions. With $230 billion of assets under management as of September 30, 2020, Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, portfolio companies and the communities in which we live and invest. Carlyle employs more than 1,800 people in 30 offices across six continents. Further information is available at www.carlyle.com. Follow Carlyle on Twitter @OneCarlyle.

Press Enquiries:
Memsource / Phrase
Filip Sanca
+420 604 695 225
filip.sanca@memsource.com

The Carlyle Group
Andrew Kenny
+44 7816 176120
andrew.kenny@carlyle.com

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M-Files Secures $80 Million in Growth Investment

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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AxonIQ raises a €6M series A led by AVP to expand the engineering and commercial teams and accelerate growth, in particular in the US

AXA

Amsterdam, 07 Jan 2021

AxonIQ, founded in The Netherlands and leading provider of a software platform for Event-
Driven Architectures (EDA), announced today that it raised a €6M Series A round, led by AXA
Venture Partners (AVP) and their existing investor, Volta as co-investor. According to Jeroen
Speekenbrink, CEO and co-founder, “We are proud to welcome AVP as an investor
embracing our vision of providing the technology needed to build the custom software systems
that our clients need in these challenging times.”

“We are very excited to work with the team to support the growth of AxonIQ. What they and
their team have achieved so far is very impressive. We share their vision that event-driven
architecture is the next big thing for companies, big or small, that migrate their IT architecture
to microservices. This allows native auditability, which is critical for many industries. The quality
of their tech stack is very impressive and we are very honored to join the AxonIQ journey. As
for all our other portfolio companies, we’ll pour all our resources in Europe and in the US at
their service to help them grow.” commented Francois Robinet, Managing Partner of AVP.

Sander Vonk, managing partner of Volta Ventures and early investor continues: “There are
only a few companies out there who are able to grow at the rate AxonIQ is growing, with this
Series A and AVP as an investor the team is set to continue on this amazing journey.”
CTO and co-founder of AxonIQ, Allard Buijze says: “This investment allows us to expand our
engineering and commercial teams around the world. With the additional engineering capacity,
we will be able to take big strides in realizing our vision for tooling to make the benefits of
event-driven systems available to both large and small organizations.”

About AxonIQ
Founded in 2017, AxonIQ is based in The Netherlands. With people on the ground in the US,
France, Mexico, Serbia, Poland, Italy, and Germany, AxonIQ offers an end-to-end
development and infrastructure platform for smoothly evolving Event-Driven Architectures
focused on CQRS and Event Sourcing. Our platform known as Axon includes both a
programming model as well as a specialized infrastructure to provide enterprise-ready
operational support for the programming model – especially for scaling and distributing missioncritical
business applications. The Axon platform consists of the popular Axon Framework and
the built-for-purpose Axon Server. The open-source Axon Framework provides a clean,
elegant Java API for writing DDD, CQRS, and Event Sourcing applications. Axon Server is a
zero-configuration message router and event store. Axon Server is distributed in two editions.
Axon Server Standard Edition is a free version sufficient to get you started and run a small,
non-critical application in production. Axon Server Enterprise includes clustering and multicontext
support and is targeted towards mission-critical, medium to large scale production
deployments.

About AVP
AVP is a global venture capital firm investing in high-growth, technology enabled companies.
AVP has built, in less than five years, a unique investment platform specialized in tech
investments with $800 million of assets under management through three pillars of investment
expertise: early stage, growth stage, and fund of funds. To date, AVP has invested in more
than 45 companies and more than 20 funds. The AVP team operates globally with offices in
San Francisco, New York, London, Paris, and Hong Kong. Beyond investments, AVP provides
unique access to business development opportunities helping portfolio companies to scale
globally and accelerate their growth. More details here: www.axavp.com

About Volta Ventures
Volta Ventures invests in young, promising internet and software companies in the Benelux.
Teams in Gent and Amsterdam provide guidance and assistance to grow from startup to scaleup.
Volta manages two funds with 100M in assets and has invested in more than 20 companies
to date. More details here: www.volta.ventures

Contact for Press
AVP
Sébastien Loubry
sebastien@axavp.com
+33 6 15 31 61 68
AxonIQ
Stefan van Eerde
stefan.vaneerde@axoniq.io
+31 6 12 10 88 44

 

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CVC Growth Fund announces successful exit of Kount in $640 million deal

Global data and analytics company Equifax expected to complete acquisition in Q1 2021, subject to regulatory review

CVC Capital Partners (“CVC”) announced today that the CVC Growth Fund has signed a definitive agreement to sell Kount Inc. (“Kount” or “the Company”), a provider of Artificial Intelligence (AI)- driven fraud prevention and digital identity solutions, to global data and analytics company Equifax in a deal valued at $640 million. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory review.

Formed in 2007 and headquartered in Boise, Idaho, Kount’s best-in-class fraud prevention solutions protect the customer journey and digital innovations for over 9,000 brands globally. The Company has earned recognition as a leader in digital fraud prevention, with over 13 years of data informing its advanced Machine Learning (ML) and AI-based models. This patented technology prevents digital payments fraud, new account fraud, and account takeovers to increase revenue for digital businesses, acquiring banks, and payment service providers.

“Kount was an industry leader when the CVC Growth Fund invested, and since then the company has gone from strength to strength under CEO Brad Wiskirchen’s leadership, more than tripling revenue during the investment period,” said Jason Glass, Partner at CVC Growth Partners. “Through a trusted relationship with Brad, we have supported the expansion of the management team, new investment in sales and marketing and the launch of industry-leading product offerings including Kount Control, the first adaptive protection solution to stop account takeover fraud, and the Kount Identity Trust Global Network.”

“I would like to thank the CVC Growth Partners team for an incredibly rewarding partnership over the past five years,” said Wiskirchen. “The challenges of online fraud have grown exponentially and, with the guidance and support of CVC, Kount has been able to not just meet those challenges but also innovate and extend our industry leadership. Today we are well positioned to take our business to the next level with Equifax.”

“Our partnership with Kount is a perfect example of CVC Growth Partners’ strategy in action,” added John Clark, Managing Partner at CVC Growth Partners. “Through our thematic origination approach we source opportunities to partner with uniquely positioned technology companies in large, growing markets. We then help them to overcome barriers to growth, and to successfully accelerate their development, empowering them to become leaders in their fields.”

Barclays acted as exclusive financial advisor and Fried Frank acted as legal advisor to Kount.

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EQT and Verdane announce intention to merge FocusVision and Confirmit

eqtVerdane Capital

  • EQT and Verdane to merge FocusVision and Confirmit to create a leader in the Market Research, Customer and Employee Experience industries
  • The combined company will provide a one-stop-shop of complementary software solutions and offer greater benefits to existing and new customers
  • EQT and Verdane are committed to invest in the combined company to support accelerated growth in North America and Europe

EQT and Verdane are pleased to announce the merger of their respective portfolio companies FocusVision, majority owned by EQT Mid Market US, and Confirmit. The combined company will be led by Confirmit CEO Kyle Ferguson and supported by members of both the FocusVision and Confirmit management teams.

FocusVision offers a comprehensive suite of experience insights software solutions, including advanced survey, online interview and focus groups, and online qualitative research community solutions to get brands close enough to their customers to have a full understanding of Customer Truth™ – how they think, feel, and act.

Confirmit offers market research, customer experience and employee engagement software solutions to turn insight into stories that fuel action. Confirmit delivers the flexibility and power that customers need to understand and manage experiences, emotions, and behaviors so they are always one step ahead.

The merger will harness the scale and scope of two complementary organizations and enable the combined business to provide better solutions to its customers on a global basis. Together, EQT and Verdane will support investments in best-of-breed technology solutions, ranging from data collection to reporting and action capabilities, and accelerate innovation initiatives. Moreover, the two companies will combine their digital infrastructure and technology capabilities, which will increase efficiencies and deliver new opportunities to the benefit of both existing and new customers.

Kyle Ferguson, Chief Executive Officer, Confirmit, said: “At Confirmit, we imagine a future where every action is initiated by the right decision at the right time. No data silos. No unknowns. Just accurate, visual insights, in real time, helping to make businesses smarter. This merger will make that a reality. We will create a world class organization that brings real value to our clients and colleagues alike.”

Chris Nagy, Chief Executive Officer, FocusVision, said: “The merger of Confirmit and FocusVision is a perfect fit and heralds an exciting, new dynamic for the global insights industry. We are complementary on every level and together we will be a great company, focused on excellence in everything we do.”

Hajo Krösche, Managing Director and Investment Advisor at EQT Partners, said: “The merger of FocusVision and Confirmit will create a leading Research Technology player with a significantly stronger suite of solutions in Europe and North America. The merger creates a scalable platform to invest further into growth and technology to further improve the value add to our customers. We are excited about the opportunities this merger presents.”

Pål Malmros, Partner at Verdane, said: “This acquisition will be transformative for FocusVision and Confirmit and an exciting step toward delivering an even more comprehensive end-to-end technology solution. We are excited to support the management team in this merger as we believe this combination will allow the combined company to deliver even greater value to its customers.”

The transaction is conditioned on receipt of regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021.

EQT press contact
European media;  press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334
US media: Stephanie Greengarten, +1 646 687 6810

Verdane press contact
Pål Malmros, Partner, pal.malmros@verdane.com, +46 70 268 65 16

About EQT
EQT is a purpose-driven global investment organization with more than EUR 75 billion in raised capital and over EUR 46 billion in assets under management across 16 active funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America with total sales of more than EUR 27 billion and approximately 159,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More info: www.eqtgroup.com
Follow EQT on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram

About Verdane
Verdane is a specialist growth equity investment firm that partners with ambitious Northern European tech-enabled businesses to help them reach the next stage of international growth. Verdane pioneered portfolio acquisitions in Northern Europe in 2003 and announced a complementary fund strategy entirely dedicated to direct investments in 2018. Verdane’s eight funds have made over 120 investments into category leaders in digital consumer, energy & resource efficiency and software businesses. Based out of Berlin, Copenhagen, Helsinki, London, Oslo and Stockholm, the Verdane team is dedicated to being the preferred growth partner to tech-enabled businesses in Northern Europe.

More info: www.verdane.com

About FocusVision
Established in 1990, FocusVision offers the most comprehensive suite of experience insights software solutions – including advanced survey, online interview and focus groups, and online qualitative research community solutions to get brands close enough to their customers to have a full understanding of Customer Truth™ — how they think, feel, and act. Trusted by 18 of the Top-20 Fortune 100 companies, and all of the Top-10 Healthcare and CPG companies, FocusVision was honored for its Outstanding Innovation in Customer Experience Management with MarTech Breakthrough Awards in 2018 and 2019.

More info: www.FocusVision.com

About Confirmit
Confirmit’s solutions are built by insights professionals, for insights professionals. Market Research, customer experience and employee engagement consultants around the world rely on our solutions to turn insight into stories that fuel action. The heart of our business is the people behind our technology, and we work as a partner to deliver the flexibility and power you need to understand and manage experiences, emotions, and behaviours so you are always one step ahead. 

More info: www.confirmit.com

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Chronosphere Releases First Monitoring Product Purpose-Built for Cloud-Native, Raises $43.4 Million in Funding

General Atlantic

January 5, 2021

Chronosphere, the company redefining monitoring for the cloud-native world, today announced the general availability of its award-winning monitoring product. This release comes after a year in beta during which Chronosphere onboarded customers from emerging startups like Tecton to later stage startups including one of the largest delivery app companies to well-known global brands including a multinational financial services company.

“We basically don’t think about monitoring anymore as we spin Tecton deployments up and down. It’s way better than it was before,” said Ravi Trivedi, software engineer at Tecton, an enterprise feature store company for machine learning.

Today’s monitoring tools are not equipped to handle the complex and dynamic nature of cloud-native environments and while the recommended open source tools like Prometheus help get companies started, they do not scale. Chronosphere delivers scalable, reliable and customizable monitoring purpose-built for companies adopting cloud-native.

Chronosphere’s product is powered by the open source metrics engine M3 that Chronosphere founders Martin Mao, CEO, and Rob Skillington, CTO, developed while at Uber. There they experienced first-hand the complexity and scale required to monitor cloud-native workloads. They solved this by scaling M3 to one of the largest production monitoring systems in the world storing tens of billions of time series and analyzing billions of data points per second in real-time.

“Everyone understands the business benefits of cloud-native architecture, but not many think about the implications,” said Mao. “For monitoring, you need a solution that is not only compatible with the rest of the ecosystem, but one that can also handle all of the data produced by the ephemeral and complex nature of these new environments.”

Chronosphere not only allows customers to store and retrieve the massive amounts of monitoring data produced by cloud-native environments, but it also does so with an order of magnitude more cost efficient than existing solutions. Additionally, Chronosphere lets customers understand and control their spending, even as the data continues to grow. This level of visibility and control is the first of its kind in an industry notorious for unexpected and uncontrollable bills. Chronosphere customers are estimated to reduce monitoring costs by up to 10 times.

Chronosphere’s monitoring product is provided as a hosted service, eliminating the need to manage monitoring infrastructure while maintaining 100% compatibility with cloud-native standards like Prometheus, PromQL and Grafana Dashboards. Customers can retain the vendor-neutral industry standards and tooling they have grown to love without worrying about the management overhead.

Chronosphere Raises a $43.4 Million Series B Growth Funding Round

Today Chronosphere also announced $43.4 million in Series B funding, bringing the total raised to $55 million. This round was led by previous investors Greylock, Lux Capital and venture capitalist Lee Fixel with participation from new investor General Atlantic.

Jerry Chen, Partner at Greylock and Chronosphere Board Member, said: “Chronosphere’s incredible customer wins and growth since Greylock led the Series A in 2019 show how badly customers need a cloud-native monitoring solution. In 2020, co-founders Martin and Rob have been able to hire strong team members, release critical product features, and close important customers. I look forward to continuing to partner with them as more customers experience the magic of Chronosphere’s monitoring product.”

Brandon Reeves, Partner at Lux Capital and Chronosphere Board Observer, said: “In just over a year since the Series A, customers ranging from decacorn startups to more than $100 billion in enterprise value publicly traded companies have chosen Chronosphere to monitor their mission critical workloads. And they have accomplished this with nearly a 100% pilot to production conversion.”

Anton Levy, Co-President, Managing Director, and Global Head of Technology Investing at General Atlantic, said: “Chronosphere is at the forefront of the shift to next-generation data monitoring, and offers the cost-effective scalability and reliability that leading enterprises need. We believe the company’s end-to-end solution – and application across a range of verticals – has the potential to transform the industry.”

Since formally launching in November 2019, Chronosphere has been named a Gartner Cool Vendor in Performance Analysis [1],  a Vendor to Watch by EMA, one of the 50 most promising startups by The Information, one of 31 commercial open source software startups that will thrive during Covid in Business Insider and a Startup to Watch by Built In NYC.

About Chronosphere

Chronosphere’s mission is to enable organizations to operate reliably at scale and make precise, data-driven decisions. Chronosphere provides solutions for scale, performance, reliability and cost efficiency. Chronosphere is backed by Greylock, Lux Capital, General Atlantic and Lee Fixel. For more information, visit https://chronosphere.io or follow @chronosphereio.

[1] Gartner, Cool Vendors in Performance Analysis, by Padraig Byrne and Gregg Siegfried, 5 October 2020 (report available to Gartner subscribers here).

Media Contacts

Mary Armstrong & Emily Japlon
General Atlantic media@generalatlantic.com

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3i Infotech Announces Sale of its Software Products Business to Funds Advised by Apax Partners

Apax

28 December 2020: 3i Infotech Limited, a global information technology company, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Software Products business to funds advised by Apax Partners, for a total consideration of INR 10 billion. The Software Products business will be acquired by a newly formed company named Azentio Software, wholly owned by the Apax Funds. The transaction, subject to shareholder approval and relevant regulatory approvals, is expected to close in early 2021.

Since its incorporation in 1993, 3i Infotech has been providing a range of IT services and software products to 1,200+ customers across multiple industry verticals in over 50 countries. The company operates through two business segments: Services and Software Products. The Services segment, under the brand Altiray®, provides consulting services, business optimisation services and an extensive expertise in mobility, data analytics, big data, testing and application development. The Software Products business comprises a comprehensive set of core software products for customers in banking, financial services and insurance (“BFSI”) verticals and includes key products such as Kastle™ (universal banking platform), AMLOCK™ (financial crime detection and compliance software suite), Premia™ Astra (core insurance software), MFund™ Plus (asset management platform) and Orion™ (enterprise resource planning software).

Following the transaction, 3i Infotech will continue to pursue strategic growth initiatives in the IT services business, supported by a stronger balance sheet. The transaction will revitalise growth and accelerate value creation for all stakeholders of 3i Infotech, including customers, employees and shareholders. The newly formed Azentio Software will be supported by Apax Funds, with increased investments in R&D and sales and marketing. Azentio Software will focus on investing in its current product portfolio, launching new products and providing best in class service levels to all customers. The Apax Funds will also use Azentio as a platform to do M&A across the BFSI software space in the region.

Padmanabhan Iyer, Managing Director & Global CEO, 3i Infotech, said: “Today’s announcement is transformative and value accretive for all stakeholders of 3i Infotech. I foresee a very exciting future for both the IT services and the software products business. Both businesses will have the resources to capitalise on market opportunities and build long term value for employees, customers and shareholders. I want to thank the entire 3i Infotech team for their commitment and contribution towards the successful journey of the company and I am sure that the teams will be infused with renewed vigour going forward.”

Shashank Singh, Partner and Head of the India office at Apax Partners, commented: “Increasing technology spend on core software systems across the BFSI industry and ERP space is driving rapid growth in the enterprise software market in the region. The newly formed company, Azentio, has a strong portfolio of feature rich products that run the core operations for customers. We are excited to unlock Azentio’s potential and help transform the business into a true regional leader in the software space.”

Umang Kajaria, Partner at Apax Partners, added: “ERP, core Banking and Insurance software are key areas of focus for the Apax Funds, with numerous successful investments to date. Azentio provides critical, vertical-specific software that allows its customers to stay competitive. We look forward to partnering with the Azentio management team in driving continued innovation and creating a software leader for the MEA and APAC regions.”

ENDS

About Apax Partners LLP
Apax Partners is a leading global private equity advisory firm. Over its more than 40-year history, Apax Partners has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of approximately $50 billion. The Apax Funds invest in companies across four global sectors of Tech & Telco, Services, Healthcare and Consumer. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. The Apax Funds have a strong track record in the software sector having previously invested in companies such as Duck Creek, MyCase, Eci and Lexitas. For more information see: www.apax.com.

About Azentio
Azentio Software is a newly formed company in 2020 that has been carved out of 3i Infotech, a global information technology company. Azentio Software provides critical, vertical-specific software products for customers in banking, financial services and insurance verticals and includes key products such as Kastle™ (universal banking platform), AMLOCK™ (compliance software suite), Premia™ Astra (core insurance software), Orion™ (enterprise resource planning software) and MFund™ Plus (asset management platform).

About 3i Infotech
Headquartered in Mumbai, India, since its inception in 1993, the Company has been committed to driving business value across all industry verticals. The Company has over 5500 employees in 32 offices across 12 countries and over 1200+ customers in more than 50 countries across 4 continents. With a comprehensive set of IP based software solutions and a wide range of IT services, 3i Infotech has successfully transformed business operations of customers globally. The Company has a very strong foothold and customer base in geographies like North America, India, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, South Asia and Europe.

Apax Media Contacts
Katarina Sallerfors | +44 207 872 6526 | katarina.sallerfors@apax.com
Luke Charalambous | 02078726494 | Luke.Charalambous@apax.com
Kekst CNC | +1 212 521 4854 | todd.fogarty@kekstcnc.com
Greenbrook | +44 20 7295 2000 | apax@greenbrookpr.com 

3i Infotech Media Contacts
Ajay Muliyil / R Malliga Rani
Ogilvy Public Relations
ajay.muliyil@ogilvy.com / malliga.rani@ogilvy.com
Contact – 9900161311 / 9916798269

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