Tag Archives: Information technology

Universal-Investment Group enters the Irish fund market

Montagu

Universal-Investment Group enters the Irish fund market

Universal-Investment Group, the largest independent fund service platform in the German speaking region, has strengthened its market position as a European fund service platform with the acquisition of Metzler Ireland Limited.

For Universal-Investment, this is another milestone on the way to achieving its goal of becoming the leading European fund service platform and management company for all asset classes by 2023.  Ireland is an important launch venue for the European investment industry and will become Universal-Investment’s third fund service hub alongside Germany and Luxembourg.

The acquisition of Metzler’s Irish fund management company is part of Universal-Investment’s long-term growth strategy: in the last financial year ending 30 September 2020, assets under management rose over 25 percent to approximately EUR 600 billion.  Following the acquisition of the IT specialist UI Labs in 2019 and online investment community CAPinside in the summer of 2020, this is now the third acquisition in the past two years. Universal-Investment also recently launched Enlyte, one of the world’s first investment platforms for digital assets.

“In the future and additional to our fund platforms in Germany, Luxembourg and our location in Krakow, we will also be present as a high-quality provider in Dublin, offering asset managers and institutional investors our structuring, management company, administration and risk management services for all asset classes. As such, we’re one of the few providers active both as a fund administrator and management company at Europe’s three leading fund hubs. Our customers, business partners and Universal-Investment Group’s employees will benefit from this in the long term,” says Universal-Investment Group Chief Customer Officer, Katja Müller.

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Eurazeo Capital completes its investment in Questel

Eurazeo

Paris, 17 December 2020 – Eurazeo Capital has completed its investment in Questel alongside IK Investment Partners, Raise Investissement and the management team. The transaction involved the purchase of 100% of Questel’s capital.

Questel is a major intellectual property solutions provider that operates worldwide and employs 900 people in 30 countries, developing SaaS products and an automated brand services and patent filing platform. The company works with close to 6,000 clients, including a number of large multinationals, offering end-to-end collaborative patent and brand management solutions across the innovation and intellectual property cycle, from invention through to filing and renewal.

Questel’s enterprise value is €915 million. Eurazeo and IK have each invested an initial amount of around €175 million and together will hold a majority stake in the company. Eurazeo China Acceleration Fund has also invested in Questel.

About Eurazeo
• Eurazeo is a leading global investment company, with a diversified portfolio of €18.8 billion in assets under management, including €13.3 billion from third parties, invested in over 430 companies. With its considerable private equity, real estate and private debt expertise, Eurazeo accompanies companies of all sizes, supporting their development through the commitment of its nearly 300 professionals and by offering in-depth sector expertise, a gateway to global markets, and a responsible and stable foothold for transformational growth. Its solid institutional and family shareholder base, robust financial structure free of structural debt, and flexible investment horizon enable Eurazeo to support its companies over the long term.

• Eurazeo has offices in Paris, New York, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, London, Luxembourg, Frankfurt, Berlin and Madrid.
• Eurazeo is listed on Euronext Paris.
• ISIN: FR0000121121 – Bloomberg: RF FP – Reuters: EURA.PA

EURAZEO CONTACTS PRESS CONTACT
PIERRE BERNARDIN
HEAD OF INVESTOR RELATIONS
mail: pbernardin@eurazeo.com
Tél : +33 (0)1 44 15 16 76

VIRGINIE CHRISTNACHT
HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS
mail: vchristnacht@eurazeo.com
Tel: +33( 1 44 15 76 44

MAITLAND/amo
DAVID STURKEN
mail: dsturken@maitland.co.uk
Tel: +44 ( 7990 595 913

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New primary LBO deal for Omnes and its small cap funds with regional operator Tennaxia

Omnes Capital

a publisher of SaaS solutions to help listed companies and SMEs / mid-market companies in France with their CSR strategies.

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Omnes has become a core minority shareholder in Tennaxia by investing more than €8 million in the company through its 3rd generation small cap funds. This marks Omnes’ fifth deal with the latest vintage of its small cap funds. The Small Caps team is also expected to complete strategic external growth in the IoT sector by the end of the year through an additional investment in ABMI (majority holding acquired at the end of 2018).

This means that more than 40% of the €125 million raised through the 3rd generation funds (Omnes Expansion 3 and LCL Expansion 3) in early 2020 with institutional investors, family offices and retail investors (notably through LCL’s private banking and wealth management channels) has been deployed. For reference, the team’s investment strategy is to make minority or majority investments of between €8 million and €15 million in French SMEs that lead their niche segment and operate in BtoB services, BtoC services and industry in particular.

The team actively partners ambitious business leaders and their staff to help them accomplish their operational transformation goals, both through organic and external growth. In addition to an investment multiple of nearly 2.5x, the team’s track record reflects an active external growth policy (on average, one external growth deal per portfolio company) and a large proportion of primary deals.

 

A SaaS specialist to help French businesses with their ESG strategies

Tennaxia, founded in 2001 by Bernard Fort and Maxime Delorme, is a leader in cloud-based solutions to help listed companies and SMEs / mid-market companies in France with their CSR/EHS strategies. It has developed solutions and services to sustain and enhance businesses’ non-financial performances.

Tennaxia has two interlocking products:

  • A fully-configurable SaaS platform to manage EHS/CSR strategy coupled with regulatory intelligence solutions that give customers bespoke insight (depending on their activity) into changing regulations (75% of revenue)
  • Consulting services (spot audits, compliance, etc. – 25% of revenue).

The CSR/EHS reporting market is enjoying significant double-digit growth, driven by (I) strong demand from civil society as a whole, (ii) more stringent regulations and (iii) mounting investor interest in such issues.

 

The company is targeting revenue in excess of €7 million by the end of March 2021. It currently employs more than 60 people at its offices in Laval, Paris and Lyon.

The aim of the transaction is to enable Tennaxia to pursue and step up its cross-selling and upselling strategy for its existing solutions, to strengthen its sales teams and to attract new customers in France and international markets, notably by leveraging the strategic and exclusive partnerships it has already forged (with Euronext and Bpifrance first and foremost).

 

Bernard Fort, founding CEO, Tennaxia: “This deal recognises, on an institutional level, the quality of our know-how and our software solutions. With Omnes’ help, we are confident that we can fully tap into Tennaxia’s potential in a growth market. We have built a very strong company that is trusted by our customers and are now finding ways to push ahead with our development, particularly in responsible investing (ESG) and international markets.” 

Frédéric Mimoun, Senior Director, Omnes: “This growth capital deal has come about after more than twelve months of direct dialogue with Tennaxia’s founding chairman. Our ambitious growth plan is based both on the company’s position as a trailblazer in a high-potential growth market and on the quality of its tried-and-tested software solutions in SaaS mode.”

Omnes Capital is being partnered in this “limited” LBO (less than 2x EBITDA) by Bpifrance and Arkea Capital, a subsidiary of Arkea, through its investment vehicles Arkea Capital Investissement (historical shareholder of Tennaxia) and Arkea Capital 2.

 

Parties:

Founder / Shareholder managers: Bernard Fort / Maxime Delorme and Christophe Remy

Independent directors: Bernard Bourigeaud and Isabelle Saladin

Omnes (LCL Expansion 3, LCL PME Expansion 3 and Omnes Expansion 3):
Frédéric Mimoun, Senior Director
Victor Versmee, Associate

 

Co-investors:
Arkea Capital (Arkea Capital Investissement and Arkea Capital 2):

Eric Besson-Damegon and Sylvie Le Bras

Bpifrance Investissement: Nicolas de la Serre

 

Buyer advisers
LL Berg (legal issues): Olivier Abergel, Gaëlle Quillivic, Fiona Kalach and Loïc Chomet

Vivien et Associés (labour issues): Marie-Emilie Rousseau-Brunel and Christophe Calvao

Ayache (tax and labour issues): Jacques Messeca and, Céline Boisselier
Oderis (financial issues): Thomas Claverie and Léo Placzek

Kea Euclyd (customers): Christine Durroux, Claire Gourlier and Rémi Philippe

PraXis (commercial): François Laurent-Besson

Indefi (ESG): Julien Berger

Vendor advisers
Action Expertise (corporate): Sophie Galmisch, Sébastien Brunhes and Marie Soubise

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4iQ and Alto Analytics Merge and Rebrand as Constella Intelligence

C5 Capital

Constella to Help Organisations Anticipate and Defeat Digital Risk

Press Release via PRNewswire –

Los Altos, Calif. and Madrid, Spain, December 15, 2020 – 4iQ, the leader in identity intelligence, and Alto Analytics, a leader in applying AI & data science to the digital public sphere, today announced the two companies have merged and rebranded as Constella Intelligence (“Constella”), effective immediately. With advanced analytics, deep human expertise, and broad data sets — from surface to dark web, including the largest breach data collection on the planet with over 100 billion attributes and 45 billion curated identity records spanning 125 countries and 53 languages — Constella will help organisations anticipate digital risks and safeguard critical business interests.

Kailash Ambwani, CEO of 4iQ, will serve as CEO of Constella. Alejandro Romero, Founder and CEO of Alto Analytics, will serve as COO. Under their guidance, Constella will empower organisations and intelligence professionals with comprehensive digital risk protection that covers brand, executive, fraud, geopolitical, and identity threats.

“Constella combines 4iQ’s investigation platforms and proprietary data lake, which archives more than 45 billion identity records, with Alto’s vast trove of public sphere data, advanced proprietary technology, and best-in-class analytics to enable organisations to anticipate and mitigate risks to their business, their people, and their reputations.” said Ambwani. “We look forward to empowering those on the cyber frontlines with better anticipation of emerging threats, proactive analysis, and adversary identification — so they can act before any harm is inflicted.”

“Our combined capabilities enable us to take on some of the most important missions that our customers are pursuing as they combat new forms of digital risk,” said Romero. “We’re not just keeping our customers secure, we’re making the world a safer place.”

To defeat digital risk, Constella ensures that knowledge flows and teams work together across all areas of risk to safeguard key interests. The combination of artificial intelligence-enabled software, security analysts and data scientists, and exceptionally deep datasets translates directly into Constella customers being more empowered with unprecedented digital risk visibility and control.

“Through successful 4iQ Series C funding and the powerful combination of two market-leading organisations, Constella has incredible tools and resources to tackle the fast-evolving security landscape,” said Alberto Yepez, Constella Board chair and co-founder and managing director of ForgePoint Capital, a leading investor. “I’m confident the synergies will drive seamless integration and I look forward to continued work with Kailash and the team.”

As a global leader in Digital Risk Protection, Constella is determined to make the world a safer place. Already protecting more than 25 million users and over 100 organisations worldwide through a workforce of more than 200 employees, the new organisation has its sights set on broadening its solution portfolio and growing its geographic footprint and customer base. Its diverse multinational team currently operates in more than 10 countries and is fully committed to becoming the most trusted partner for defeating digital risk. Learn more about Constella by visiting constellaintelligence.com.

About Constella Intelligence
Constella Intelligence is a leading global Digital Risk Protection business that works in partnership with some of the world’s largest organizations to safeguard what matters most and defeat digital risk. Its solutions are broad, collaborative and scalable, powered by a unique combination of proprietary data, technology and human expertise—including the largest breach data collection on the planet, with over 100 billion attributes and 45 billion curated identity records spanning 125 countries and 53 languages.

Media Contacts

US/UK
Adam Curtis
acurtis@levick.com

Spain
Jonathan Nelson
jonathan.nelson@constellaintelligence.com

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SPH Analytics Strengthens its Focus and Innovation in Consumer Experience and Engagement Space

Stg Partners

SPH Analytics (SPH), the leading healthcare measurement and analytics platform for consumer experience and engagement, today announced the merger of its population health division with Azara Healthcare to operate as an independent, standalone company.  This newly combined company will leverage the Azara Healthcare brand and create the industry-leading population health management company.

“We are excited to merge our population health division with Azara Healthcare to create a standalone company with a relentless focus on improving care quality and patient outcomes while responsibly managing costs.  This united business will leverage the unrivaled analytics of the legacy companies to improve population health, solving material challenges across healthcare in the United States,” said Amy Amick, President and Chief Executive Officer of SPH Analytics. “And just as the newly merged Azara Healthcare will be optimally positioned to drive value for our population health clients, the more focused attention of SPH Analytics on consumer experience and engagement will only serve to accelerate the pace of innovation and impact for our experience and engagement clients.  This is a win for all of our clients and for the healthcare industry as a whole.”

Read the full story at SPHAnalytics.com.

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Eurazeo invests in Tink, leading open banking platform

Eurazeo

Paris, 11 December 2020 – Through Eurazeo Growth, Eurazeo invests €33 million in Tink, Europe’s leading open banking platform. This round of €85million of additional funding, led by Eurazeo Growth brings the total investment in Tink during 2020 to €175 million.

After Younited Credit, Wefox and Thought Machine, Tink is Eurazeo Growth’s fourth investment in the Fintech sector and the first in the Nordics.
Tink, a Swedish company founded in 2012, has more than 350 employees and is currently serving its clients out of 13 local offices across Europe. The company offers tools to build the future of financial services across Europe. Tink connects with more than 3,400 banks reaching over 250 million banking customers across Europe.

Through one API, Tink allows customers to access aggregated financial data, initiate payments, enrich transactions and build personal finance management tools. Tink’s technology and connectivity powers digital services for over 300 world-leading banks and fintechs, including PayPal, NatWest, ABN AMRO, BNP Paribas, Nordea and SEB. Tink’s open banking platform is also used by more than 8,000 developers.
Tink is currently live in Sweden, UK, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Belgium, Austria and the Netherlands. During 2020, the company made three major acquisitions, Eurobits in Spain, Instantor in Sweden and Openwrks in the UK. These acquisitions enabled Tink to further strengthen its positioning in Spain and in the UK and to complement Tink’s product offering.

The funding will fuel Tink’s continued expansion and support the further development of its technology with a particular focus on payments. The company processes close to 1 million payment transactions per month in 5 markets, for clients including the payment fintech Lydia, used by more than 5 million customers in France. Tink aims to make its payment initiation services live in 10 markets in 2021.

Yann du Rusquec, Partner at Eurazeo Growth, states:

The open banking movement continues to pick up pace, with 2021 showing every sign that it will bring increased collaboration between fintechs and large enterprises, who want to take digitally enabled services to their customers with a tried and trusted partner. Since its inception eight years ago, Tink has proven itself to be the leading open banking platform in Europe, and our investment underlines the confidence we and the industry have in Tink and open banking. We look forward to supporting them on their continued journey.”

Daniel Kjellén, co-founder and CEO of Tink, comments:

“2020 has seen payments powered by open banking take-off, and in 2021 we expect to see this scale – most prominently in the UK, followed by Europe. This funding extension and the partnership with Eurazeo Growth, Dawn Capital and our existing investors will further facilitate the development of our payment initiation services across Europe, while continuing to deliver new data-products built on open banking technology to our customers.”

About Eurazeo
• Eurazeo is a leading global investment company, with a diversified portfolio of €18.8 billion in assets under management, including €13.3 billion from third parties, invested in over 430 companies. With its considerable private equity, real estate and private debt expertise, Eurazeo accompanies companies of all sizes, supporting their development through the commitment of its nearly 300 professionals and by offering in-depth sector expertise, a gateway to global markets, and a responsible and stable foothold for transformational growth. Its solid institutional and family shareholder base, robust financial structure free of structural debt, and flexible investment horizon enable Eurazeo to support its companies over the long term.

• Eurazeo has offices in Paris, New York, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, London, Luxembourg, Frankfurt, Berlin and Madrid.
• Eurazeo is listed on Euronext Paris.
• ISIN: FR0000121121 – Bloomberg: RF FP – Reuters: EURA.PA

The open banking movement continues to pick up pace, with 2021 showing every sign that it will bring increased collaboration between fintechs and large enterprises, who want to take digitally enabled services to their customers with a tried and trusted partner. Since its inception eight years ago, Tink has proven itself to be the leading open banking platform in Europe, and our investment underlines the confidence we and the industry have in Tink and open banking. We look forward to supporting them on their continued journey.”
“2020 has seen payments powered by open banking take-off, and in 2021 we expect to see this scale – most prominently in the UK, followed by Europe. This funding extension and the partnership with Eurazeo Growth, Dawn Capital and our existing investors will further facilitate the development of our payment initiation services across Europe, while continuing to deliver new data-products built on open banking technology to our customers.”

EURAZEO CONTACTS
PRESS CONTACT
PIERRE BERNARDIN
HEAD OF INVESTOR RELATIONS
email: pbernardin@eurazeo.com
Tel: +33 (0)1 44 15 16 76

VIRGINIE CHRISTNACHT
HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS
mail: vchristnacht@eurazeo.com
Tel: +33 (0)1 44 15 76 44

MAITLAND/amo
DAVID STURKEN
mail: dsturken@maitland.co.uk
Tel: +4444 (0)(0) 7990 5957990 595 913913

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Cinven portfolio company Bioclinica to merge with ERT

Cinven

Combination of Bioclinica and ERT to create a leading independent provider of data and technology for use in clinical trials

International private equity firm Cinven announces that it has agreed to merge Bioclinica (‘the Company’), a leading integrated solutions provider of clinical life science and technology expertise, with ERT, a global leader in clinical end-point data solutions. As part of the transaction, Cinven will become a significant minority shareholder of ERT working in partnership with Nordic Capital, Astorg and Novo Holdings A/S. Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

Established in 1990, Bioclinica supports the development of new medications globally through its medical expertise, service experience and technology platform that improve the efficiency of clinical trials. Headquartered in the US, Bioclinica employs c. 2,600 people globally, with operations across the US, Europe and Asia.

Building on its experience in the global clinical trials industry through its February 2014 investment in Medpace, a leading contract research organisation (“CRO”), that Cinven successfully listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market in August 2016, Cinven’s Healthcare team identified Bioclinica as a compelling investment opportunity and acquired the business in October 2016. During Cinven’s ownership, Cinven has worked closely with Euan Menzies, the CEO, and the rest of the management team to enhance Bioclinica’s operations and position Bioclinica for growth, particularly in its core medical imaging business, where there has been significant investment in team expansion and technology capabilities to respond to the increase in clinical trial activity globally.

The combination of Bioclinica and ERT will create a leading independent provider of data and technology for use in clinical trials globally. The combined organisation will be involved in approximately 4,000 clinical trials each year, serving the world’s major pharma and biotech companies and working in partnership with the major global CROs. The combination of Bioclinica’s technology and medical expertise in imaging, together with ERT’s expertise in collecting endpoint data, will ensure better and faster outcomes from clinical trials and will bring increased efficiency and innovation into the clinical trials industry, for the benefit of patients worldwide.

Commenting on the transaction, Alex Leslie, Partner at Cinven, said:

“We have worked hard with Euan and the excellent management team at Bioclinica to lay strong foundations for the future. We have invested in technology, new services and strengthening the team, which has resulted in strong growth momentum in the business.

“The combination of Bioclinica with ERT will bring immense benefits to the combined group’s customers and to patients across the world. We look forward to being able to continue contributing to, and investing into, the growth and development of the combined business through our ongoing shareholding.”

Executive Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Bioclinica, Euan Menzies, added:

“Working alongside the Cinven team at Bioclinica, first as Chairman and more recently as Chief Executive, has given me a real appreciation for the strong market perspective regarding the clinical trials sector possessed by Alex and his colleagues. This strategic insight and focus has been invaluable as we have worked to prioritize new investment opportunities and accelerate growth.”

Completion of the transaction is expected in 2021 and is subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals.

Jefferies LLC served as lead financial advisor to Bioclinica and Rothschild & Co served as co- advisor. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to Cinven and Bioclinica.

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ERT and Bioclinica to Merge, Creating a Global Leader in Clinical Trial Endpoint Technology

Nordic Capital

December 10 2020
ERT and Bioclinica to Merge, Creating a Global Leader in Clinical Trial Endpoint Technology Image

 

ERT, a global leader in clinical end-point data solutions, today announced that Bioclinica, a technological and scientific leader in clinical imaging, has agreed to merge with ERT. This combination will create a leading partner to global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, providing best-in-class technology, scientific and therapeutic expertise, digital innovation and an unrelenting focus on customer service.

ERT is a global market leader and innovator in clinical trial end-point data solutions, providing clinical study teams with higher-fidelity and more powerful data and digital results required to transform clinical trials. By joining forces with Bioclinica, ERT further strengthens the most comprehensive and robust endpoint data collection portfolio in the industry and provides a broader portfolio of integrated and digital solutions for optimal customer engagement.

The transaction will integrate Bioclinica’s expertise in imaging, with ERT’s expertise in eCOA, cardiac safety, respiratory and wearables. Leveraging a unique footprint, the combined company will deliver data analytics, insights, business intelligence, virtual patient visits and hybrid technological solutions as a strategic partner to global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, delivering best-in-class clinical research tools, expertise and technologies to partners and patients alike across all therapeutic areas.

“As our customers continue to transform their R&D operations, we must continuously deliver a breadth of innovative technology and services,” said Joe Eazor, President and CEO of ERT. “Our merger with Bioclinica will allow us to continue to reinvent end-point data collection by delivering higher-fidelity data and more integrated solutions to achieve our customers’ goals for higher effectiveness, greater efficiency, safer trials, and more patient-centric virtual solutions.”

“This merger will significantly enhance our commercial offerings and technology capabilities,” said Euan Menzies, CEO of Bioclinica. “The combination will make us a more relevant partner to an even broader group of clients operating in today’s complex and fast-moving clinical trials environment. We look forward to leveraging our new footprint together in the chapters ahead.”

Joe Eazor will be the CEO of the newly merged company and the management team will be composed of a combination of both ERT and Bioclinica executives.

The proposed transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by regulatory agencies. ERT and Bioclinica expect the transaction to close in 2021.

About ERT

ERT is a global data and technology company that minimizes uncertainty and risk in clinical trials so that its customers can move ahead with confidence. With nearly 50 years of clinical and therapeutic experience, ERT balances knowledge of what works with a vision for what’s next, so it can adapt without compromising standards.

For more information, go to http://www.ert.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

About Bioclinica

Bioclinica is an integrated clinical life science solutions provider, delivering powerful insight into clinical trial development, assuring greater client success in bringing medical therapies to market, for people around the world. Through deep medical, scientific and technology expertise, the company provides medical imaging and cardiac safety services; clinical adjudication; randomization and trial supply management and optimization; electronic and eSource data capture; site and patient payments; clinical trial management software; and drug safety solutions. Bioclinica’s global team of life science experts serve more than 500 pharmaceutical, biotechnology and device organizations – including the top 20 biopharmaceutical companies and leading CROs – through offices in North America, Europe, and Asia.

 

ERT Media Inquiries:

Drew Bustos
VP, Marketing Strategy
drew.bustos@ert.com
+1 732-698-4557

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Public Transit Big Data Provider Swiftly Receives Strategic Growth Investment from JMI Equity to Expand Ability to Make Cities Move Efficiently

JMI Equity

Partnership with JMI to accelerate digital transformation of public transit

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Swiftly, the leading big data platform for public transit, today announced that it has received a strategic investment from JMI Equity (“JMI”), a growth equity firm focused on investing in leading software companies, with participation from Shakti Ventures. JMI and Shakti join an existing group of investors, including Renewal Funds, Via ID, Aster Capital, and Wind Capital, to help Swiftly accelerate the development of its industry-leading big data platform to support hundreds of transit agencies and operators around the world. With the added resources from JMI, Swiftly plans to double headcount and expand its customer-facing teams to serve more public transit agencies and operators globally.

“Public transit has been, and will continue to be, the backbone of our cities,” said Jonny Simkin, co-founder and CEO of Swiftly. “And now as we look to emerge from the pandemic with innovative vaccines in sight, our communities and transit agencies must evolve and become smarter. Digital, cloud-based technology will be a key part of this journey. We’re excited about our partnership with JMI because we believe we have found the best long-term partner for us – one that shares our culture, our values, and our vision for the future of public transit. With this new investment, we now have the resources to double down on our mission to make cities move efficiently.”

Swiftly has created the first cloud-based big data platform specifically designed for public transit data and operations. Unlike legacy transit software, Swiftly leverages big data and sophisticated algorithms to drive reliable and efficient public transit, thereby improving the rider experience. Further, the platform includes a suite of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) that enable public transit networks to connect and integrate services with other modes of transportation.

The public transit space is ripe for digital transformation. While this trend has been in full swing for at least a decade, only recently has public transit started to embrace modern digital solutions. The pandemic has accelerated the need for agencies to be agile and efficient, but by and large, agencies still rely on decades-old technology to keep millions of people moving through their cities.

“Swiftly’s cloud platform empowers public transit agencies to transform mobility operations for the future,” said Brian Hersman, General Partner of JMI Equity. “We are excited to partner with Jonny, his impressive team, and Swiftly’s other investors to help accelerate the digital transformation and growth of mass transit systems globally.”

Swiftly has seen rapid growth over the past 12 months with new sales doubling year over year. The company now serves more than 90 transit agencies, operators, and cities, including SEPTA (Philadelphia), MBTA (Boston), MDOT MTA (Baltimore), Miami-Dade Transit, Capital Metro (Austin), VIA (San Antonio), VTA (San Jose), ComfortdelGro (Australia), SAPTA (Adelaide), Straeto (Iceland), and Region Värmland (Sweden). Over 5,500 transit professionals use the Swiftly platform to improve the rider experience on more than 1.6 billion passenger-trips per year.

For more information about Swiftly and this strategic investment from JMI, please see our related blog post here.

AQ Technology Partners served as Swiftly’s financial advisor on the transaction, and Gunderson Dettmer LLP provided legal counsel. Goodwin Procter LLP served as legal counsel to JMI.

About Swiftly

Swiftly has created the first big data platform specifically designed for transportation data and operations. Swiftly works with over 90 city transit networks around the world, including MBTA in Boston, Capital Metro in Austin, VIA in San Antonio, VTA in San Jose, and MDOT MTA in Baltimore, supporting over 5,500 transit agency professionals and impacting over 1.6 billion passengers per year. Swiftly has helped customers improve arrival predictions by up to 30% and complete planning projects up to 90% faster, resulting in increased ridership, fewer passenger complaints, and more efficient transit operations. For more information, visit www.goswift.ly.

About JMI Equity

JMI Equity is a growth equity firm focused on investing in leading software companies. Founded in 1992, JMI has invested in over 150 businesses in its target markets, successfully completed over 100 exits, and raised more than $4 billion of committed capital. JMI partners with exceptional management teams to help build their companies into industry leaders. For more information, visit www.jmi.com.

Contacts

For Swiftly
John Eng
Chief Marketing Officer
john@goswift.ly
415-570-9658

For JMI Equity
Chuck Dohrenwend / Will Braun
Abernathy MacGregor
cod@abmac.com / whb@abmac.com
212-371-5999

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Orange Ventures invests in cloud native service provider Weaveworks, the creator of GitOps

Orange Ventures, the venture capital fund of Orange, invests in Weaveworks, Inc. to help drive adoption of its GitOps solution in Enterprises and Telecoms Companies.

Weaveworks empowers enterprises to unlock cloud native agility with GitOps, a developer-centric operating model for Kubernetes by helping teams adopt cloud native computing, managing cloud native infrastructure and applications quickly, reliably and at scale.

In this Series C funding round WeaveWorks raised a total of $36.65m from a pool of telecom and enterprise investors like Orange Ventures, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Amazon Web Services and Sonae IM and historic investors like Accel, Google Ventures and Redline Capital.

The company will use the new funding to enhance its GitOps-powered Kubernetes platform built on Open Source software and extend its reach in enterprises and telecommunications companies to make it easier for them to accelerate adoption of Cloud Native and Kubernetes with GitOps.

Kubernetes at Telco scale

Telecommunications companies have turned to Kubernetes and its ecosystem of cloud native tooling for the resilience, flexibility and scalability it provides, as they look ahead to the need for unprecedented scale for the 5G buildout. Orange Ventures, Deutsche Telekom and Ericsson have come together to invest in a future of Kubernetes and Cloud Native powered by Weaveworks’ GitOps.

“As global telcos ramp up to deliver high-speed 5G applications and services, and enterprises build and operate cloud-native applications, the need for a reliable, secure and standards-based operating model is more important than ever. GitOps is that operating model for large scale cloud native implementations across environments and serves as the backbone of the Weave Kubernetes Platform (WKP),” said Remi Prunier, Investment Principal, Orange Ventures.

With the Weave Kubernetes Platform telecommunications companies can securely deliver containerised 5G across data centres, cloud, hybrid, and edge environments while significantly reducing operating costs.

Alexis Richardson, co-founder and CEO of Weaveworks, said: “Cloud Native and Kubernetes are revolutionising the way we build and operate applications. The challenge is how to manage these environments with the scalability, reliability and control enterprises need when managing thousands of developers and applications at the same time. This is what sets Weaveworks apart.
“Our new funding, backed by two of the world’s leading public cloud providers and industry-leading telecoms companies, is a powerful validation that Weaveworks provides the speed, flexibility, and control telecoms and large enterprises need to rapidly innovate and scale cloud native applications.”

 

About Orange Ventures
Orange Ventures is an international 350 million euro multi-stage technology investment fund. It finances innovative startups in the areas of strategic interest of Orange (Networks & IT, Digital Business, Cybersecurity, and Fintech) and beyond (Consumer platforms, E-gaming, Edtech, Health etc). Orange Ventures also has dedicated initiatives for impact investments and African and Middle East region. Supported by the Orange Group, the fund offers startups in which it invests access to the Group’s expertise and potential synergies with its numerous business units and 266 million customers in 26 countries.
For more information, visit ventures.orange.com or follow us on Twitter @Orange_DV.

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