bp invests $5 million in geospatial analytics company Satelytics

BP Ventures

  • Firm uses machine learning and spectral imagery to monitor environment.
  • Technology combines data from satellites, drones and planes.
  • Part of bp’s strategy to deploy a suite of complementary methane detecting techniques across new and existing facilities.

bp ventures invests in Satelytics

bp ventures has invested $5 million in Satelytics, a cloud-based geospatial analytics software company that uses advanced spectral imagery and machine learning to monitor environmental changes, including methane emissions.

 

Satelytics collects high resolution spectral imagery from the planet’s surface using satellites, drones, and planes. Its technology combines these images with proprietary algorithms to create unique electromagnetic signatures that can be used to detect environmental changes, including releases or leaks. Its software visualises these data sets on interactive displays that give end-users a clear and actionable picture of operations, and alert them to facility risks, like methane leaks.

 

bp’s $5 million investment will enable Satelytics to develop its technology further and scale its applications throughout the oil and gas sector. Use of the technology has the potential to be part of bp’s aim to install methane measurement at all major oil and gas processing sites by 2023, publish the data and then drive a 50% reduction in methane intensity of its operations.

 

Morag Watson, bp senior vice president of digital science and engineering, said: “Satelytics is modernising the energy sector by making data about physical assets more accessible and digestible, leading to better decision making. We are excited to work closely alongside their unique team of scientists and technologists to help them evolve their technology and to continue to move the needle on industry digitalisation.”

 

Sean Donegan, chief executive of Satelytics, said: “bp’s early use of our detection and quantification software has inspired us to expand our capabilities. bp’s investment marks an inflexion point for Satelytics, which will assist us in expanding our technological capabilities and fuel future innovation.”

 

Through its venturing business, bp is making strategic investments in innovative, game-changing technologies and businesses that can help it reimagine the global energy system.

 

David Hayes, bp ventures managing director for the Americas and chief operating officer, said: “Earlier this year we announced our ambition to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner, and to help the world get to net zero. As part of our ambition, one of our 10 aims relates to methane measurement at all of our major oil and gas processing sites by 2023 and reducing methane intensity of our operations by 50%. Advanced technologies such as Satelytics, integrating multiple approaches to efficiently detect emissions, have the potential to be a valuable tool that can support this work.”

Notes to editors

About Satelytics:

 

  • Satelytics Inc., is a cloud-based geospatial analytics software suite.
  • Multi or hyper-spectral imagery is gathered from satellites, UAV, planes, and fixed cameras, and processed to provide both alerts and qualitative results for our customers.
  • Data can be gathered on up to a daily basis and results sent to customers in hours.
  • This includes the specific problem, location, magnitude, and even qualitative information, which minimize cost, impact, and operational disruption for clients.

About bp ventures:

 

  • bp ventures was set up more than 10 years ago to identify and invest in private, high growth, game-changing technology companies, accelerating innovation across the entire energy spectrum. Since then, bp has invested almost $700 million in technology companies across more than 31 active investments with more than 250 co-investors.
  • Venturing plays a key role in bp’s strategy to tackle the dual challenge of meeting the world’s need for more energy, while at the same time reducing carbon emissions.
  • bp ventures focuses on connecting and growing new energy business. It makes strategic equity investments across a portfolio of relevant technology businesses including advanced mobility, low carbon and digital.
  • For more information visit: bp.com/ventures.
  • Shaun Healey, bp ventures Principal, will take up a director seat on the board of Satelytics.

Further information

Contacts

bp press office, London: +44 (0)20 7496 4076, bppress@bp.com

Kekst CNC, London: +44 (0)20 3755 1630, bpventures@kekstcnc.com

Evernex announces the acquisition of Technogroup and creates a global leader in data centre equipment maintenance

3I

3i-backed Evernex, a global international provider of third-party maintenance (“TPM”) services for data centre infrastructure in which 3i invested in October 2019, announces the acquisition of Technogroup, the leading TPM player in the DACH region.

As part of the transaction, Technogroup’s management and its shareholder Vitruvian Partners, a leading growth equity firm with a global presence, will roll over a significant investment into the combined group. 3i will invest €47m of additional capital to finance the transaction, with Evernex’s management team also reinvesting €2m. The transaction remains subject to clearance from the relevant antitrust authorities.

Headquartered in Hochheim, near Frankfurt, Germany, Technogroup was founded in 1990 and is the leading TPM player in the DACH region and Poland, with strong brand recognition, best-in-class service, valued expertise in data centre maintenance and value-add services for data centres. The company serves over 5,200 customers with 290 employees and over 50 service centres in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Poland. Technogroup has quadrupled in size over the past ten years through a mix of organic growth and acquisitions.

With Technogroup, Evernex reinforces its presence in the DACH and Central Europe with a highly reputable team. The combined group will be uniquely positioned to assist its customers providing a single point of contact on a truly global basis in data centre maintenance services, with an especially strong footprint across Europe, Latin America and MEA.

Rémi Carnimolla, Partner, at 3i France: “With the acquisition of Technogroup, Evernex reinforces its status as a successful consolidation platform. This is already the second acquisition since October 2019 following Storex in South Africa four months ago.”

Frédéric Chiche, Director, and Marc Ohayon, Associate Director: “In the context of the COVID19 pandemic and tight lockdowns in both France and Germany, we are proud of having achieved this transaction. It is a significant step up to leadership in the sector and a transformative event in the TPM space.”

Stanislas Pilot, President and CEO of Evernex: “This combination offers fantastic growth prospects. Thanks to the backing of the 3i balance sheet and the strong performance of Evernex during the current pandemic, confirming the high resilience of the company’s business, and to Vitruvian Partners’ significant rollover alongside us, the new group will have unique capabilities to enter new markets and better serve its international clients and OEM partners. We are excited to welcome the Technogroup team to the Evernex family and we are confident in both teams’ commitment to excellence in building a solidly integrated group, providing best-in-class services for our customers.”

Torsten Winkler, Partner, and Fabian Wasmus, Partner, at Vitruvian: “When Vitruvian invested in Technogroup in December 2017, the business had great fundamentals and double-digit growth. With our backing, the company established itself as one of the European champions in TPM services, notably with three acquisitions that expanded the group’s geographic presence and equipment expertise. We are convinced that joining forces with Evernex will bring tremendous value to both companies and help build a true global leader.”

Klaus Stöckert, CEO of Technogroup: “The fit between Technogroup and Evernex is strong, both in terms of strategic sense and common DNA between our teams. We are aligned in the strategic ambition to be the single point of contact for our customers and partners. By joining forces, we will be able to assist our customers in more geographies thanks to Evernex’s global footprint and by offering more equipment expertise. Our teams have known each other for years. We are excited by this opportunity to join Evernex and to do much more together in the same group.”

3i invested in Evernex in October 2019. Headquartered in Paris, France, Evernex maintains over 200,000 IT systems in c. 160 countries, and has a global network of 34 offices. It is the preferred maintenance partner for multinational companies and has developed a multi-channel and multi-vendor flexible offering. In March 2020, Evernex acquired Storex, a South African provider of maintenance services for critical data centre equipment, thus reinforcing its leadership in MEA.

-Ends-

Download the press release  

 

For further information, contact: 

3i Group plc

Silvia Santoro

Investor enquiries

Tel: +44 20 7975 3258

Email: silvia.santoro@3i.com

Kathryn van der Kroft

Media enquiries

Tel: +44 20 7975 3021

Email: kathryn.vanderkroft@3i.com

 

Notes to editors:

About 3i Group

3i is an investment company with two complementary businesses, Private Equity and Infrastructure, specialising in core investment markets in Northern Europe and North America.

3i’s Private Equity team provides investment solutions for growing companies, backing entrepreneurs and management teams of mid-market companies with an EV typically between €100m – €500m. We back international growth plans, providing access to our network and expertise to accelerate the growth of companies across the consumer, industrial, healthcare and business and technology services industries.

For further information, please visit: www.3i.com

 

Regulatory information

This transaction involved a recommendation of 3i Investments plc, advised by 3i France.

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Fortino Capital Partners invests in Sigma Conso to accelerate growth of this Corporate Performance Management software player

Fortino Capital

BRUSSELS, 17 June 2020 – Fortino Capital Partners, a Benelux-based growth equity investor in software, today announces its investment in Sigma Conso, a fast growing Corporate Performance Management software provider. Sigma Conso, headquartered in Brussels, employs over 40 FTEs and has local offices in Western-Europe and Asia serving over 600 customers.

Initially focused on consolidation software, today Sigma Conso addresses all needs of CFO in terms of Corporate Performance Management (i.e., consolidation, intercompany reconciliations, budgeting, planning, and management reporting). Along with its software offering, Sigma Conso differentiates itself through its deep financial expertise, offering training and advisory services to its customers. Sigma Conso helps out customers to generate transparency on the performance of its business, more than ever a must in these Covid-19 times.

Sigma Conso is active in 20 countries, serving over 600 customers, varying from mid-sized businesses to large companies (e.g., D’Ieteren, Sofina, Proximus, Besix,, Umicore, Eiffage and CMB).

Dominique Galloy came on board as CEO and owner in 2006. Over the last 14 years Dominique has grown Sigma Conso together with his team into an international and highly recognised software company.

Fortino Capital recognizes Sigma Conso’s leading role in the Corporate Performance Management market and the credentials the team has built up. Financial software is a core segment for Fortino Capital as B2B software investor, after its investment into MobileXpense, a leading European expense management provider.

Fortino Capital acquires Sigma Conso alongside management to further grow and expand the company internationally. This is the 20th B2B software investment by Fortino Capital, and the 6th platform investment of its Growth Private Equity Fund I.

Dominique Galloy, CEO of Sigma Conso: “Over the past two decades, we have become a sizeable European player by serving our customers with great software and deep expertise. Together with Fortino Capital, a real expert in B2B software, we are now ready for an accelerated growth phase together. I am personally very excited about the prospects of the business. With the support of Fortino Capital, I am committed to further serve our customers in a great way.”

Filip Van Innis, Investment Director at Fortino Capital: “We are impressed by Sigma Conso’s strong track record. Being a company at the core of our Growth Fund strategy, i.e., mission critical software in an expanding market, we are delighted to support Dominique and his team going forward. As much as we are pleased to welcome Patrick Van Deven, as Chairman of the Board. Patrick is a seasoned software executive who made his career at both SAS and SAP.”

About Sigma Conso

Sigma Conso, founded in 2002, provides Corporate Performance Management software together with training and advisory services. The Company has a global presence, evidenced by its diversified customer base in 20 countries and local offices in Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit www.sigmaconso.com.

About Fortino Capital Partners

Fortino Capital Partners is a European enterprise software investor, managing a €240m growth private equity fund and two venture capital funds for earlier stage software opportunities.  The firm has offices in Antwerp and Amsterdam. Fortino Capital’s investment portfolio includes MobileXpense, Efficy CRM, Odin Groep, Tenzinger, Maxxton, LetsBuild, Teamleader, among others. For more information, please visit
www.fortinocapital.com.

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Duck Creek Technologies receives $230 million investment from new investors Kayne Anderson Rudnick, Whale Rock, and prior investors

Apax

New funding will drive further expansion of the market-leading SaaS solution for P&C insurance, Duck Creek OnDemand

Boston – June 10, 2020: Duck Creek Technologies, a provider of SaaS-delivered enterprise software to the property & casualty insurance industry, announced today that leading investment firms Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management and Whale Rock Capital Management, along with prior investors, have invested $230 million in the company.

The Duck Creek Suite of SaaS solutions provides insurance carriers open and highly-configurable applications across core areas of their businesses, such as policy administration, billing, claims, analytics, industry content, distribution management, and reinsurance management – all key to their digital transformations. Duck Creek OnDemand is the leading SaaS core system solution for the P&C Industry.

Duck Creek will use the proceeds for continued investment into its business growth, with a focus on extending the capabilities of the company’s SaaS solutions, and to repurchase equity from certain existing investors. The new commitment of capital comes as the company continues to invest heavily in product development and international expansion.

Funds advised by Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management and Whale Rock Capital Management join existing investors in Duck Creek including Dragoneer Investment Group, Insight Partners, funds and other accounts advised by Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC, and Temasek. Funds advised by Apax Partners acquired a majority stake in Duck Creek in 2016 from Accenture. Accenture remains a key investor in Duck Creek.

“The partnership of these new investors with Duck Creek speaks to the momentum we have achieved as the SaaS leader in P&C core systems and the opportunities we see ahead,” said Michael Jackowski, Duck Creek’s Chief Executive Officer. “Our Platform’s performance, particularly during these recent months, has shown the industry that SaaS can deliver new levels of value. We see growing opportunity for Duck Creek as more insurers accelerate their adoption of SaaS solutions for their core systems.”

“Duck Creek’s growth has continued throughout 2020 and we remain excited about the long-term prospects for the company and its plan to continue to invest in products and people,” said Jason Wright, Partner at Apax Partners. “We are proud of our partnership with Mike Jackowski and the Duck Creek team and are pleased to welcome Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management and Whale Rock Capital Management as additional investors to support the company’s growth strategy.”

J.P. Morgan served as sole placement agent to Duck Creek in connection with this transaction.

This press release is for informational purposes only and shall not constitute, or form a part of, an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities.

Contact:

Sam A. Shay
Duck Creek Technologies
sam.shay@duckcreek.com
+1.857.201.5784

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Nordic Capital-backed Trustly announces strategic minority investment by a consortium of investors to support further expansion

Nordic Capital

JUNE 10 2020
Nordic Capital-backed Trustly announces strategic minority investment by a consortium of investors to support further expansion Image

BlackRock Private Equity Partners, through its private equity funds and accounts under management, together with a consortium of institutional investors, including among others, Aberdeen Standard Investments, funds managed by Neuberger Berman, Investment Corporation of Dubai and RSIC, are becoming minority shareholders in Trustly, the world’s leading online account-to-account (A2A) payments provider. Nordic Capital remains the majority shareholder in Trustly.

The transaction diversifies Trustly’s shareholder base and brings in additional long-term capital commitment to further support Trustly as it continues to invest in its products and infrastructure and expand globally.

Nordic Capital announced the acquisition of Trustly in March 2018 with the aim of supporting the expansion of the business internationally.

Oscar Berglund, CEO of Trustly, says: “At Trustly, we’re leveraging local bank-to-bank payment rails to build a global online banking payments network that enables people to pay directly from their bank accounts in a safe and convenient manner. We welcome BlackRock and the other investors as minority shareholders in Trustly. With their support, we will double-down on developing the online banking payments solution that our merchants and billers and their customers love.”

Fredrik Näslund, Partner at Nordic Capital Advisors, says: “It is a testament to Trustly’s amazing success that Nordic Capital is able to attract such a consortium of world-class investors. Nordic Capital welcomes our new partners as co-investors and looks forward to continuing a successful journey with Trustly.”

Citigroup Global Markets Limited acted as financial advisor in connection with this transaction.

Press contact:

Meredith Popolo
Head of PR & Communications at Trustly
meredith.popolo@trustly.com

 

About Trustly

Founded in 2008, Trustly is the global leader in Online Banking Payments. Our account-to-account network enables consumers to make fast, simple and secure payments to merchants directly from their online banking accounts, without going through the card networks. With support for more than 6,000 banks, over 600 million consumers across Europe and North America can pay with Trustly. We serve many of the world’s most prominent merchants within e-commerce, financial services, gaming, media, telecom and travel, which all benefit from increased consumer conversion and reduced operations, fraud and chargeback costs.

Trustly has 400 employees across Europe, the US and Latin America. We are a licensed Payment Institution under the second payment services directive (PSD2) and operate under the supervision of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority in Europe. In the US, we are state regulated as required to serve our target markets. Read more at www.trustly.com.

 

About Nordic Capital

Nordic Capital is a leading private equity investor with a resolute commitment to creating stronger, sustainable businesses through operational improvement and transformative growth. Nordic Capital focuses on selected regions and sectors where it has deep experience and a long history. Focus sectors are Healthcare, Technology & Payments, Financial Services and in addition, Industrials & Business Services. Key regions are Northern Europe and globally for Healthcare. Since inception in 1989, Nordic Capital has invested more than EUR 14 billion in over 110 investments. The Nordic Capital vehicles are based in Jersey. They are advised by several non-discretionary sub-advisory entities based in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Germany, the UK and the US, any or all of which are referred to as Nordic Capital Advisors. For further information about Nordic Capital, please visit www.nordiccapital.com.

 

About BlackRock Private Equity Partners

BlackRock Private Equity Partners is the world’s largest asset management firm and had USD 5.98 trillion of assets under management at December 31, 2018. With approximately 14,900 employees in more than 30 countries who serve clients in over 100 countries across the globe, BlackRock provides a broad range of investment and technology services to institutional and retail clients worldwide. For further information about BlackRock, please visit www.blackrock.com.

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Duck Creek Technologies receives $230 million investment from new investors Kayne Anderson Rudnick, Whale Rock, and prior investors

Apax

New funding will drive further expansion of the market-leading SaaS solution for P&C insurance, Duck Creek OnDemand

Boston – June 10, 2020: Duck Creek Technologies, a provider of SaaS-delivered enterprise software to the property & casualty insurance industry, announced today that leading investment firms Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management and Whale Rock Capital Management, along with prior investors, have invested $230 million in the company.

The Duck Creek Suite of SaaS solutions provides insurance carriers open and highly-configurable applications across core areas of their businesses, such as policy administration, billing, claims, analytics, industry content, distribution management, and reinsurance management – all key to their digital transformations. Duck Creek OnDemand is the leading SaaS core system solution for the P&C Industry.

Duck Creek will use the proceeds for continued investment into its business growth, with a focus on extending the capabilities of the company’s SaaS solutions, and to repurchase equity from certain existing investors. The new commitment of capital comes as the company continues to invest heavily in product development and international expansion.

Funds advised by Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management and Whale Rock Capital Management join existing investors in Duck Creek including Dragoneer Investment Group, Insight Partners, funds and other accounts advised by Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC, and Temasek. Funds advised by Apax Partners acquired a majority stake in Duck Creek in 2016 from Accenture. Accenture remains a key investor in Duck Creek.

“The partnership of these new investors with Duck Creek speaks to the momentum we have achieved as the SaaS leader in P&C core systems and the opportunities we see ahead,” said Michael Jackowski, Duck Creek’s Chief Executive Officer. “Our Platform’s performance, particularly during these recent months, has shown the industry that SaaS can deliver new levels of value. We see growing opportunity for Duck Creek as more insurers accelerate their adoption of SaaS solutions for their core systems.”

“Duck Creek’s growth has continued throughout 2020 and we remain excited about the long-term prospects for the company and its plan to continue to invest in products and people,” said Jason Wright, Partner at Apax Partners. “We are proud of our partnership with Mike Jackowski and the Duck Creek team and are pleased to welcome Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management and Whale Rock Capital Management as additional investors to support the company’s growth strategy.”

J.P. Morgan served as sole placement agent to Duck Creek in connection with this transaction.

This press release is for informational purposes only and shall not constitute, or form a part of, an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities.

Contact:

Sam A. Shay
Duck Creek Technologies
sam.shay@duckcreek.com
+1.857.201.5784

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Silverfin announces investment led by Hg to accelerate international growth

HG Capital

g is a leading software investor with a long history of partnering with businesses in tax and accounting software, investing c.€1.8bn in this sector alone.

London 9th June 2020: Silverfin has announced a significant investment led by Hg, Europe’s leading software investor and expert in the tax and accounting sector. The investment will be used to support the company’s expansion internationally as it responds to demand for its cloud service that consolidates real-time financial data, automates compliance reporting and improves financial planning. Silverfin was founded in 2013 in Ghent, Belgium and now has offices in London, Amsterdam and Copenhagen. The details and terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

“Our platform is the central nervous system thousands of businesses, and their accounting firms, rely on for efficient and effective financial management and decision making. We consolidate multiple financial data sources into one central data hub. Then we use that data to improve the speed, accuracy and quality of compliance with automation; and financial planning with our data analytics and reporting tools.”

Joris Van Der Gucht, Co-Founder at Silverfin

He added:

“Technology has been driving considerable innovation and change in finance and accounting. The past few weeks have shown how important this digital transformation is. Obviously there’s been a rapid move to remote working. There’s also been a widespread acceptance that cloud technology is key in enabling finance teams to operate whatever the circumstances. Our technology helps with this and much more. Even before today’s challenges, our customers told us Silverfin has made them more efficient and more successful. We’ve made the core reporting work they do easier but we’ve also made it easier to give the advice their businesses really need, particularly now, like financial modelling, risk monitoring, benchmarking and scenario planning.”

Silverfin has more than 650 customers in 11 countries from the leading accountancy firms in Europe and North America including all of the ‘Big 4’.

“We want to bring the benefits of Silverfin to more customers and develop the platform to have an even greater impact on their business transformation. This investment from Hg will help us to accelerate our product development and provide us with invaluable insight into future developments in accounting we can capitalise on. Their considerable international experience in the accountancy sector, and understanding of technology, makes them the perfect partner for us as we begin the next phase in our international growth.”

Tim Vandecasteele, Co-Founder

“After seeing Silverfin in action in our portfolio for a number of years, we were impressed with the technology and the potential it offers the accounting sector. We’re delighted to be able to join and support the Silverfin team as the business continues to scale internationally.”

Joris Van Gool, Partner at Hg

Hg has a long history of partnering with businesses in the tax and accounting software space. Silverfin is Hg’s 14th investment in this sector over the last 15 years, with a total of around €1.8BN of invested capital in this sector alone.

Hg has invested in a minority stake in Silverfin from its Mercury 2 Fund and joins the co-founders who remain majority owners, and existing investors, Index Ventures and SmartFin Ventures.

About Silverfin

Silverfin is the cloud platform that makes accountants successful. It improves the efficiency, competitiveness and profitability of compliance services, and powers the development and delivery of advisory services.

Silverfin takes financial data directly from client systems and hosts it securely in a single cloud Structured Data Hub. Templates then standardise, and automate, accounting workflows and use the data hub to make compliance easy, fast, and accurate.

But that’s only half the story. Leading firms use Silverfin to power their advisory services too. Looking at data and trends, right across the client portfolio is easy and automatic alerts warn of risks or identify opportunities to give advice, or sell additional services.

For further details, please visit the Silverfin website.

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Tower Arch Capital Completes Its Successful Investment in CTSI

Tower Arch

SALT LAKE CITY and CHANTILLY, Va., June 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Tower Arch Capital LLC (“Tower Arch”) is pleased to announce that it has sold Corbett Technology Solutions, Inc. (“CTSI”) to an affiliate of Wind Point Partners (“Wind Point”).

CTSI is a leading communications solutions provider focused on identifying the specialized needs of its customers to deliver advanced technology solutions that produce positive business outcomes. CTSI designs, installs, and maintains complex audiovisual, sound, safety, healthcare, and education communications technology solutions for clients across multiple end-markets, including corporate, government, healthcare, education, senior living, multi-family residential, and houses of worship.

CTSI CEO Gino Ruta said, “Tower Arch has provided the strategic guidance, capital, and support we needed to continue to scale into a leading communications solutions provider across the mid-Atlantic. Since 2016, we have successfully worked together to grow our leadership team, capabilities, and geographic reach. We have been fortunate to expand CTSI’s scale significantly during our partnership with Tower Arch, and we look forward to continuing CTSI’s positive momentum with Wind Point.”

Ryan Stratton, a Partner at Tower Arch commented, “CTSI’s world class engineering and design capabilities are truly differentiated in the industry and have allowed CTSI to become the go-to provider for complex communications solutions. We have really enjoyed partnering with Gino Ruta and the entire CTSI organization.” Tower Arch Partner David Topham added, “CTSI is representative of Tower Arch’s focus on partnering with and growing family and founder-owned businesses to help them reach their next level of growth and success. We appreciate everything that CTSI’s founder, Chris Corbett, has put into building CTSI’s culture and customer-first focus since the company’s founding 50 years ago, and we are grateful that he trusted us to be stewards of his business. CTSI has found another great partner in Wind Point to continue its next chapter.”

Tower Arch was advised on the transaction by Cowen and Company, LLC, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, and RSM US LLP. The terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.

About Corbett Technology Solutions, Inc.
For over five decades, CTSI has been at the forefront of technology integration and innovation with critical communications, collaboration, audiovisual and security solutions for enterprise, government, healthcare and education customers. With an engineering-driven culture, CTSI delivers best-in-class solutions and services with highly trained, lean-certified user experience practitioners, programmers, technicians, engineers and customer care representatives. CTSI delivers unmatched design, installation, integration, and managed and subscription services that deliver high-quality, end-to-end results tailored to customers’ unique needs and challenges. For more information, please visit https://www.ctsi-usa.com.

About Tower Arch Capital
Headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT, Tower Arch Capital is a lower-middle market private equity fund. Tower Arch focuses on partnering with and growing high-quality family and entrepreneur-owned companies to deliver long-term value for their management teams and investors. Tower Arch brings operational, consulting, and financial expertise to small companies to give them the tools they need to achieve their full potential. Target investments include control positions in entrepreneur and family-owned businesses with revenue between $20 million and $150 million or EBITDA between $5 million and $25 million. For more information, please visit www.towerarch.com.

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Eventbrite Announces Financing with Francisco Partners

Franciso Partners

Flexible financing will strengthen the company’s liquidity position and reinforce its long-term growth strategy

SAN FRANCISCO — Eventbrite, Inc. (NYSE: EB), a global self-service ticketing and experience technology platform, today announced the company has secured financing with Francisco Partners of up to $225 million. The investment will help fund the execution of the company’s long-term growth strategy, strengthen its liquidity position and provide greater flexibility to manage through a range of recovery scenarios and the return to live events.

Eventbrite was founded with the vision of enabling event creators to be successful. This vision comes to life through an intuitive and reliable platform. Creators are empowered with the tools and insights to create and manage events, reach new audiences and sell more tickets for both online and in-person experiences. Eventbrite is a powerful and dynamic platform for bringing people together and serves a community of nearly one million creators who transacted more than 309 million tickets to approximately 4.7 million events last year alone.

“The world has changed amidst the COVID-19 global pandemic, and the live experience industry must adapt in response to the new normal,” said Julia Hartz, Eventbrite CEO and co-founder. “This moment in time is marked by the resilience and ingenuity of the event creators and ticket buyers we serve. Our sole focus is supporting our professional customers, many of whom are small businesses. The flexible financing from Francisco Partners will help us fund our growth strategy and emerge from this crisis as a market leader. Together, we will move through this turbulent time to bring people together for live experiences once again.”

The financing from Francisco Partners will give Eventbrite flexibility to manage through the effects of COVID-19 by tailoring its capital needs to the changing environment, while also reinvesting in its leading self-service platform.

“The founders and team at Eventbrite have built one of the most technologically advanced digital ticketing and experiences platforms in the world,” commented Peter Christodoulo, Partner at Francisco Partners. “We are thrilled to partner with them as they reaccelerate their growth strategy and further their commitment to event creators as a leading provider in the sector.”

Eventbrite was advised by Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Allen & Company LLC as its financial advisors, and Latham & Watkins LLP as its legal advisor. Francisco Partners was advised by Jefferies LLC as its financial advisor and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP as its legal advisors.

About Eventbrite

Eventbrite is a global self-service ticketing and experience technology platform that serves a community of nearly one million event creators in over 180 countries. Since inception, Eventbrite has been at the center of the experience economy, transforming the way people organize and attend events. The company was founded by Julia Hartz, Kevin Hartz and Renaud Visage, with a vision to build a self-service platform that would make it possible for anyone to create and sell tickets to live experiences. The Eventbrite platform provides an intuitive, secure, and reliable service that enables creators to plan and execute their live and online events, whether it’s an annual culinary festival attracting thousands of foodies, a professional webinar, a weekly yoga workshop or a youth dance class. With over 300 million tickets distributed to more than 4 million experiences in 2019, Eventbrite is where people all over the world discover new things to do or new ways to do more of what they love. Learn more at www.eventbrite.com.

About Francisco Partners

Francisco Partners is a leading global private equity firm that specializes in investments in technology and technology-enabled businesses. Since its launch 20 years ago, Francisco Partners has raised approximately $24 billion in committed capital and invested in more than 275 technology companies, making it one of the most active and longstanding investors in the technology industry. The firm invests in opportunities where its deep sectoral knowledge and operational expertise can help companies realize their full potential. For more information on Francisco Partners, please visit: www.franciscopartners.com.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

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Celebrating CloudGenix’s $420M Acquisition By Palo Alto Networks

BainCapital

Today, Palo Alto Networks closed its $420M acquisition of CloudGenix, an industry leader in software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN).

I have had the privilege of knowing CloudGenix’s co-founder and CEO Kumar Ramachandran since November 2013.

We initially met on a Saturday morning at the DoubleTree in Pleasanton to discuss his new company. And while the location might have been less memorable, the meeting was not. We spent the next two hours sitting in the hotel lobby discussing the massive opportunity at hand: the myriad of reasons why customers might choose to move away from traditional MPLS routing to software-defined edge networking. We could see then what we know now to be true…

Software-defined edge networking not only offers increased functionality to MPLS routing, but is also easier to manage, more secure, and allows network administrators unprecedented visibility into their networks.

Couple this discussion on the advantages of software-defined networking with Kumar’s incredible passion on the topic. Within the first few minutes of our conversation, it was clear that Kumar felt strongly about networking being overcomplicated. There had to be a way to eliminate the need to have intimate knowledge of underlying protocols, while also simplifying the overall process of delivering applications to remote offices. He believed that he and the team at CloudGenix could deliver on these needs.

Shortly thereafter, in early 2014, I made my first investment in the company, and was invited to join the board. I was confident then in Kumar’s experience, leadership, incredible drive, and the team he and his co-founder Venkataraman Anand had assembled, and knew I wanted to be a part of the journey.

In April 2015, Bain Capital Ventures had the chance to invest as CloudGenix readied their product for initial shipment. We could see the demand for large enterprises to implement SD-WAN in order to effectively manage a complex, multi-cloud strategy, and how the CloudGenix team had capitalized on it; creating a best-in-class solution that autonomously tailors to each enterprise’s specific security and networking needs.

In the years following, I had the privilege of working with the leadership team on a number of key initiatives. Many of my fondest memories with the startup, however, are of the days I spent working alongside the field organization, engaging with prospects and customers to share the CloudGenix vision, and express Bain Capital Ventures’ support for the company.

Recognizing CloudGenix sales achievers in August 2019

Fast forward several years, and my confidence in Kumar, the team he’s built, and the award-winning product, has never been stronger. Just last year, CloudGenix announced a 300% year-over-year growth, as large enterprises made the switch from legacy incumbents, due in part to our work in the field, helping to win many highly competitive engagements against intense competition. This significant progress and growth is what spurred us to become CloudGenix’s largest investor in their latest funding round.

Today, as we all navigate through this period of uncertainty, and millions have been forced to work remotely, the need for an effective WAN to supply a secure network across a largely distributed workforce, has never been greater.

Palo Alto Networks, a leader in next generation firewalls, plans to extend its network reach further and consolidate the edge technology stack. They announced their intent to acquire CloudGenix for $420M on March 31st, 2019. It couldn’t be a better match.

Congratulations again to Kumar and the entire team at CloudGenix. We could not be prouder to have been a part of your journey since the early days, and cannot wait to see how you continue to revolutionize the networking industry.

Kumar Ramachandran and members of the CloudGenix team