Columbus enters into agreement regarding divestment of To-Increase December 21, 2020 Today, Columbus A/S entered into an agreement to divest its software subsidiary To-Increase to Gilde Buy Out Partners and the management of To-Increase for a price (Enterprise Value) of EUR 113m. The agreement has been entered into following a binding offer which Columbus received from Gilde Buy Out Partners today. The transaction is subject to Works Council consultation procedures being finalized in accordance with Dutch law. The transaction is expected to be completed during January 2021.
The agreement is part of the strategic review of Columbus’ portfolio and follows the decision made by Columbus’ Board of Directors to initiate a structured sales process to explore the possibility of divesting the software company To-Increase as part of Columbus’ new strategic direction to become a global consultancy. This decision was announced in Company Release no. 16/2020 of 28 October 2020.
Columbus’ decision of becoming a true global consultancy entails a more focused and simplified operation with increased customer centricity and a more digital advisory approach. The decision led Columbus to explore the opportunities to identify a buyer of To-Increase with a more aligned strategy and in a better position to realize the full potential of To-Increase.
Chairman of the Board in Columbus, Ib Kunøe, says: “I am very pleased to announce Gilde Buy Out Partners as the new owner of To-Increase. I am convinced Gilde Buy Out Partners will be a great owner of To-Increase which is a global SaaS leader of Azure based business applications. The divestment of To-Increase is a major step in Columbus’ strategic journey to become a true global consultancy. Columbus can now focus its business on becoming a digital trusted advisor for our larger customers”.
Maurits Boomsma, Partner at Gilde Buy Out Partners says: ”We look forward to partnering with the management team led by Luciano Cunha and to supporting their growth plans. To-Increase is an established leader in the fast-growing Microsoft Dynamics based business applications software market with innovative software solutions for their customers. With the right backing, we believe To-increase is well positioned for a phase of organic growth acceleration, continuing its track record of double-digit recurring revenue growth and further bolt-on M&A”.
Luciano Cunha, CEO in To-Increase, says: “I want to thank Columbus for an exciting journey during the past 14 years contributing to positioning To-Increase as a global SaaS leader, and I look forward to continuing our close partnership in the years to come. We firmly believe Gilde Buy Out Partners is the right partner to help us accelerate the growth of our business and realize the full potential of To-Increase. Gilde Buy Out Partners understands and believes in our business plans and can provide the support needed to realize our ambitions. This new partnership will enable us to scale through the Microsoft Dynamics 365 channel by using technology to help our customers reach their goals. Our growth plans include scaling up our Go-To-Market teams and executing on high quality M&A to make a bigger impact on our combined customers and our focus markets.” Columbus is committed to support and resell To-Increase Software as a global strategic A-Partner and To-Increase is continuing to enable Columbus as a successful strategic partner.
View Software has strengthened its position in the Nordic countries through the acquisition of MainManager, an Icelandic software company. With this acquisition, View Software will expand its customer portfolio to eight countries and open offices in Reykjavik and Copenhagen.
– Facility Management is a business area that is experiencing rapid growth globally. The future requires better solutions to ensure sustainability and cooperation across different subject areas, roles and systems. With this acquisition, we are strengthening our position as a provider of a sustainable facility management system. This is also a great stepping stone towards further growth in Europe, says Sten-Roger Karlsen, CEO of View Software.
View Software has high ambitions within this sector and has gone from 43 to 94 employees in 2020. By acquiring MainManager, the company is adding a great customer portfolio and 18 highly competent employees in Iceland, Norway and Denmark.
Buildings make up 40% of all CO2 emissions globally. 11% of this is embodied carbon from production of materials and construction work. The world is currently going through the largest wave of urban growth in human history. We are adding about 1,5 million people to cities every week. As a result, CO2 emissions in the building sector have continued to rise by nearly 1% each year since 2010.
Approximately two-thirds of the building area that exists today will still exist in 2050. At the same time, building renovations affect less than 1% of the building stock annually. This is a huge climate challenge, but also a great opportunity to ensure efficient measures are taken and to make a difference.
– To ensure we succeed with the targets outlined in the Paris Agreement, we need to substantially speed up our renovations in terms of energy efficiency. We need to optimize maintenance to increase the lifetime of existing buildings and continuously work to increase energy and environment efficiency. This is impossible without the right tools. View’s software makes sure that the players in the industry have the right solutions to succeed, says Karlsen.
When we enter 2021, View Software will be the next largest player in the Nordic countries within its sector. Annual recurring revenue (ARR) has grown by 400 % in three years and the company is the market leader within several verticals.
– Through the last few years, we have been working hard to ensure that our organization and work processes are scalable. This puts us in a great position for further European growth. We believe there will be a shift in value chains in the upcoming years. This requires us to be set up in a way which allows us to compete, and ensures that we acquire the resources we need to become the leading player. MainManager is a modern, user friendly, flexible and open solution that fits well in our product strategy, Karlsen continues.
– The MainManager team is very excited to get on board with View Software and Viking Venture family. We have found a perfect match to our vision, and ambition, to become a leading company in Facility Management in the Nordics and in other countries. We are experiencing a large shift in the building industry, where professional building owners are gaining more knowledge about the performance of their building portfolio. Using our tools will enable them to make more accurate decisions regarding new facilities, and more sustainable solutions, says Gunnlaugur B. Hjartarson, the founder of MainManager.
– MainManager is a great company that fits well with View Software and its strategy for further growth in the Nordic countries and in Europe. This is also a major step in becoming the leading player within sustainable facility management solutions. Viking Venture is excited to continue the work with View Software on strengthening its international footprint, says Joar Welde, Partner at Viking Venture and Chairman of the board at View Software.
View Software has raised NOK 41 million in equity and has a framework agreement in terms of loan of SEK 500 million that ensures capital for further acquisitions.
About MainManager
MainManager’s revenue was NOK 21 million in 2019 and has grown 20 % in 2020. The company has 18 employees in Reykjavik, Oslo and Copenhagen, and customers in 8 countries.
About View Software
View Software’s revenue was NOK 68 million in 2019. The company has shown strong growth over the last years, and is a leading software company within industrial maintenance, real estate and aquaculture.
HOUSTON, December 17, 2020 – Onit, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise workflow automation and AI solutions, including enterprise legal management, contract lifecycle management and business process automation, today announced that it has acquired AXDRAFT, a Y Combinator-backed document automation company. The company helps corporate legal departments draft legal documents 10 times faster and complete contracts like nondisclosure agreements and service agreements in less than five minutes. Based in Kyiv, Ukraine, it was founded in 2017 and works with customers including Sandoz and Louis Dreyfus Company.
AXDRAFT is now AXDRAFT, an Onit Company, and will operate as an independent subsidiary. This acquisition is Onit’s third in the last 19 months and the second deal announced in 30 days.
“The acquisition of AXDRAFT underscores our continued commitment to innovation for all of our offerings and particularly in the area of contract lifecycle management,” said Eric M. Elfman, CEO and co-founder of Onit. “In 30 days, we’ve added an AI-based contract management product that significantly streamlines contract review, and now with AXDRAFT, we offer lightning-speed, error-free and multilingual contract drafting.”
In November, Onit acquired legal AI company McCarthyFinch and immediately launched Precedent, its intelligence platform, and ReviewAI, software that accelerates contract review by up to 70% and improves user productivity by more than 50%.
“Disruption is in Onit’s DNA, from launching the industry’s first no-code business process and automation platform, Apptitude, to bringing machine learning and natural language processing to the practice of contracting with Precedent and ReviewAI. We’re also the first in our space to offer two platforms, one for workflow automation and one for artificial intelligence. AXDRAFT is a disruptor to old-line businesses in the document generation space and our guidance and resources will help the company scale significantly, secure new customers worldwide and contribute to Onit’s aggressive growth strategy,” continued Elfman.
AXDRAFT offers a proprietary algorithm with streamlined and extensible document drafting in multiple languages, including Chinese and Japanese. It supports live document preview and data integrations. With the algorithm, a document of any complexity can be transformed into a simple Q&A process.
AXDRAFT will be led by co-founder Yuriy Zaremba, who is now General Manager. Co-founder Oleg Zaremba, who holds master’s degrees in applied mathematics, material sciences and quantum physics, will serve as CTO.
“When I was a lawyer, I experienced how routine legal work can be when you draft the same types of documents over and over again. It’s a process that invites mistakes and keeps attorneys from focusing on higher-value contributions. That led me to start AXDRAFT with Oleg,” explained Yuriy Zaremba. “AXDRAFT drafts the contracts and other legal documents in less than five minutes, making it significantly easier for legal professionals to maintain accuracy and collaborate with the businesses they support. We’re excited to join Onit and begin the next phase of the company’s evolution.”
“One of the core differentiators of AXDRAFT is our proprietary document automation language. It allows us to quickly onboard customers’ documents into AXDRAFT at no cost and offer a truly turnkey solution,” said Oleg Zaremba.
AXDRAFT is available immediately as a stand-alone, out-of-the-box document automation tool. To learn more about the acquisition, listen to the Onit podcast featuring Eric Elfman and Yuriy Zaremba or visit AXDRAFT online.
About Onit
Onit is a global leader of workflow and artificial intelligence platforms and solutions for legal, compliance, sales, IT, HR and finance departments. With Onit, companies can transform best practices into smarter workflows, better processes and operational efficiencies. With a focus on enterprise legal management, matter management, spend management, contract lifecycle management and legal holds, the company operates globally and helps transform the way Fortune 500 companies and billion-dollar corporate legal departments bridge the gap between systems of record and systems of engagement. Onit helps customers find gains in efficiency, reduce costs and automate transactions faster. For more information, visit www.onit.com or call 1-800-281-1330.
Montagu to acquire Capita’s ESS business and invest in ParentPay Group
Montagu Private Equity (“Montagu”), a leading European private equity firm, today announces it has agreed to acquire the Education Software Solutions business (“ESS”) of Capita plc and has also agreed to invest in ParentPay Group (“ParentPay”), a leading provider of education technology. Following successful completion of both investments, ESS will become part of the ParentPay Group.
ESS is a standalone provider of management information system and related software for the education sector. ESS’ flagship product SIMS is used by 19,000 schools in the UK and internationally to collect and manage a database of student information and core school operations.
ParentPay delivers online payments, income management, parental engagement and school catering solutions to over 18,000 schools and caterers across the UK, the Netherlands and Germany.
Through the acquisition of ESS and the subsequent proposed investment, Montagu and ParentPay intend to bring together two high-quality and complementary businesses in the education software market. Montagu and ParentPay intend to utilise their combined expertise and network to support and accelerate innovation within the product portfolio, including the roll-out of ESS’s cloud-native SIMS 8 and other value-add services to schools and parents, catering to their increasingly sophisticated needs.
Edward Shuckburgh, Director at Montagu, said: “We are excited to be backing ESS which is an excellent fit for Montagu’s investment strategy, providing essential services to an extensive customer school base and operating in a market with attractive secular growth drivers. With ParentPay, we are also delighted to be bringing together two businesses with complementary products and shared values, with the ultimate aim of broadening the companies’ respective leading offerings to further benefit end customers.”
Mark Brant, CEO of ParentPay, said: “As one of the UK’s earliest ‘fintechs’, innovation has always been at the heart of ParentPay. By continually adapting and investing we ensure our customers in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany can count on us. Together with ESS and Montagu we will be able to further accelerate innovation in our sector. We look forward to welcoming the ESS team into the ParentPay Group and working closely with Montagu to further enhance the value we deliver to our collective customers.”
Andy Bennett, Managing Director of ESS, said: “We are very pleased with the sale to Montagu, a proven, collaborative investor in high-quality companies and the intention to become part of the ParentPay Group. This deal will provide significant opportunities to grow our business and bring further value to our employees and customers.
We look forward to working with our new owners to support and accelerate innovation within our product portfolio particularly with our SIMS product as we continue to improve and enhance how we support staff in over 19,000 schools across the UK with the tools to manage school life.”
Completion of the ESS sale to Montagu is subject to approval from Capita’s shareholders and the proposed investment in ParentPay is subject to CMA approvals.
FSN Capital V* has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of TASKING, a leading provider of software tools for autonomous driving development, from Altium Limited.
TASKING offers high-performance, embedded software development tools for automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers. Its strategic partnerships with semiconductor manufacturers, OEMs, and suppliers makes TASKING a leading player in the embedded software development industry for advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving.
TASKING provides complete development environments that allow software engineers to create reliable, safe, and high-performance embedded software applications. Over 50,000 engineers around the globe rely on TASKING compilers and debuggers every day for their development needs and millions of cars are running on code developed with TASKING’s tools.
Robin Mürer, Partner at FSN Capital Partners (investment advisor to the FSN Capital Funds) , commented: “The automotive industry is seeing a fundamental shift to software powered capabilities – not least to achieve autonomous driving over time. At the same time, the requirements and regulations for software in automotive applications are disparately higher than in most other industries. TASKING is a market-leader in development tools for safe, secure and performant software development. We are excited to partner with Franz Maidl and the highly skilled TASKING team in Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, the US, China, India and Japan as we see opportunities to expand TASKING’s product range and drive their presence with customers around the world.”
Franz Maidl, GM at TASKING, said: “The acquisition will establish TASKING as a leading independent software provider for safety critical applications. FSN Capital will provide TASKING with the flexibility to fuel our many growth opportunities as a standalone company. The backing of FSN Capital is testament to the tremendous track record our products and employees have delivered so far, as well as the growth opportunity and demand in our markets. The entire TASKING team is thrilled to continue the journey together and is looking forward to a bright future for our solutions, our team, and especially our customers”.
The transaction was executed on a proprietary basis by FSN Capital V. It is subject to approval from applicable authorities.
FSN Capital V was advised by McKinsey, Altos Advisors, PwC, Latham Watkins, Crosslake International, Frank Partners and Marsh.
* FSN Capital GP V Limited acting in its capacity as general partner for and on behalf of each of FSN Capital V L.P., FSN Capital V (B) L.P. and FSN Capital V Invest L.P.
For more information please contact the following persons at FSN Capital Partners (investment advisor to the FSN Capital Funds):
This Press Release does not constitute an offer or solicitation in any jurisdiction to invest in FSN Capital VI and should not be considered to be an invitation or inducement to engage in any investment activity.
Combination of Onshape and Arena to Enable PTC to Deliver Complete CAD + PLM SaaS Solution
PTC Reaffirms Cash Flow Targets for FY’21
BOSTON, Dec. 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — PTC (NASDAQ: PTC) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Arena Solutions, Inc. (Arena Solutions) the industry’s leading “software as a service” (SaaS) product lifecycle management (PLM) platform provider. The acquisition will further PTC’s strategy to be the leader in the rapidly-growing market for SaaS-based product development software, enabling the company to deliver a complete CAD + PLM SaaS solution. Under the terms of the agreement, PTC will acquire Arena Solutions for $715 million in cash. Subject to customary closing conditions and completion of regulatory review, the acquisition is expected to be completed in PTC’s fiscal Q2 2021.
“A year ago, PTC entered the SaaS world for product development software with our acquisition of Onshape,” said Jim Heppelmann, president and CEO, PTC. “That move reflected our strong conviction that our market is nearing a tipping point in its willingness to adopt SaaS technology, following the trend seen in many other software markets. The effects of COVID-19 have dramatically accelerated this inevitable shift, with PTC customer surveys indicating a 25% increase in readiness for SaaS PLM since the pandemic started. We expect the acquisition of Arena will significantly extend our leadership position as we continue to redefine the future of our industry.”
With headquarters in Foster City, California, Arena Solutions serves more than 1,200 customers across the electronics, high-tech, and medical-device industries, including world-class innovators such as Nutanix, Peloton, Sonos and Square. In addition, Arena will broadly extend PTC’s presence in the attractive mid-market, where SaaS solutions are becoming the standard.
“As the SaaS PLM pioneer, we were first to see that engineers and product developers would benefit from a new paradigm in the way they collaborate and drive product innovation,” said Craig Livingston, Arena Solutions president and CEO. “We were ahead of the market in the early days, but in the past several years we’ve seen an acceleration of market receptivity and demand. This acquisition validates our original vision, and we are pleased to be joining an established leader in CAD and PLM capable of hastening the movement of our market to SaaS.”
The Arena Solutions product realization platform unifies PLM, quality management, and requirements management, allowing every participant throughout the product design and manufacturing process – as well as across an extended supply chain – to work together in a secure, high availability cloud environment.
“This acquisition is the logical next step in PTC’s strategy to be the industrial SaaS leader,” continued Heppelmann. “A big first step was the acquisition of Onshape, the SaaS leader in CAD and collaborative design capabilities. Arena will enable us to round out the solution with full PLM capabilities and deliver the only complete CAD + PLM SaaS solution in the industry.”
Financial Impact Arena Solutions is expected to end calendar year 2020 with approximately $50 million in annualized recurring revenue, reflecting double-digit growth over 2019. The transaction is expected to be neutral to PTC’s FY’21 cash flow from operations target of $365 million and free cash flow target of $340 million (which reflects the deduction of approximately $25 million of capital expenditures from cash flow from operations) and accretive to FY’22 and beyond. The transaction will be funded with cash on-hand and amounts borrowed under PTC’s existing credit facility.
PTC management will provide additional details about the transaction at its Investor Day virtual meeting scheduled for Tuesday, December 15.
Advisors Centerview Partners LLC is the exclusive financial advisor to PTC and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP is acting as its legal counsel. Barclays is the exclusive financial advisor to Arena and JMI Equity, and Goodwin Procter is acting as their legal counsel.
Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains statements about future events and expectations, including the closing of the acquisition, the effect of the acquisition on our future growth and financial results, including our cash flow from operations and free cash flow, the expected value of the acquired technology to our business, and market adoption of industrial SaaS solutions. These statements are “forward-looking statements” that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, including that the closing conditions may not be satisfied when or as we expect or may be waived; the acquired technology may not provide the access to new customers and markets that we expect if those customers and markets are not receptive to the technology; we may be unable to integrate the acquired technology when or as we expect, which could adversely affect our ability to offer additional SaaS solutions; customers may not adopt SaaS solutions for product development as we expect, which would adversely affect our revenue; key Arena Solutions employees may not stay with PTC, which could disrupt the Arena Solutions business and our ability to successfully integrate and operate the Arena Solutions business; we may incur unanticipated costs associated with the integration of Arena Solutions, which would impact our earnings and free cash flow; and other risks and uncertainties described in PTC’s filings with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
About PTC (NASDAQ: PTC) PTC enables global manufacturers to realize double-digit impact with software solutions that enable them to accelerate product and service innovation, improve operational efficiency, and increase workforce productivity. In combination with an extensive partner network, PTC provides customers flexibility in how its technology can be deployed to drive digital transformation – on premises, in the cloud, or via its pure SaaS platform. At PTC, we don’t just imagine a better world, we enable it.
Antwerp / The Hague, 10 December 2020 – Fortino Capital Partners, a leading European software investor, announces its investment in Cenosco, a Dutch specialist in Asset Integrity Management. Cenosco is headquartered in The Hague, with local presence in Croatia. The Company employs 75 people and is active in 30 countries, with its solution deployed in about 100 plants worldwide.
Cenosco’s software operates at the heart of asset heavy industry plants in the oil & gas, chemicals, energy, and utilities space. It is a web-based tool for Asset Integrity Management, supporting users to make smart inspection and maintenance decisions to increase safety, asset availability and lower asset management costs.
After 20 years of organic growth, the Cenosco founders decided the time was right to attract an external partner, in order to support the Company in its next growth phase and help it unlock the full potential of its solution. Cenosco will continue to invest in product development in close collaboration with its partners. Further professionalization of the organization will be a priority too, as evidenced by the significant number of planned hires for 2021 on general management, domain expertise and throughout the rest of the organization.
Mischa Simonis, Co-Founder and Managing Directorat Cenosco: “We are excited with Fortino Capital as a new shareholder in Cenosco. Fortino will bring important B2B software expertise and a solid network that will enable Cenosco to grow further and stronger. With our 20+ years of experience and our strong partnerships in the oil and gas industry, we are well positioned to benefit from the opportunities this market will bring, with aging plants and a new focus on digitalization.”
Fortino Capital invests in Cenosco alongside current management (i.e. the founders), which stays operationally active to realize this next growth phase. Cenosco is the 22nd B2B software investment by Fortino Capital, and the 7th platform investment of its Growth Private Equity Fund.
Wouter Van de Bunt, Partner at Fortino Capital: “We are truly impressed by Cenosco’s achievements over the past 20 years. The Company built a top-notch product with potential to become the market standard for Asset Integrity Management. Cenosco also perfectly fits within the investment criteria of our Growth Equity Fund: mission-critical software, strong and profitable growth, global presence, and massive opportunities for future growth. We are delighted to support Cenosco, together with the founders, in its next, accelerated growth phase.”
About Cenosco
Cenosco, founded in 2000, is a global software company in Asset Integrity Management. The Company has a global presence, with its software deployed in 30 countries in about 100 plants. Cenosco employs 75 people and is headquartered in The Hague, with local office in Croatia.
For more information, see www.cenosco.com.
About Fortino Capital Partners
Fortino Capital Partners is a European enterprise software investor, managing a €240 million 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 and Teamleader, among others.
For more information, see www.fortinocapital.com.
Press contact
VADEMECOM
Vincent Morrens
M: +32 (0)475.93.25.16 vm@vademecom.be
Sogelink, a leading provider of vertical software solutions for infrastructure professionals, today announces the acquisition of GOTMI.IO, a collaborative platform specialized in the coordination of public works. Already at the cutting edge of the construction and public works coordination segment, Sogelink now adds artificial intelligence and machine learning expertise to its offering through this acquisition and deepens its open collaborative models.
Founded in 2000, Sogelink designs, develops and markets software and SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions to simplify and optimize complex business processes in the building, infrastructure and property management industry. With its unique collaborative platform, Sogelink stands as a pioneer and as the undisputed market leader in France. It is also the number one provider of topographic software.
Following the recent launch of PraDICT.io, the only portal producing free-of-charge Forward Planning Statements (Déclarations Prévisionnelles de Chantier – DPC) in France, Sogelink is accelerating the implementation of its roadmap with Keensight Capital’s support through the acquisition of GOTMI.IO, which brings an innovative AI-driven cartographic platform to Sogelink’s value proposition.
The public works coordination specialist GOTMI.IO is a collaborative platform developing an algorithm capable of mapping sites to unlock high coordination potential. It leverages open data from more than 6,000 real-time building sites.
Through the acquisition of GOTMI.IO, Sogelink expands its presence in the coordination of public works projects, and will make them more collaborative and more efficient, contributing to its position as a benchmark for construction-related data.
With GOTMI.IO, the group will benefit from a highly successful experience in standardization through open data which was published and recognized by government modernization bodies. Sogelink will be able to increase its support to public authorities in the management of the use of public spaces. Based on a predictive algorithm that gains in efficiency as it integrates more and more data, GOTMI.IO gains access to massive amounts of information by joining Sogelink, which will feed, deepen and considerably improve its current machine learning models.
Over the past 20 years, Sogelink and its 200 employees have built up a diverse and loyal base of 26,000 clients, representing more than 100,000 users. Sogelink has been recording top-line growth of over 20% p.a. over the last 10 years. Its robust business model ensures increasingly recurrent revenue and a high level of profitability.
* * *
About Sogelink
Founded in 2000 by Ignace Vantorre, Sogelink provides software, cloud and mobile solutions for all players in the infrastructure, construction and property management ecosystem. All solutions are supported by a technological services platform, notably when it comes to exchanging very large flows of data.
With some 26,000 clients and more than 100,000 users, Sogelink aims to become the unrivalled expert in the collaborative, digital and smart management of data in 2D/3D/4D across its ecosystem.
www.sogelink.fr
About Keensight Capital
Keensight Capital, one of the leading European Growth Buyout1 firms, is committed to supporting entrepreneurs as they implement their growth strategies. For 20 years, Keensight Capital’s team of seasoned professionals has leveraged their knowledge of investment and growth industries to invest for the long term in profitable companies with high growth potential and revenues in the range of €10 million to €300 million. Drawing on its expertise in the Technology and Healthcare sectors, Keensight identifies the best investment opportunities in Europe and works closely with management teams to develop and achieve their strategic vision.
www.keensightcapital.com
Media Contacts
Keensight Capital
Anne de Bonnefon – abonnefon@keensightcapital.com – +33 1 83 79 87 37
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Alienor Miens – alienor.miens@citigatedewerogerson.com – +33 6 64 32 81 75
1 Growth Buyout: investment in profitable, private companies experiencing strong growth, in minority or majority positions, with or without leverage, using a flexible approach tailored to the needs of individual entrepreneurs, in order to finance organic growth projects, acquisition strategies or provide historic shareholders with liquidity.
CALGARY, AB, Canada and London, UK: 3 December 2020 – Benevity, Inc. (“Benevity”), a global leader in corporate purpose cloud software, today announces that it has secured an investment from Hg, a leading global software investor. Hg’s investment is expected to further accelerate and scale Benevity’s pioneering leadership in this category.
Hg will lead the investment, which will be made from the Hg Saturn 2 Fund, in partnership with Benevity’s current investors, General Atlantic and JMI Equity, who will remain significant investors in the business, alongside the Benevity management team.
This investment comes at a time when ESG (Environment, Social, Governance), corporate purpose and stakeholder capitalism are taking root in companies of all sizes across the globe and as employee, consumer and public expectations grow for business to help solve the complex issues facing society. Benevity’s all-in-one, global platform enables purpose-driven brands to engage these stakeholders in supporting the causes and issues they care about through a database of nearly 2 million vetted nonprofit organizations worldwide.
The Benevity platform has driven more than 34 million hours in volunteer time and talent, 275,000 positive actions, over one million grants and more than $6 billion in donations to date. Benevity’s 650 clients and their 19 million employees support issues ranging from food insecurity, human rights, diversity and inclusion, racial equity, mental health — and everything in between. Around half of the businesses named on the 2021 Forbes Just 100 Ranking – which recognizes “America’s Most JUST Companies” – use Benevity to power their corporate purpose programs[1].
Benevity has helped transform the nonprofit sector from manual processing, technological lag and fragmentation to automation, aggregation and efficiency. With 90% of all donation funds being sent electronically to nonprofits, Benevity boasts the highest payment success rate in the industry, ensuring that more dollars reach those in need, more accurately and reliably than any other software provider.
“For the last decade, Benevity has been transforming the way businesses engage stakeholders in social impact initiatives, evolving them from passively transactional investments to empowered, personalized experiences.
By embracing a grassroots approach to goodness — that is supported by scalable software — companies create more meaningful purpose-driven cultures and consumer-facing brands, helping them truly do well by doing good. We are thrilled to have Hg on board, whose global profile and expertise in software and SaaS will enable us to scale our reach to even more companies across a spectrum of industries, sizes and geographies, helping more people create a sense of connection to purpose and impact than ever before.”
Bryan de Lottinville, Benevity Founder and CEO.
“It is truly exciting to partner with an organization that enables such positive impact to society, and we passionately believe in what Bryan, Kelly and their team are creating. Benevity is already a robust, high-growth business with a trusted platform for some of the world’s largest global brands looking to boost their purpose-driven activities. We look forward to working with the team to become even more pervasive and impactful.”
Nic Humphries, Senior Partner and Head of the Hg Saturn team
“Benevity has created a system of giving, volunteering and mission engagement that is more impactful and efficient for the business world, driving up employee participation rates, increasing employee engagement and retention, and resulting in higher impact to those in society that need it most. It’s great to be backing another business based in North America and we look forward to using our experience in scaling software champions, to reinforce their mission across the globe.”
The Saturn team’s Justin Von Simson, Managing Partner, Thorsten Toepfer, Partner and Gero Wittemann, Partner and co-lead of Hg’s New York team
“We are strong believers in Benevity’s mission to empower enterprises and employees alike to support the causes they care about. Over the three years of our partnership with Benevity, the company has demonstrated the resonance of its platform as it has added premier clients – becoming the backbone for their corporate giving and employee engagement programs – and enabled giving on a global scale. We are proud to welcome a trusted partner in Hg in the company’s next phase of growth.”
Alex Crisses, Managing Director at General Atlantic
The terms of the transaction were not disclosed and closing of the transaction is expected in January 2021.
For further details:
Hg
Tom Eckersley
+44 (0)20 8396 0930
Brunswick UK
Diana Vaughton and Samantha Chiene
+44 (0)207 404 5959
Hg is a leading European investor in software and services, focused on backing businesses that change how we all do business. Deep technology expertise, complemented by vertical application specialisation and dedicated operational support, provides a compelling proposition to management teams looking to scale their businesses. Hg has funds under management of over $30 billion, with an investment team of over 140 professionals, plus a portfolio team of more than 30 operators, providing practical support to help our businesses to realise their growth ambitions. Based in London, Munich and New York, Hg has a portfolio of over 30 software and technology businesses, worth over $50 billion aggregate enterprise value, with over 35,000 employees globally. For further details, please visit the Hg website: https://hgcapital.com/.
About Benevity
Benevity, a certified B Corporation, is a leader in global corporate purpose software, providing the only integrated suite of community investment and employee, customer and nonprofit engagement solutions. A finalist in Fast Company’s 2020 World Changing Ideas Awards, many iconic brands rely on Benevity’s cloud solutions to power their purpose in ways that better attract, retain and engage today’s diverse workforce, embed social action into their customer experiences and positively impact their communities. With software that is available in 20 languages, Benevity has processed more than 6 billion dollars in donations and 34 million hours of volunteering time, 275,000 positive actions and awarded over one million grants to 300,000 nonprofitsworldwide. For more information, visit www.benevity.com.
About General Atlantic
General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for growth companies. Established in 1980, General Atlantic combines a collaborative global approach, sector specific expertise, a long-term investment horizon and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great entrepreneurs and management teams to build market-leading businesses worldwide. General Atlantic has more than 175 investment professionals based in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Greenwich, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Munich, Palo Alto, São Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore. For more information on General Atlantic, please visit the website: www.generalatlantic.com.
About JMI Equity
JMI Equity is a growth equity firm focused on investing in leading software companies. Founded in 1992, JMI has invested in over 150 businesses in its target markets, successfully completed over 100 exits and raised more than $4 billion of committed capital. JMI partners with exceptional management teams to help build their companies into industry leaders. For more information visit jmi.com.
MARLBOROUGH, MA, November 24, 2020 – OneShield Software (“OneShield”), a leading provider of core software solutions to P&C insurance companies, today announced a growth investment from a private investor group led by Bain Capital Credit, LP and Pacific Lake Partners. The growth funding will help accelerate OneShield’s continued expansion within the P&C insurance software market. The financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.
Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Marlborough, MA, OneShield’s product portfolio includes SaaS and stand-alone cloud-based enterprise-class policy management, billing, claims, rating, business intelligence, and smart analytics software solutions to P&C insurers of all sizes.
“OneShield has made significant progress toward our strategic objectives in recent years. We’ve built a comprehensive product portfolio and increased our partnerships with many leading P&C insurance carriers, all while focusing on investing and strengthening our delivery capabilities,” said Glenn Anschutz, who served as CEO of OneShield for 20 years before recently taking on the role of Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer. “This carefully executed growth strategy resulted in nearly tripling our recurring revenue over the past three years. Partnering with Bain Capital Credit and Pacific Lake will help us further accelerate this strategy while continuing to maintain the highest levels of customer service.”
“We are excited to partner with OneShield on its next phase of growth, especially as the digital transformation of the P&C insurance software market accelerates and as the Company builds upon its deep roots in the industry,” said David Healey, a Vice President at Bain Capital Credit. “OneShield continues to grow its innovative platform through organic growth and recent new business wins, including several startup insurers, which represent a particularly strong niche for the OneShield team. We believe the Company is well-positioned for future success.”
In conjunction with the investment and to support the company’s continued growth, OneShield also announced new appointments to its executive leadership team. Cameron Parker has assumed the role of CEO, succeeding Anschutz, while Brandon Parker has been named President and COO. “Brandon and I are thrilled to be joining the OneShield family at such an exciting time in the Company’s growth journey,” said Cameron. “In addition to its impressive and growing list of clients and partners, OneShield provides insurance companies with deep industry knowledge as well as proven software and delivery capabilities they can depend on for their core technology transformations. We look forward to working with Glenn and the investor group as we continue to build on OneShield’s proven track record of helping clients transform their businesses for the future.”
About OneShield
OneShield provides solutions for insurers of all sizes. Deployed in the cloud, our portfolio of standalone, subscription, and As-a-Service products includes enterprise-class policy management, billing, claims, rating, product configuration, business intelligence, and smart analytics. OneShield automates and simplifies the complexities of core systems with targeted solutions, seamless upgrades, collaborative implementations, and lower total cost of ownership. With corporate headquarters in Marlborough, MA, and offices in India and Canada, OneShield has 50+ products in production across P&C and specialty insurance markets. For more information, visit www.oneshield.com.
About Bain Capital Credit
Bain Capital Credit is a leading global credit specialist with approximately $42 billion in assets under management. Bain Capital Credit invests up and down the capital structure and across the spectrum of credit strategies. Our team of more than 200 professionals creates value through rigorous, independent analysis of thousands of corporate issuers around the world. In addition to credit, Bain Capital invests across asset classes including private equity, public equity, venture capital and real estate, and leverages the firm’s shared platform to capture opportunities in strategic areas of focus. For more information, visit www.baincapitalcredit.com.
About Pacific Lake Partners
Pacific Lake is the most experienced and largest investor dedicated to partnering with search fund entrepreneurs and helping them succeed. Pacific Lake partners with talented entrepreneurs to find and acquire a great company and then galvanize growth and value creation. As a long-term partner for the entire search fund journey, Pacific Lake’s sole purpose is to help entrepreneurs buy a great business and succeed as a CEO. Pacific Lake offers best-in-class support for entrepreneurs, including searcher workshops and a range of post-acquisition initiatives conducted by our Value Creation Team. For more information, visit www.pacificlake.com.
Media Contacts
For OneShield Software
Janice Merkley, VP, Corporate Marketing
774.348.1000 or 416.399.2725
