Tag Archives: Information technology

Creation of the European Paytech Leader

Hellman & Friedman

MILAN, Italy / COPENHAGEN, Denmark

A Powerful Strategic Combination Between Next and Nets

Binding framework agreement signed for all-share merger

  • Transformational combination with Nets, resulting in the creation of the European PayTech leader following the recently announced SIA merger
  • Substantial platform at scale. Extensive reach across >25 countries, with presence in most attractive, fast-growing and under-penetrated European markets
  • Full portfolio of solutions with key strengths in acquiring and e-commerce, underpinned by superior technology stack and capabilities across payment rails
  • Significant value creation opportunities for Nexi shareholders, with run-rate recurring cash synergies estimated at c.€170 million p.a., in addition to c.€150 million p.a. estimated for the SIA merger. 2022
  • Cash EPS accretion >25% expected for Nexi shareholders, assuming closing of both Nets and SIA transactions
  •  c.€2.9 billion revenues and c.€1.5 billion EBITDA on a pro-forma aggregated basis in FY 2020E, including run-rate synergies
  • Superior profitability and cash generation at scale, with enhanced business resilience stemming from geographic diversification, e-commerce exposure and significantly lower customer concentration
  • All-share merger on the basis of equivalent 2020E EV / EBITDA multiples, implying an enterprise and equity value for Nets of €7.8 billion and €6.0 billion, respectively. No incremental debt raised to fund the combination of Nexi and Nets
  • Nets shareholders to receive 406.6 million newly issued Nexi shares, resulting in a pro-forma ownership of 39% in Nexi + Nets (or 31% when considering Nexi + Nets + SIA). Existing Nexi shareholders to own 61% in Nexi + Nets (or 48% when considering Nexi + Nets + SIA)
  • Transaction supported by reference shareholders of both Nexi and Nets, who will remain invested in the combined group. Lock-up mechanism in place for Nets shareholders

15 November 2020 – Following the announcement made on 2 November 2020, Nexi, the PayTech leader in Italy, and Nets, a leading integrated Pan-European PayTech player, active in 20 countries and controlled by a consortium of private equity firms led by Hellman & Friedman (“H&F”), announce today that they have signed a framework agreement (“FA”) regarding the combination of the two groups through an all-share merger (the “Merger”).

The Merger, which is consistent with the consolidation process underway at European and global level in the digital payments sector, follows last month announcement by Nexi of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in relation to the strategic combination between Nexi and SIA, which is independent of the Merger. The two transactions are not linked with each other but will each contribute to the ambition of creating a true European PayTech leader.

Upon closing of the two transactions, the new combined group encompassing Nexi, Nets and SIA (the “New Group”) will become one of the European PayTech leaders with the scale, reach and breadth of capabilities to drive from a leading position the transition to digital and cashless in Europe. The New Group will offer enhanced future-proof innovative payment solutions across payment rails and channels, underpinned by a best-in-class technology stack and professional capabilities. It will leverage a strong complementary presence across both the most digitally-advanced and under-penetrated geographies in Europe. The New Group represents a winning platform that will be ideally positioned to further drive new partnerships with banks and merchants in-market and across Europe. The CEO of Nexi, Paolo Bertoluzzo, commented: “The transaction, which follows the announced MoU for the merger with SIA, creates the European PayTech leader with unique scale and capabilities to best serve and support all our customers across Europe, from citizens to merchants, from partner banks to corporates, from public administration to other institutions. Nexi will transform into a European leader with access to a fourfold larger addressable market, still largely unpenetrated and growing double digit. The New Group, with reach in over 25 countries, will act as digitalization engine in Europe, driving the transition to digital and cashless.

Nexi people, together with our reference shareholders, are at the same time truly inspired by the vision of the New Group and deeply committed to this new powerful step in our value creation journey. We are excited to join forces also with the highly talented people of Nets, who are driving such an effective transformation of their company. This combination of passionate and highly competent professionals in the New Group has the true potential to fuel innovation in the payment industry across Europe for years to come.”

The CEO of Nets, Bo Nilsson, commented: “This transaction marks an important milestone in Nets’ journey to become a European payments champion, from our beginning as a domestic player in Denmark and Norway to our evolution into a pan-European payments pure-play operator. Through constant innovation, and driven by the tremendous efforts of colleagues, Nets has re-shaped the Nordic and broader European payments landscape, in creating ever more valuable solutions for our customers and stakeholders. We are incredibly excited to join forces with Nexi, with whom we will continue to shape the industry and capture significant growth opportunities across the sector through our presence in structurally attractive payment markets such as Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, as well as in the fast growing Polish market. Denmark and the Nordics remain a key focus for the group, drawing on the expertise Nets has built in serving one of the most digitally advanced regions in Europe. Today’s announcement is a true testament to the capability and dedication of everyone at Nets.”

Nets’ business profile
Headquartered in Denmark, Nets is one of the largest integrated Pan-European PayTech companies with leadership position in the Nordics, one of the most digitally advanced regions globally, as well as in underpenetrated geographies with significant growth potential (such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland and Southern Eastern Europe).

Through its two business units (Merchant Services and Issuer & eSecurity Services), Nets serves over 740,000 merchant RGUs, over 40 million cards and more than 250 financial institutions and handles over €125 billion card payments annually in the acquiring segment. Furthermore, Nets has developed a strong multi-regional e- commerce offering over the last three years.

Nets was formed in 2010 through the merger of three Nordic payments companies: Denmark’s PBS and Norway’s BBS and Teller. With the acquisition of the leading Finnish digital payments provider Luottokunta in 2012, Nets became the leading pan-Nordic payments player.

Over the past 3 years, under Hellman & Friedman’s ownership, Nets has undergone significant transformation and investments resulting in accelerated growth of its core business, both organically and through strategic M&A. Most recently this included the 2018 merger with Concardis which expanded Nets’ footprint to structurally attractive payment markets such as Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, as well as the expansion into the fast growing Polish market through the acquisitions of Dotpay/eCard, P24, and PeP. Following the sale of Nets’ Corporate Services account-to-account business (“Corporate Services”) to Mastercard for €2.85bn, which is expected to close in Q1 2021, Nets’ model has been successfully refocused on its core businesses, i.e. Merchant Services (62% of 2019 revenues), with a strong e-commerce exposure and proposition, and Issuer & eSecurity Services (38% of 2019 revenues),5 with key strengths in issuing processing and innovative digital payments methods.

Nets generated €1.1 billion in revenues and €387 million in EBITDA in 2019 pro-forma for the sale of the Corporate Services division and recent acquisitions in Poland, with an organic underlying revenues growth of c.8% YoY in 2019. Nets also recorded solid and resilient performance in 2020 despite Covid-19, with organic underlying revenues7 in Q3 growing c.4% YoY.

Creation of the European PayTech leader
The combination of Nexi with Nets is a game-changer in the European payments landscape creating one of the largest players in Europe with enhanced scale, client reach, distribution network and breadth of offering, which will further benefit from the recently announced SIA merger. A powerful strategic combination that will allow the New Group to:

  • Create the largest pan-European platform with the scale to drive superior product and efficiency leadership, with c.€2.9 billion revenues and c.€1.5 billion EBITDA on a pro-forma aggregated basis for FY 2020E, including run-rate synergies;
  • Benefit from significant growth potential from leadership and exposure to attractive European markets (ranging from fast-growing Italy to the structurally attractive Germany/DACH and Poland/CSEE regions to the highly advanced and innovative Nordic markets), with an overall addressable market expanded 4x vs. Nexi standalone to €4.6tn in terms of consumer spend and with an average digital payments penetration of 33%;
  • Leverage a full portfolio of solutions across the payment ecosystem, with strong competences in acquiring and e-commerce, and the ability to support international merchants with vertical-specific solutions based on flexible customer journeys across countries, payment channels and rails;
  • Create a best-of-breed technology platform leveraging on complementarity and scale, underpinned by €300m IT & innovation spend per year and >3k product and tech development specialists;
  • Achieve superior profitability and cash generation at scale, with enhanced business resilience stemming from geographic diversification, e-commerce exposure and significantly lower customer concentration;
  • Be uniquely positioned to capture further organic and inorganic growth opportunities across Europe.

Synergies and value creation
In addition to ~€150 million p.a. of recurring cash synergies from the recently announced SIA merger, the combination of Nexi and Nets is expected to provide significant value creation opportunities from highly visible and properly phased ~€170 million of estimated run-rate recurring cash synergies, of which:

  •  ~€95 million in lower operating expenses through rationalization of IT and tech platforms together with the creation of shared services and competence centers, and central procurement;
  • ~€60 million in revenue synergies, of which €40 million at EBITDA level, from cross-selling of digital solutions to SMEs, enhanced e-commerce and omni-channel proposition for local, regional and international merchants, increased penetration in attractive verticals and upselling to a value-added service model for national and international banks;
  •  ~€35 million in recurring capex synergies through product development at scale, joint investment planning and best-of-breed technology platforms consolidations;
  • 80% of EBITDA synergies are expected to be achieved by year 2024;
  • Total integration costs estimated at ~1x total recurring annual cash synergies.

The combined ~€320 million p.a. of recurring cash synergies from Nets-SIA represent a significant value creation opportunity for Nexi shareholders, with 2022 Cash EPS accretion estimated >25% including run-rate synergies (and c. 15% on a phased-in basis) assuming closing of both Nets and SIA transactions.

Taking into account the estimated synergies, the envisaged combination of Nexi with Nets and SIA is expected to benefit from pro forma aggregate revenues as of 2020E equal to €2.9 billion, EBITDA of €1.5 billion and Operating Cash Flow of €1.2 billion.

Integration and synergy delivery plan
A clear, focused and properly phased integration and synergy delivery plan has been defined for both Nets and SIA, taking into account the fact that the areas of overlap in the efforts across Nexi-Nets and Nexi-SIA are limited. Nexi-Nets synergies are mainly focused on merchant services for revenues and on outside of Italy for costs; Nexi-SIA synergies are mainly focused on issuing and digital banking & corporate solutions for revenues and on Italy only for costs.

Initially, Nets management will remain focused on delivering Nets’ highly accretive standalone growth plan, while from 2021 Nexi-SIA integration will start with full focus on Italy. Later from 2022 the Nets integration will also start with the longer term goal of creating One European Platform.

At the same time, from the very beginning, a focused set of joint fast-track initiatives will be launched to make sure that value creation from synergies starts immediately from closings. These initiatives will focus on delivering one European e-commerce and multichannel proposition, one SME next generation proposition, one technology plan, immediate joint resource planning (opex and capex) and purchasing.

This focused and phased transformation program will be led by a highly experienced management team. At the same time, the breadth and depth of seniority and talent within Nexi, Nets and SIA will guarantee the continued total focus on delivering growth and development of the ordinary activities of each business while the transformation is executed.

Transaction structure
The framework agreement envisages a merger of Nets into Nexi on the basis of equivalent 2020E expected EV
/ EBITDA multiples. The strategic combination will be executed as an all-share merger whereby Nets’ shareholders will receive about 406.6 million new Nexi shares, resulting in a pro-forma ownership of 39% in Nexi + Nets (or 31% when considering Nexi + Nets + SIA). Nexi shares issued to Nets’ shareholders will be subject to a lock-up mechanism of up to 24 months post-closing, with 1/3 locked up for 6 months, 1/3 locked up for 12 months and the remaining 1/3 locked up for 24 months.

Under the terms of the Merger, Nets is valued at an enterprise value of €7.8 billion and an equity value of €6.0 billion, based on Nexi’s share price equal to €14.71 as of 13th November 2020, resulting in an implied EV/EBITDA 2020E of ~20x. In addition, a potential earn-out of up to €250 million will be payable in newly issued Nexi shares in 2022, contingent on the 2021 EBITDA performance of Nets (at a significantly lower implied multiple).

The execution of the Merger does not require additional new debt and the about €1.5 billion of Nets’ financial debt to be refinanced at closing is already backed by a committed bridge facility granted by a pool of primary international banks. Nexi keeps its commitment to maintain a prudent capital structure and consistent financial policy.

The transaction carries the full support of the reference shareholders of both Nexi and Nets, who will remain invested in the New Group. Intesa Sanpaolo, existing large shareholder in Nexi as well as established partner for both Nexi and Nets, also expressed its full support to the combination with Nets as well as its strategic relevance and rationale.

Upon closing of Merger, Hellman & Friedman would own 21%, Advent International & Bain Capital 13%, Mercury UK 12%, Intesa Sanpaolo 6%, GIC Private Equity 4%, with a free float of 44%.

Upon closing of the Merger and the envisaged SIA merger, CDP would own 17%, Hellman & Friedman 16%, Advent International & Bain Capital 10%, Mercury UK 10%, Intesa Sanpaolo 5%, GIC Private Equity 3%, with a free float of 38%.

The New Group will remain listed on the Italian Stock Exchange.

Governance
Upon Closing, Group Board of Directors will be chaired by Michaela Castelli, current Nexi Chair. The New Group will be led by the current Group CEO of Nexi, Paolo Bertoluzzo, as Group CEO. The current Group CEO of Nets, Bo Nilsson, will become non-executive Board member of Nexi and Chairman of Nets.
Hellman & Friedman will appoint also another Board member as a result of the transaction.

Approvals and conditions
The Merger has been approved by the Nexi’s Board of Directors following also the issuance of the favourable opinion of the Company’s Committee for Related Party Transactions.

The Merger with Nets is independent of the envisaged combination with SIA, where confirmatory due diligence and documentation preparation are ongoing; signing of binding documentation for the SIA merger is also expected to incorporate the adjustments to be made to reflect the effects of the Nets transaction. The Nets and SIA transactions envisage sequential antitrust review processes, starting with the Nets merger, which is intended to close earlier.

Nexi EGM and related whitewash vote to approve the Merger is expected to take place in Q1 2021 and the execution of the merger deed with Nets is anticipated in Q2 2021, following regulatory approvals.
The SIA transaction is expected to be completed in Q3 2021.

Closing is also subject to the satisfaction of the conditions set out in the FA which include, amongst others, relevant merger control and other regulatory approvals as well as the completion of the sale of Nets’ Corporate Services to Mastercard.

* * *

Nexi is advised by HSBC, Centerview, BofA Securities and Goldman Sachs as financial advisors. Legance – Avvocati Associati and Linklaters are acting as legal counsels, Bain&Co and Alix as industrial advisors, PWC as due diligence advisor for financial and accounting matters and KPMG for tax matters. Nexi’s Committee for Related Party Transactions is advised by Lazard and Prof. Gabriele Villa as financial advisors and Studio Legale Galbiati, Sacchi e Associati as legal counsel.

Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan are acting as lead financial advisors to Nets with Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley acting as additional financial advisors. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are acting as legal counsel, and Ernst & Young as due diligence advisors for accounting and tax matters.

Mercury UK is advised by Mediobanca, Citi and Barclays as financial advisors and by Pirola Pennuto Zei & Associati as tax advisor.

* * *
Conference call
On November 16th, 2020 at 8am CET Nexi will host a conference call. Link for the registration:
CLICK HERE

The presentation and the replay of the conference call will be available on the Company website at https://www.nexi.it/en/investor-relations/presentations-announcements.html

* * *

This press release contains forecast information which hence are, as such, uncertain. The forecast information are based on various assumptions, expectations, projections and forecast data relating to future events and subject to multiple uncertainties and other risk factors out of the control of Nexi and/or Nets and/or the other parties to which they belong. Several factors exist which may lead to results and trends significantly different from the implied or express contents of the forecast information and, thus, such information do not amount to a reliable indicator of future performance. Nexi, Nets and the other parties mentioned in this press release undertake no obligation to publicly update or review the forecast information as a consequence of new information, future events or other reasons, except where required by applicable law.

* * *

The signing of the binding framework agreement for the Merger represents a related party transaction pursuant to Consob Regulation no. 17221/2010 (“Consob Regulation”) and internal Nexi policies (“Nexi Policies”). The Merger qualifies as a transaction of major relevance in light of the exceeding of the thresholds identified by the Company pursuant to art. 4, par. 1, let. a) of the Consob Regulation. Accordingly, the Nexi’s Committee for Related Party Transactions released unanimously a non-binding favourable opinion pursuant to Nexi Policies and Nexi will publish, within the terms provided for by law, the informative document pursuant to art. 5, paragraph 1, of Consob Regulation.

 

Nexi
Is the leading PayTech Company in Italy, listed on MTA of Borsa Italiana. We operate in strong partnership with ~150 partner banks. Our integrated end-to-end omni-channel technology connects banks, merchants and consumers enabling digital payments. We help simplify payments for our clients and digitalize the Italian economy. Nexi operates in three areas: Merchant Services & Solutions, Cards & Digital Payments and Digital Banking Solutions:

Merchant Services & Solutions: Nexi, together with its partner Banks, serves ~ 900,000 merchants;

Cards & Digital Payments: Nexi, together with its partner Banks, manages 41.6 million payment cards

Digital Banking Solutions: Nexi manages 13,100 ATMs, approximately 469,000 e-banking workstations and 947 million clearing transactions in 2019. It has also developed, as a technological partner, the open banking system of CBI S.c.p.a. to which the main Italian banks have already joined.

Nets
At Nets, we see easier products and solutions as the foundation for growth and progress – both in commerce and society. With headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, and more than 4,000 employees located across Europe, we help financial institutions, businesses and merchants across Europe make tomorrow a little easier for their customers while delivering unrivalled security and stability. Powering payment solutions for an easier tomorrow. www.nets.eu

Nexi – External Communication & Media Relations
Daniele de Sanctis
daniele.desanctis@nexi.it
Mobile: +39 346/015.1000
Direct: +39 02/3488.4491

Matteo Abbondanza
Matteo.abbondanza@nexi.it
Mobile: +39.348/406.8858
Direct: +39 02/3488.2202

Nexi – Investor Relations
Stefania Mantegazza
stefania.mantegazza@nexi.it
Mobile: +39.335/580.5703
Direct: +39 02/3488.8216

Barabino & Partners
Media Relations
Office: +39 02/72.02.35.35
Sabrina Ragone – s.ragone@barabino.it
Francesco Faenza – f.faenza@barabino.it

Nets – media contact
Søren Winge
Head of Media Relations Mobile: +45 29 48 26 46
Email: swing@nets.eu

 

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Gauge Capital Announces Strategic Investment in RIP-IT

Gauge Capital

Southlake TX – Gauge Capital (“Gauge”) announced that is has partnered with the founders and management team of RIP-IT (www.ripit.com) (“RIP-IT” or the “Company”) to recapitalize the Company.  Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Orlando, FL, RIP-IT is a rapidly-growing athletic equipment and footwear company committed to designing products that meet the specific needs of female athletes.  The Company has three brands: RIP-IT, Ringor, and Defender, each available online and in stores nationwide.  While many competitors base female-focused products on a variation of a male or unisex product, RIP-IT is one of a select few sporting equipment brands designing for female athletes from the ground-up. This approach has led to category leadership in softball, and early traction in other sports, including soccer and volleyball.

“We look forward to partnering with Gauge in RIP-IT’s next phase of growth,” said Co-Founder and Co-CEO Matthew Polstein.  “With Gauge’s support, the RIP-IT team is excited to invest in our brands by expanding our marketing reach and continuing to deliver products designed for her.”

Jordan Dean from Gauge Capital added, “RIP-IT’s track-record of delivering innovative products is exceptional.  We look forward to partnering with the RIP-IT team to help empower female athletes and achieve the next phase of growth for the Company.”

As part of the investment, Drew Johnson and Alex Asbill from Gauge Capital have joined the Company’s Board of Directors.

About Gauge Capital (www.gaugecapital.com)
Gauge Capital is a middle-market private equity firm based in Southlake, Texas. Gauge invests in five key sectors: healthcare, technology, business services, government & industrial services, and food & consumer. The firm manages more than $2.0 billion in capital and in 2020, 2021 and 2022, Inc. Magazine named Gauge one of the top private equity firms for founders. In 2021 and 2022, Gauge was also named to the Top 50 PE Firms in the Middle Market by Grady Campbell. In 2022, Gauge ranked in the top 5 out of 517 private equity firms in the HEC Paris – DowJones Small-Cap Buyout Performance Ranking. For more information, please contact Andrew Peix, Managing Director of Business Development at apeix@gaugecapital.com.

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Winshuttle’s EnterWorks Platform to Automate Product Page Audits through New Partnership with Content Status

Stg Partners

EnterWorks MDM/PIM Clients are First to Gain Seamless Capability to Ensure Complete Accuracy of Product Pages Across Selling Platforms

Bothell, WA – November 12, 2020 – Winshuttle, the provider of the EnterWorks industry-leading Master Data Management (MDM) and Product Information Management (PIM) platform announced it is partnering with Content Status to provide clients with the capability to automate product page auditing. Content Status is a new utility that fully automates product page content auditing for brands and retailers. The new partnership will allow EnterWorks clients to ensure pages are live and accurate across all of their selling platforms.

“We are pleased to be the first MDM/PIM platform to offer Content Status as part of our ongoing mission to be proactive in integrating new capabilities in the EnterWorks platform,” said Kerry Young, Vice President and General Manager of EnterWorks at Winshuttle. “Up until now, we haven’t found an easy, affordable way for our client’s to audit and monitor all their product pages so most companies don’t do it.”

According to Content Status, over 52% of product pages fail minimum quality standards and over 10% have critical errors, driving lower conversions and expensive returns. The Content Status tool fully automates the entire auditing and monitoring process, providing clarity and transparency as to what is wrong, where, and how to fix it.

“We like that they’re 100% focused on page auditing versus trying to do everything. It allowed them to focus on building the best solution to solve the problem. And their self-service, usage-based model is the only one that makes sense for our clients.

The new partnership will allow Winshuttle clients to initiate an audit job of retailers from within the MDM/PIM platform. The Content Status tool then audits the page, grades for quality, flags hard to find errors, highlights used keywords, and defines the Perfect SKU® – all in just minutes. It also features an interactive editing process that ensures the right improvements or users can make the edits right within EnterWorks.

“We are excited to partner with Winshuttle to help them complete the ideal cycle: organized product content, syndication, and now auditing to ensure the right content is live, complete, accurate, and optimized. Unfortunately, pages disappear, are incorrectly categorized, or content gets changed without approval, crushing the bottom line.”

“Business teams now have an easy and affordable tool that gives them critical page insights in minutes and the tools to make the improvements, “ said George Koenig, Content Status co-founder. “If you’re selling online, then you want to start each day with the peace of mind knowing that all your product pages are live and selling.”

For more information about Winshuttle and the EnterWorks platform, please visit winshuttle.com/enterworks.

About Winshuttle
Over 2,400 enterprises across the globe trust Winshuttle’s automation, product information management (PIM), and multi-domain master data management (MDM) software to drive business results at scale, become more agile and transform digital into a competitive advantage.

Winshuttle’s EnterWorks solution is a Multi-Domain MDM & business process automation solution provider that powers leading brands such as Fender, GSK, Thomson Reuters, Mary Kay, IDEA, US Foods, Ecolab, Carhartt, Rich Products, and many more. The EnterWorks platform is highly ranked by industry analysts as a Multi-Domain Master Data Management hub with deep Product Information Management (PIM) and Digital Asset Management (DAM) capabilities. Our flexible platform enables customers to deliver high-quality data and experiences across systems, channels, and audiences. Learn more at winshuttle.com/enterworks.

About Content Status
Content Status is a new utility that fully automates product page content auditing, insights, and monitoring for retailers, brands, distributors, and agencies. Featuring customizable content grading, error-flagging, proprietary rule builder, and the Perfect SKU® algorithm, the subscription service requires no on-boarding, no programming and no IT involvement. For more information, visit contentstatus.com.

Press contact

Mary Lee
425-527-6639

mary.lee@winshuttle.com

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IK Investment Partners to acquire GeoDynamics

ik-investment-partners

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that the IK Small Cap II Fund has reached an agreement with Peter Vermeesch, Stijn Stragier and Sofindev to acquire a majority stake in GeoDynamics (“the Company”). GeoDynamics is a leading SaaS provider specialising in location-based software solutions for mobile workforces. Financial terms are not disclosed.

GeoDynamics was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Kortrijk, Belgium. The Company’s software solutions serve over 2,700 customers across construction, utilities, technical and manufacturing services, in addition to local municipalities. The proprietary cloud-based platform allows customers to manage their vehicle fleets in real-time and account for mobile workers’ time and activity registration.

IK will be acquiring a majority stake from Sofindev and the management team, led by founders and joint Managing Directors, Peter Vermeesch and Stijn Stragier. Following the transaction the business will continue to be led by both founders, who will also be reinvesting alongside IK.

Peter Vermeesch and Stijn Stragier, joint Managing Directors and co-founders of GeoDynamics, said: “We are excited to be partnering with IK as we look to expand beyond our home market of Belgium and bring our innovative solutions to SMEs further afield.  With their strong track record and on the ground presence in our key target market of Belgium, we are confident we have the right team to help facilitate our growth. We are also very grateful to Sofindev for their support over the last four years.”

Sander van Vreumingen, Partner at IK Investment Partners and advisor to the IK SC II Fund, said: “GeoDynamics provides a unique proposition, particularly among SMEs operating in construction, utilities and technical services, who are looking to optimise the efficiency of their workforces and value the ability to integrate this software into their existing systems. We believe there is huge potential for GeoDynamics to replicate its success in Belgium across other adjacent regions and markets and look forward to working with Peter and Stijn to deliver this goal.”

Jan Camerlynck, Partner at Sofindev, said: “We have been proud to support GeoDynamics since 2016 in a partnership with Peter and Stijn. They have done a tremendous job, together with their team, to  develop the company’s position as the number one provider in Belgium with a truly unique SaaS software solution for mobile workforce management. As the business has reached a scale to expand to new markets now is the right time to join with a new partner and we wish them every success with IK.”

For further questions, please contact: 

Maitland/AMO
James McFarlane
T: +44 (0) 20 7379 5151
jmcfarlane@maitland.co.uk 

IK Investment Partners
Nastasja Vojvodic
T: +44 (0) 20 7304 4300
nastasja.vojvodic@ikinvest.com

About IK Investment Partners

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is a Pan-European private equity firm focused on investments in the Benelux, DACH, France, Nordics and the UK. Since 1989, IK has raised more than €13 billion of capital and invested in over 135 European companies. IK supports companies with strong underlying potential, partnering with management teams and investors to create robust, well-positioned businesses with excellent long-term prospects. For more information, visit www.ikinvest.com

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TPG and TA Associates to Acquire Planview from Thoma Bravo for $1.6 Billion

TA associates

Investment from leading technology investors will accelerate company’s vision as a global leader in Agile and PPM for enterprises

Austin; San Francisco; Fort Worth, Texas; and Boston – TPG Capital, the private equity platform of global alternative asset firm TPG, and TA Associates, a leading global growth private equity firm, today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to acquire Planview, a global leader in Portfolio Management and Work Management. TPG Capital and TA Associates will acquire the company for a purchase price of $1.6 billion. Planview’s existing majority shareholder, Thoma Bravo, will retain a minority interest in the company.

“We’ve spent more than three decades delivering innovation, driving the market forward, and reinventing ourselves. I truly believe that the best is yet to come for our customers and for Planview,” said Greg Gilmore, CEO of Planview. “We’re grateful for Thoma Bravo’s partnership over the last four years, and look forward to this next chapter as we accelerate our vision and continue to be a journey partner for our customers as they transform strategy to delivery.”

Planview has more than 30 years of experience partnering with organizations to help them connect strategy to delivery. The company provides a comprehensive platform that spans the spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions that enable organizations to transform and accelerate on-strategy delivery at enterprise scale. Through the platform, organizations can build an innovation culture, realize agile at scale, make the project to product shift, and adapt to the changing world of work.

“The nature of work has been changing over the last several years as technology has enabled employees to be productive in ways that weren’t previously possible,” said Nehal Raj, Partner at TPG Capital. “This shift has only accelerated during the pandemic, and what is emerging is a new and enduring model of work that’s increasingly flexible, fragmented, and distributed. As more of our work lives transition to digital, organizations will require tools that provide executives visibility and connectivity across the entire enterprise. With Planview, we see an opportunity to partner with an innovative leader at the forefront of this new way of working. We look forward to supporting the company in its next chapter of growth.”

“We have followed Planview for over a decade and have been impressed by the company’s strong growth under Greg Gilmore’s leadership,” said Ashu Agrawal, a Managing Director at TA Associates. “We believe that Planview’s comprehensive portfolio and work management solutions provide continued market opportunities as they are uniquely positioned to help organizations effectively navigate and accelerate strategy to delivery. We look forward to partnering with the Planview management team during the company’s next growth phase, and are pleased to be investing alongside TPG and Thoma Bravo.”

“Planview is another example of Thoma Bravo working with existing management to implement our proprietary, operational approach to value creation while complementing the organic growth of the business with strategic and creative M&A,” said Holden Spaht, a Managing Partner at Thoma Bravo. “We’re proud of being a part of Planview’s transformation from an IT PPM provider to a broader Portfolio and Work platform with unique, dual leadership across Agile and traditional Project domains, and we believe Planview is well positioned to continue its growth amidst a changing world of work. We look forward to continuing to invest in a company with strong market leadership, a highly differentiated platform, and a clear ability to execute.”

UBS Investment Bank and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. provided committed debt financing, and alongside Barclays and Jefferies LLC acted as financial advisors to TPG Capital and TA Associates. Ropes & Gray served as legal counsel to TPG Capital, and Goodwin Procter served as legal counsel to TA Associates. JP Morgan and DBO Partners acted as financial advisors to Planview and Thoma Bravo, and Kirkland & Ellis served as legal counsel.

About Planview
Planview has one focus: enabling the transformation journey as organizations rewire strategy to delivery in today’s fast-paced, highly disruptive markets. Our solutions uniquely help organizations navigate this journey and accelerate on-strategy delivery at enterprise scale. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions create organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empower teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enable customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Planview has more than 700 employees supporting 3,500 customers and 1 million users worldwide. For more information, visit: https://www.planview.com/.

About TPG
TPG is a leading global alternative asset firm founded in 1992 with approximately $83 billion of assets under management and offices in Austin, Beijing, Fort Worth, Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Melbourne, Moscow, Mumbai, New York, San Francisco, Seoul, Singapore, and Washington, DC. TPG’s investment platforms are across a wide range of asset classes, including private equity, growth equity, real estate, and public equity. TPG aims to build dynamic products and options for its investors while also instituting discipline and operational excellence across the investment strategy and performance of its portfolio. For more information, visit www.tpg.com on Twitter @TPG.

About TA Associates
TA Associates is a leading global growth private equity firm. Focused on targeted sectors within five industries – technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer and business services – TA invests in profitable, growing companies with opportunities for sustained growth, and has invested in more than 500 companies around the world. Investing as either a majority or minority investor, TA employs a long-term approach, utilizing its strategic resources to help management teams build lasting value in high quality growth companies. TA has raised $33.5 billion in capital since its founding in 1968 and is committing to new investments at the pace of over $3 billion per year. The firm’s more than 100 investment professionals are based in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong. More information about TA Associates can be found at www.ta.com.

About Thoma Bravo
Thoma Bravo is a leading private equity firm focused on the software and technology-enabled services sectors. With more than $70 billion in assets under management as of October 31, 2020, Thoma Bravo partners with a Company’s management team to implement operating best practices, invest in growth initiatives and make accretive acquisitions intended to accelerate revenue and earnings, with the goal of increasing the value of the business. The firm has offices in San Francisco and Chicago. For more information, visit www.thomabravo.com.

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Smarsh Acquires Digital Reasoning, Combining Global Leadership in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning With Market Leading Electronic Communications Archiving and Supervision

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November 10, 2020Acquisition Transforms the Technology-Enabled Risk and Compliance Space with First End-to-End AI-Powered Offering to Protect Regulated Organizations from Financial and Reputational Damage

Global Customers to Benefit from AI and ML for Data Search and Supervision, Amid Surges in Remote Workforces and Digital Communications and Collaboration Tools

PORTLAND, Ore. & NASHVILLE, Tenn., November 10, 2020 – Smarsh®, enabling organizations to manage risk and uncover value within their electronic communications, announced the acquisition of Digital Reasoning, a global leader in natural language processing (NLP), artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML), at the 2020 FINRA Artificial Intelligence Virtual Conference. The transaction brings together the leadership of Smarsh in digital communications content capture, archiving, supervision and e-discovery, with Digital Reasoning’s leadership in advanced AI/ML powered analytics. The combined company will enable customers to spot risks before they happen, maximize the scalability of supervision teams, and uncover strategic insights from large volumes of data in real-time.

Smarsh manages over 3 billion messages daily across email, social media, mobile/text messaging, instant messaging and collaboration, web, and voice channels. The company has unparalleled expertise in serving global financial institutions and US-based wealth management firms across both the broker-dealer and registered investment adviser (RIA) segments. Smarsh has been named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Information Archiving (EIA) since 2015. The report evaluates vendors on their completeness of vision and ability to execute, and in the 2020 edition, Smarsh was placed highest in ability to execute and positioned furthest in completeness of vision.1

Brian Cramer, CEO of Smarsh, said, “Smarsh and Digital Reasoning’s combined capabilities equip customers with an entirely new expertise that we are calling ‘Communications Intelligence.’ Using artificial intelligence and machine learning helps firms more efficiently supervise and mitigate risk at scale, and will now enable them to analyze their electronic communications to uncover business intelligence that can fuel sales and other revenue drivers.

Mr. Cramer continued, “The ongoing pandemic and its impact on how and where people work has accelerated long-term trends that were already well underway.  The exploding volume, velocity, and variety of electronic communications are creating greater risks for firms, while also presenting opportunities to leverage communications data to spot risks before they happen, and identify new insights to drive fresh growth initiatives. These conditions are creating a large divide between firms investing to harvest data-driven insights and leverage data to manage risk, and those who are falling behind. This will bear out in earnings and share prices in the years to come.”

Tim Estes, Founder and CEO of Digital Reasoning, said, “In this new world of remote work, a company’s digital communications infrastructure is now the most essential one for it to function and thrive. Smarsh and Digital Reasoning provide the only validated and complete solution for companies to understand what is being said in any digital channel and in any language. This enables them to quickly identify things like fraud, racism, discrimination, sexual harassment, and other misconduct that can create substantial compliance risk.”

The combined capabilities of Smarsh and Digital Reasoning enable customers to:

  • Strengthen lexicon-driven supervision with AI-powered surveillance across the widest breadth of digital communications channels
  • Automate surveillance across the emerging collaboration tools (such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Slack, and Workplace by Facebook) that are critical for productivity in the COVID-era remote workforce reality
  • Reduce costs of human capital, by minimizing the amount of communications people must review
  • Accelerate the ability to leverage massive amounts of data for insights that can drive business growth
  • Identify troublesome patterns or trends of employee behavior before they cause irreparable harm

According to the 2020 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Information Archiving, “Enterprises are increasingly tapping into business intelligence (BI) by applying analytics, semantics analysis and classification to many data types and sources.  Enterprises are looking for improved offerings that will integrate the archiving of such platforms for compliance-based or business-analytics-based initiatives.”1

Smarsh customers include 9 of the top 10 banks in the world. Digital Reasoning’s world-class AI and high-quality NLP models are powering conduct surveillance at many of the largest Tier 1 investment banks worldwide. Its investors, including leading global financial institutions Barclays, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, Nasdaq, Macquarie Group, and Standard Chartered, will continue to support the business following this combination.

Together, Smarsh and Digital Reasoning can enable global customers to get ahead of unwanted or illegal activities such as fraud, insider trading, money laundering, customer complaints, and other top priorities. The enhanced platform will be especially adept at satisfying requirements from financial services regulators in the United States and overseas, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Digital Reasoning was recognized among Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies for AI and recently received the Frost & Sullivan Product Leadership Award in the AI Risk Surveillance Market. Smarsh and Digital Reasoning will be presenting on Communications Intelligence as the new imperative for the risk and compliance industry at the upcoming 1LoD XLoD global conference.

The addition of Digital Reasoning to the Smarsh organization follows the acquisition by Smarsh of Entreda, the leading cybersecurity compliance solutions provider for the wealth management space, in May of this year.

Financial details of the transaction, which is expected to close in the next 60 days, were not disclosed. Barclays acted as exclusive financial advisor to Digital Reasoning.

 

1 Gartner, “Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Information Archiving”, Michael Hoeck, Jeff Vogel, October 27, 2020.

 

About Smarsh

Smarsh is the recognized global leader in electronic communications archiving solutions for regulated organizations. The Smarsh Connected Suite provides innovative capture, archiving, e-discovery, and supervision solutions across the industry’s widest breadth of communication channels.

Scalable for organizations of all sizes, the Smarsh platform provides customers with compliance built on confidence. It enables them to strategically future-proof as new communication channels are adopted, and to realize more insight and value from the data in their archive. Customers strengthen their compliance and e-discovery initiatives, and benefit from the productive use of email, social media, mobile/text messaging, instant messaging and collaboration, web, and voice channels.

Smarsh serves a global client base that spans the top banks in North America and Europe, along with leading brokerage firms, insurers, and registered investment advisors. Smarsh also enables federal and state government agencies to meet their public records and e-discovery requirements. For more information, visit www.smarsh.com.

About Digital Reasoning

Digital Reasoning is a global leader in understanding human communications and behavior through the combination of applied AI, deep collaboration with industry experts, and a commitment to use technology for positive change. Through the combination of our trusted technology and our customers’ experience, for example, patients have a better chance of surviving, banks can ensure their employees are meeting the highest standards of conduct, and law enforcement can protect the most vulnerable citizens in our society.  For more information, go to www.digitalreasoning.com and follow on Twitter at @dreasoning.

 

More Resources
Smarsh and Actiance Complete Merger, Combine Forces to Redefine Archiving Under the Smarsh Brand
Smarsh Acquires Entreda, Leader in Cybersecurity Risk and Compliance Software for Wealth Management Industry

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Innovestor invests in Linear – Digitalizing the real estate business

Innovestor

Linear, a Finnish startup focusing on the digitalization of real estate brokerage, has closed €1.1 million in seed funding. The round was led by Innovestor Ventures, joined by institutional and private investors as well as the company’s previous backer, Superhero Capital. Linear will use the latest funding round on future growth and expansion to new markets.

Linear Oy, founded in 2018, offers a digital ecosystem that is driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning to facilitate the housing trade. The services benefit both private sellers and professional realtors.

Linear offers realtors a comprehensive SaaS (Software as a Service) automation tool for managing the sales process and acquiring new customers. Furthermore, realtors have access to a wide range of digital marketing tools, such as virtual apartment tours and virtual interior designs. Realtors can use Linear to minimize the amount of manual work, allowing them to focus solely on the sales process. This increases the annual sales capacity of realtors significantly.

To date, Linear has over 600 registered realtors as customers from the majority of Finland’s largest realtor agencies, including Remax, Kiinteistömaailma and Bo LKV.

For private home sellers, Linear provides an integrated platform (named Dixu) with all the necessary tools to sell homes independently. For a flat fee, private sellers get AI-driven pricing suggestions, support in preparing legal documents, marketing materials and a sample of the most efficient realtors in their own area, if they decide to turn to professional sales support.

The development of the real estate sector has recently focused heavily on digital services and concepts that facilitate the sale of a house listing without a realtor. Miro Eriksson, CEO at Linear, believes realtors will continue to play an important role in the real estate selling process.

“While many choose to sell their homes independently, from consumer to consumer, we think that realtors continue to have a solid position in the market – and we are happy to provide them with a new solution to make their job easier and more efficient. We are proud and humble to successfully close this investment round, giving us confidence to continue developing our products and services”, Eriksson says.

 

“We were able to quickly build conviction around Linear’s ambitious team and their vision for applying tech to develop the home selling market. Moreover, in this market, we believe the Human+Machine approach will be a successful formula. Over a short period of time, the company has validated its offering and is now ready to scale”, says Innovestor’s Wilhelm Lindholm.

 

This was Superhero Capital’s follow-on investment into the company, as the Helsinki-based venture capital firm made their initial investment in Linear’s pre-seed round in 2019.

Although Linear’s platform was launched in 2019, the startup has shown strong growth as their revenue has increased by 14 percent month-over-month during the first half of 2020.

 

In the media 

Suomalainen asuntokaupan nettiapuri keräsi 1,1 miljoonan euron rahoituksen – Idea keksittiin pankissa: ”Olemme myöntäneet miljoonien edestä lainoja ja huomasimme ongelmia” (Talouselämä)

Finnish startup Linear raises €1 million to digitalise real estate but keep realtors in the game (Tech.eu)

 

Contact

Miro Eriksson

CEO, Linear
miro(a)linear.fi
+358 44 5801656

 

Wilhelm Lindholm

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Venminder Raises $33 Million in Growth Funding Led by Silversmith Capital Partners

Series C Round Includes Participation from Existing Investors, Bain Capital Ventures and MissionOG

Venminder, a leading innovator in third-party risk management solutions, today announced that it has raised a $33 million Series C funding round led by new investor Silversmith Capital Partners, with participation from existing major institutional investors, Bain Capital Ventures and MissionOG. The company plans to use the proceeds of the capital raise to propel forward feature development from its product roadmap, capture additional share in core verticals and expand further into new markets.

The investment follows Venminder’s continued track record of rapid growth, with the Company adding its 800th customer earlier this year and nearly tripling its revenue over the past 3 years. Demand for Venminder’s differentiated vendor risk management solutions has continued to increase through 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened awareness of the importance of partnering with vendors that can verifiably provide a safe and secure environment for their customers and customer data.

“Closing a significant Series C round, during these uncertain times, further validates Venminder’s unique approach to managing third-party risk,” said James Hyde, CEO of Venminder. “We combine a comprehensive SaaS platform built with the capabilities to drive an entire third-party risk management program, with experienced in-house thought leaders, who can identify and assess the risk of vendor data by providing key oversight analytics and insights. The capital raise places Venminder in an excellent position to continue its path of expansion, as we address the complex and evolving challenges our customers and prospects face when managing vendor relationships. With this investment round, we are also very excited to bring on a new partner in Silversmith Capital Partners and welcome their co-founder Todd MacLean as a new Venminder board member, both of which have deep-rooted knowledge and networks across the technology industry and within our vertical end markets that will help facilitate our continued growth.”

Founded by Dana Bowers, a serial entrepreneur who also founded iPay Technologies, Venminder’s purpose-built SaaS-based software platform is configurable and designed for growth and scale, flexibly serving customers ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies. The platform is a unique solution for organizations seeking to build a comprehensive, end-to-end view of the risks their vendors may pose, enabling them to seamlessly track, automate, assess and report on all vendor activity in a centralized information repository. As part of its continued platform development efforts, Venminder also launched the Venminder Exchange earlier this year, an unparalleled marketplace providing professionals a fast and efficient way to search and preview vendor risk assessments completed by qualified professionals, such as CISSPs, CPAs, and other thought leaders, in one easy-to-use, centralized location.

“We are really excited to partner with James, Dana and the entire Venminder team,” said Todd MacLean, managing partner, Silversmith Capital Partners. “At Silversmith, we strive to be thesis-driven in our approach and the case for reducing the risk associated with today’s extended enterprise is compelling. Even more so, however, our decisions are ultimately driven by management teams, and the ability to partner – again – with the team that built iPay into such a success is one we feel extremely fortunate to have.”

For more information on Venminder, visit www.venminder.com

About Venminder

Venminder offers a world-class SaaS platform that guides and streamlines third-party risk management. The Company is widely recognized for its solutions across all industries with most notably recently receiving the highest scores in 2 of 3 use cases in the Gartner Critical Capabilities for IT Vendor Risk Management Tools Report 2020. Venminder’s platform helps users collaborate on all things vendor-related and guides through critical processes such as oversight management, contract management, risk assessments, due diligence requirements, questionnaires, SLA management, vendor onboarding and more. Robust and configurable reporting can be generated from the tool to give clear visibility into the management and ongoing monitoring of third parties. Completed vendor risk assessments can be found in the Venminder Exchange and include thorough assessments of a vendor’s information security, SOC reports, contracts, financials, business continuity/disaster recovery and more. Venminder also powers Third Party ThinkTank, an online free community dedicated to third-party risk professionals. For more information, visit www.venminder.com.

About Silversmith Capital Partners

Founded in 2015, Silversmith Capital Partners is a Boston-based growth equity firm with $2.0 billion of capital under management. Silversmith’s mission is to partner with and support the best entrepreneurs in growing, profitable technology and healthcare companies. Representative investments include ActiveCampaign, Appfire, Centauri Health Solutions, DistroKid, Impact, LifeStance Health, MediQuant, Panalgo, Unily, Validity, and Webflow. The partners have over 75 years of collective investing experience and have served on the boards of numerous successful growth companies including ABILITY Network, Archer Technologies, Dealer.com, Liazon, Liberty Dialysis, MedHOK, Net Health, Passport Health, SurveyMonkey, and Wrike. For more information about Silversmith, please visit www.silversmithcapital.com.

About Bain Capital Ventures

Bain Capital Ventures partners with disruptive founders to accelerate their ideas to market. The firm invests from seed to growth in startups driving transformation across industries, from SaaS, infrastructure software and security to fintech and healthcare to commerce and consumer tech. The firm has helped launch and commercialize more than 240 companies, including DocuSign, Jet.com, Kiva Systems, Lime, LinkedIn, Rapid7, Redis Labs, Rent the Runway, Rubrik, SendGrid and SurveyMonkey. Bain Capital Ventures has $5.2 billion in assets under management with offices in San Francisco, New York, Boston and Palo Alto. Follow the firm via LinkedIn and Twitter.

About MissionOG

MissionOG partners with high-growth businesses that have proven models in segments where we have had success as operators and investors, including financial services and payments, data platforms, and software. We apply our experience and capabilities to a group of highly skilled and passionate entrepreneurs whose businesses are on the cusp of exponential growth. Headquartered in Philadelphia, the firm is managed by operators and investors who have effectively built early to growth stage businesses and guided them through successful acquisitions. For more information visit http://www.missionog.com.

Media Contact:

Jessica Carbino, Director of Marketing

Venminder | media@venminder.com

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Europe is on its way to quantum leadership: IQM raises 39 M€ in Series A funding

Tesi

IQM Quantum Computers (IQM), the European leader in building superconducting quantum computers, today announced that it has raised 39 M€ in Series A funding, bringing the total amount of funding raised to date to 71 M€.

This ranks among the highest fundraising rounds by a European deep-tech startup within a year. MIG Fonds has led this round, with participation from all existing investors including Tesi, OpenOcean, Maki.vc, Vito Ventures, Matadero QED. New investors Vsquared, Salvia GmbH, Santo Venture Capital GmbH, andTencent, have also joined this round.

“IQM has a strong track record of research and in achieving high growth. They continue to attract the best global talent across functions and have exceeded their hardware and software milestones. We are thrilled to lead this round and continue to support IQM as the company accelerates its next phase of business and hardware growth,” said Axel Thierauf, Partner at MIG Fonds, and Chairman of the Board of IQM.

Since 2019, IQM has been among the fastest-growing companies in the quantum computing sector and already has one of the world’s largest quantum hardware engineering teams. This funding will be used to accelerate IQM´s hardware development and to co-design application-specific quantum computers. A significant part of the funding will also be used to attract and retain the best global talent in quantum computing, and to establish sales and business development teams.

”Today’s announcement is part of our ongoing Series-A funding round. I am extremely pleased with the confidence our investors have shown in our vision, team, product, and the ability to execute and commercialize quantum computers. This investment also shows their continued belief in building the future of quantum technologies. This is a significant recognition for our fantastic team that has achieved all our key milestones from the previous round. We’re just getting started,” said Jan Goetz, CEO of IQM.

“It is impressive to be a part of the IQM journey and see the progress of their technology. We’re proud to see another startup from Finland making a global impact. IQM will have a lasting impact on the future of computing, and consequently will help solve some of the global challenges related to healthcare, climate change and development of sustainable materials among many others,” said Juha Lehtola, Head of Direct VC Investments at Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment).

IQM delivers on-premises quantum computers for research laboratories and supercomputing centers. For industrial customers, IQM follows an innovative co-design strategy to deliver quantum advantage based on application-specific processors, using novel chip architectures and ultrafast quantum operations. IQM provides the full hardware stack for a quantum computer, integrating different technologies, and invites collaborations with quantum software companies.

“We want to invest in deep technology startups that shape the future and advance society. IQM is the perfect example of a company that is on top of its game; their work on quantum computing will make an impact for generations to come,” said Herbert Mangesius, Founding Partner at Vsquared and Vito Ventures.

While quantum computing is still under development, governments and private organizations across the world are investing today to retain their competitive edge and become quantum-ready for the future. The next decade will be the decade of quantum technology, and we will see major breakthroughs with real-world applications using quantum computers in healthcare, logistics, finance, chemistry and beyond.

IQM Quantum Computers:
IQM is the European leader in superconducting quantum computers, headquartered in Espoo, Finland. Since its inception in 2018, IQM has grown to 70+ (TBC) employees and has also established a subsidiary in Munich, Germany, to lead the co-design approach. IQM delivers on-premises quantum computers for research laboratories and supercomputing centers and provides complete access to its hardware. For industrial customers, IQM delivers quantum advantage through a unique application-specific co-design approach. IQM has also received a 3.3 M€ grant from Business Finland and has been awarded a 15 M€ equity investment from the EIC Accelerator program.

Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment Ltd) is a 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 www.tesi.fi | @TesiFII

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TPG and TA Associates to Acquire Planview from Thoma Bravo for $1.6 Billion

TPG Capital

Investment from leading technology investors will accelerate company’s vision as a global leader in Agile and PPM for enterprises

Austin; San Francisco; Fort Worth, Texas; and Boston –  November 10, 2020 – TPG Capital, the private equity platform of global alternative asset firm TPG, and TA Associates, a leading global growth private equity firm, today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to acquire Planview, a global leader in Portfolio Management and Work Management. TPG Capital and TA Associates will acquire the company for a purchase price of $1.6 billion. Planview’s existing majority shareholder, Thoma Bravo, will retain a minority interest in the company.

“We’ve spent more than three decades delivering innovation, driving the market forward, and reinventing ourselves. I truly believe that the best is yet to come for our customers and for Planview,” said Greg Gilmore, CEO of Planview. “We’re grateful for Thoma Bravo’s partnership over the last four years, and look forward to this next chapter as we accelerate our vision and continue to be a journey partner for our customers as they transform strategy to delivery.”

Planview has more than 30 years of experience partnering with organizations to help them connect strategy to delivery. The company provides a comprehensive platform that spans the spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions that enable organizations to transform and accelerate on-strategy delivery at enterprise scale. Through the platform, organizations can build an innovation culture, realize agile at scale, make the project to product shift, and adapt to the changing world of work.

“The nature of work has been changing over the last several years as technology has enabled employees to be productive in ways that weren’t previously possible,” said Nehal Raj, Partner at TPG Capital. “This shift has only accelerated during the pandemic, and what is emerging is a new and enduring model of work that’s increasingly flexible, fragmented, and distributed. As more of our work lives transition to digital, organizations will require tools that provide executives visibility and connectivity across the entire enterprise. With Planview, we see an opportunity to partner with an innovative leader at the forefront of this new way of working. We look forward to supporting the company in its next chapter of growth.”

“We have followed Planview for over a decade and have been impressed by the company’s strong growth under Greg Gilmore’s leadership,” said Ashu Agrawal, a Managing Director at TA Associates. “We believe that Planview’s comprehensive portfolio and work management solutions provide continued market opportunities as they are uniquely positioned to help organizations effectively navigate and accelerate strategy to delivery. We look forward to partnering with the Planview management team during the company’s next growth phase, and are pleased to be investing alongside TPG and Thoma Bravo.”

“Planview is another example of Thoma Bravo working with existing management to implement our proprietary, operational approach to value creation while complementing the organic growth of the business with strategic and creative M&A,” said Holden Spaht, a Managing Partner at Thoma Bravo. “We’re proud of being a part of Planview’s transformation from an IT PPM provider to a broader Portfolio and Work platform with unique, dual leadership across Agile and traditional Project domains, and we believe Planview is well positioned to continue its growth amidst a changing world of work. We look forward to continuing to invest in a company with strong market leadership, a highly differentiated platform, and a clear ability to execute.”

UBS Investment Bank and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. provided committed debt financing, and alongside Barclays and Jefferies LLC acted as financial advisors to TPG Capital and TA Associates. Ropes & Gray served as legal counsel to TPG Capital, and Goodwin Procter served as legal counsel to TA Associates. JP Morgan and DBO Partners acted as financial advisors to Planview and Thoma Bravo, and Kirkland & Ellis served as legal counsel.

About Planview
Planview has one focus: enabling the transformation journey as organizations rewire strategy to delivery in today’s fast-paced, highly disruptive markets. Our solutions uniquely help organizations navigate this journey and accelerate on-strategy delivery at enterprise scale. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions create organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empower teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enable customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Planview has more than 700 employees supporting 3,500 customers and 1 million users worldwide. For more information, visit: https://www.planview.com/.

About TPG
TPG is a leading global alternative asset firm founded in 1992 with approximately $83 billion of assets under management and offices in Austin, Beijing, Fort Worth, Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Melbourne, Moscow, Mumbai, New York, San Francisco, Seoul, Singapore, and Washington, DC. TPG’s investment platforms are across a wide range of asset classes, including private equity, growth equity, real estate, and public equity. TPG aims to build dynamic products and options for its investors while also instituting discipline and operational excellence across the investment strategy and performance of its portfolio. For more information, visit www.tpg.com on Twitter @TPG.

About TA Associates
TA Associates is a leading global growth private equity firm. Focused on targeted sectors within five industries – technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer and business services – TA invests in profitable, growing companies with opportunities for sustained growth, and has invested in more than 500 companies around the world. Investing as either a majority or minority investor, TA employs a long-term approach, utilizing its strategic resources to help management teams build lasting value in high quality growth companies. TA has raised $33.5 billion in capital since its founding in 1968 and is committing to new investments at the pace of over $3 billion per year. The firm’s more than 100 investment professionals are based in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong. More information about TA Associates can be found at www.ta.com.

About Thoma Bravo
Thoma Bravo is a leading private equity firm focused on the software and technology-enabled services sectors. With more than $70 billion in assets under management as of October 31, 2020, Thoma Bravo partners with a Company’s management team to implement operating best practices, invest in growth initiatives and make accretive acquisitions intended to accelerate revenue and earnings, with the goal of increasing the value of the business. The firm has offices in San Francisco and Chicago. For more information, visit www.thomabravo.com.

Media Contacts:

Planview
Leslie Marcotte
719-439-4921
lmarcotte@planview.com

TPG
Luke Barrett
415-743-1550
media@tpg.com

TA Associates
Marcia O’Carroll
617-574-6796
mocarroll@ta.com

Philip Nunes, BackBay Communications
617-391-0792
phil.nunes@backbaycommunications.com

Thoma Bravo
Megan Frank
212-731-4778
mfrank@thomabravo.com

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