Novatus Global Secures $40 Million Growth Investment from Silversmith Capital Partners

Novatus Global Secures $40 Million Growth Investment from Silversmith Capital Partners to Transform Transaction Reporting and Drive International Expansion Amid Complex Global Regulatory Environment

London, UK – September 12, 2024 – Novatus Global Limited (“Novatus” or “the Company”), an award-winning provider of regulatory technology solutions to global financial institutions, today announced it has secured a $40 million investment from Silversmith Capital Partners, a Boston-based growth equity firm. Since its founding by industry veterans in 2019, Novatus has established itself as a trusted partner to many of the world’s largest banks, asset managers, and financial institutions – evidenced by revenue that has more than tripled over the trailing twelve months. The growth funding will enable Novatus to continue to invest deeply in the technology underpinning of its best-in-class SaaS platform while also expanding its geographic footprint, ensuring it maintains its reputation as the partner of choice for its clients.

Novatus enables its customers to meet their most complex, mission-critical regulatory and compliance requirements, be they government or industry-driven. Its flagship product, Novatus En:ACT, is a market-leading SaaS platform that ensures accurate, complete and timely reporting to satisfy the flood of ever-changing global regulations for which Novatus customers are responsible. En:ACT is a fully-scalable, cloud-native platform trusted by major global firms to reconcile both source systems and submission files and for all G20 transaction reporting regimes. In addition, Novatus offers expert-led advisory services, leveraging its SaaS solution and decades of industry experience, to help clients of all size and maturity solve their most complex compliance, risk management, ESG and organizational transformation challenges.

“We are delighted to partner with Silversmith as we embark on the next chapter of our growth journey. Silversmith shares our values and vision – particularly our passion for building great products to make our clients’ daily lives better, safer and more efficient,” said Novatus Co-Founder and Partner, Andrew Hedley. “This investment will be used to double down on that commitment to innovation while also fueling our continued international expansion, particularly in North America following our successful entry into Australia last year. It is a real privilege to work with such brilliant people across our team and we are incredibly excited for the next chapter of growth.”

“When we founded the company in 2019, we had a leg up on the market – Andrew and I had both lived this problem first-hand.  As a result, we wanted to provide a solution that would solve the complexity of transaction reporting in a novel way – driven by powerful, automated underlying technology as opposed to human intervention,” added Novatus Co-Founder and Partner, Matthew Ranson. “With deep experience in the GRC and regtech markets, Silversmith recognized the uniqueness of En:ACT in attacking the problem with fresh eyes and harnessing the massive innovation being driven by AI and machine learning.  We look forward to working closely with Todd, Ned and the Silversmith team to achieve our vision of creating the single best platform of its type anywhere in the world.”

“At Silversmith, our investment philosophy is quite simple to articulate, though much more difficult to implement – identify great founders who have built solutions to real-life customer problems.  While company building takes enormous effort and will, we’ve found over time that if you get that first part right, the rest tends to take care of itself,” said Ned Kingsley, Principal at Silversmith.  “We feel incredibly lucky to have found two such individuals in Andrew and Matt who have re-imagined the way to solve an increasingly important customer problem. We couldn’t be more excited to support their continued growth alongside Maven Capital Partners.”

“We are excited to continue our partnership with Novatus following the investment from Silversmith.  We were originally attracted to the business due to its innovative, and technology-led approach in supporting clients meet their regulatory obligations,” said Alan Robertson, Partner at Maven.  “Since Maven’s initial investment, clients’ adoption of the En:ACT platform has resulted in a 13-fold increase in annual recurring revenues and international expansion. We remain committed to supporting Novatus as they scale globally and further enhance their market-leading platform to continue to deliver for its clients. We believe in the future potential of the business and look forward to working with both Management and Silversmith in helping achieve the Company’s ambitions.”

As a part of the investment, Todd MacLean and Ned Kingsley have joined Novatus’ Board of Directors. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati acted as legal counsel to Novatus on the transaction.  Kirkland & Ellis served as legal counsel to Silversmith Capital Partners and KPMG served as financial advisors.  Burness Paull acted as legal counsel to Maven Capital Partners.


About Novatus Global Limited

Novatus Global, established in 2019 and headquartered in London, is a leading global provider of software and strategic advisory services, enabling the world’s largest financial institutions to navigate their most complex regulatory and strategic challenges. Our expertise spans transaction reporting, risk, compliance, ESG, strategy, and data, delivering solutions that drive operational excellence and demonstrable regulatory compliance.

Our award-winning SaaS platform, Novatus En:ACT, enables firms to ensure accurate, complete, and timely transaction reporting across all global reporting regimes. Novatus Global pairs cutting-edge technology with unparalleled industry knowledge, ensuring clients meet evolving regulatory demands and mitigate risk effectively.

We are trusted by global institutions to meet their mission critical obligations, transform their transaction reporting, streamline operations, and achieve sustainable growth in an increasingly complex regulatory landscape.


About Silversmith Capital Partners

Founded in 2015, Silversmith Capital Partners is a Boston-based growth equity firm with $3.3 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, Apryse, DistroKid, impact.com, Iodine Software, LifeStance Health, Onbe, and Webflow. For a full list of portfolio investments, visit www.silversmith.com. Follow the firm on LinkedIn.

About Maven Capital Partners UK LLP

Maven is one of the UK’s leading private equity firms, specialising in investments in high-growth British companies. With a focus on innovation and value creation, Maven partners with visionary entrepreneurs to build market-leading businesses, supporting a range of transaction types, including management buyouts, growth capital, buy and build projects, equity value release and pre-IPO financing. www.mavencp.com

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Redwood to be Acquired by Vista Equity Partners and Warburg Pincus

Warburg Pincus logo

Frisco, TX – September 10, 2024 – Redwood Software (“Redwood”), a leader in automation fabric solutions, today announced that it has agreed to be acquired by funds affiliated with Vista Equity Partners (“Vista”), a global investment firm focused exclusively on enterprise software, data and technology-enabled businesses, and Warburg Pincus, a leading global growth investor. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed; the transaction is subject to customary conditions and approvals.

Redwood’s automation fabric solutions help customers compose, orchestrate and manage business and IT business processes across any application, service or server with confidence and control. In June, Redwood announced that it had added over 1,000 new customers since mid-2023 while consistently delivering above ‘Rule of 60’ financial performance. Redwood currently serves more than 7,500 customers globally, including 28% of the Fortune 500 and 40% of the Fortune 50.

“We are honored to join forces with Vista Equity Partners and Warburg Pincus. The wisdom, experience and operating expertise of these two leading global technology investors will accelerate our vision to unleash human potential through the transformative power of automation,” said Kevin Greene, Redwood Software CEO. “We are excited to embark on the next chapter of the Redwood Software story – where every IT and business process that can be automated, will be automated, and where automation fabrics will change everything about how and why people work.”

“Redwood’s easy-to-use and highly integrated automation solutions help enterprises automate the critical workflows which power their core commercial and IT operations,” said Steven White, Managing Director at Vista Equity Partners. “We are excited to partner with Redwood and Warburg Pincus to deliver even more customer value and efficiency as the demand for automation solutions capable of spanning multiple data, application and cloud environments continues to accelerate.”

“As a leading next generation enterprise automation platform, Redwood enables businesses to streamline and optimize their mission-critical business processes, an essential service as enterprise IT becomes increasingly complex. We believe that Redwood is well-positioned to capture the growth in the market given the company’s strong capabilities in business and IT automation and are excited to continue investing in Redwood’s innovative solutions both organically and through strategic M&A,” said Parag Gupta, Managing Director, Warburg Pincus. “We look forward to the partnership with Redwood and Vista in this next phase of growth.”

​​“It has been our privilege to support Redwood on its remarkable journey as it continues to build one of the leading automation software companies in the world,” noted Matthew Amico, Partner at Turn/River Capital. “Throughout our partnership, Redwood has experienced significant growth, and with its strong set of automation products and exceptional team led by Kevin Greene, we believe strongly that the best is yet to come.”

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC is serving as exclusive financial advisor to Redwood; Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP is serving as legal counsel to Turn/River Capital and Redwood. Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as legal counsel to Vista. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is serving as legal advisor to Warburg Pincus.

###

About Redwood Software

Redwood Software is the leader in full stack automation fabric solutions for mission-critical business processes. With the first SaaS-based composable automation platform specifically built for ERP, we believe in the transformative power of automation. Our unparalleled solutions empower you to orchestrate, manage and monitor your workflows across any application, service or server — in the cloud or on premises — with confidence and control. Redwood’s global team of automation experts and customer success engineers provide solutions and world-class support designed to give you the freedom and time to imagine and define your future. Get out of the weeds and see the forest, with Redwood Software. For more information, visit www.redwood.com. Follow Redwood Software on LinkedIn, @Redwood Software.

About Vista Equity Partners

Vista is a leading global investment firm with more than $100 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2024. The firm exclusively invests in enterprise software, data and technology-enabled organizations across private equity, permanent capital, credit and public equity strategies, bringing an approach that prioritizes creating enduring market value for the benefit of its global ecosystem of investors, companies, customers and employees. Vista’s investments are anchored by a sizable long-term capital base, experience in structuring technology-oriented transactions and proven, flexible management techniques that drive sustainable growth. Vista believes the transformative power of technology is the key to an even better future – a healthier planet, a smarter economy, a diverse and inclusive community and a broader path to prosperity. Further information is available at vistaequitypartners.com. Follow Vista on LinkedIn, @Vista Equity Partners, and on Twitter, @Vista_Equity.

About Warburg Pincus

Warburg Pincus LLC is the oldest private equity firm and a leading global growth investor. The firm has more than $83 billion in assets under management. The firm’s active portfolio of more than 225 companies is highly diversified by stage, sector, and geography. Warburg Pincus is an experienced partner to management teams seeking to build durable companies with sustainable value. Since its founding in 1966, Warburg Pincus has invested more than $117 billion in over 1,000 companies globally across its private equity, real estate, and capital solutions strategies. The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, Berlin, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Mauritius, San Francisco, São Paulo, Shanghai, and Singapore.  For more information, please visit www.warburgpincus.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.

About Turn/River

Turn/River Capital is a lower middle market private equity firm that uses a proprietary growth engineering strategy to drive revenue acceleration and build enduring value. Turn/River partners with B2B software companies and provide data-driven methods, hands-on operational support and flexible capital to catalyze the next phase of growth. The firm’s team of equal software operators and investors have firsthand experience scaling go-to-market and solving its challenges. Founded in 2012 in San Francisco, Turn/River invests globally with a particular focus in North America and Europe. For more information, visit www.turnriver.com.

Media Contacts

For Redwood Software

Liz Reilly

lreilly@nextpr.com

(401) 525-1775

For Vista Equity Partners

Brian Steel
media@vistaequitypartners.com

(212) 804-9170

For Warburg Pincus

Kerrie Cohen

kerrie.cohen@warburgpincus.com

(917) 887-9184

For Turn/River

Katie Duckhorn

media@turnriver.com

(901) 832-0680

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Redwood to be Acquired by Vista Equity Partners and Warburg Pincus

Vista Equity

FRISCO, TexasSept. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Redwood Software (“Redwood”), a leader in automation fabric solutions, today announced that it has agreed to be acquired by funds affiliated with Vista Equity Partners (“Vista”), a global investment firm focused exclusively on enterprise software, data and technology-enabled businesses, and Warburg Pincus, a leading global growth investor. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed; the transaction is subject to customary conditions and approvals.

Redwood’s automation fabric solutions help customers compose, orchestrate and manage business and IT business processes across any application, service or server with confidence and control. In June, Redwood announced that it had added over 1,000 new customers since mid-2023 while consistently delivering above ‘Rule of 60’ financial performance. Redwood currently serves more than 7,500 customers globally, including 28% of the Fortune 500 and 40% of the Fortune 50.

“We are honored to join forces with Vista Equity Partners and Warburg Pincus. The wisdom, experience and operating expertise of these two leading global technology investors will accelerate our vision to unleash human potential through the transformative power of automation,” said Kevin Greene, Redwood Software CEO. “We are excited to embark on the next chapter of the Redwood Software story – where every IT and business process that can be automated, will be automated, and where automation fabrics will change everything about how and why people work.”

“Redwood’s easy-to-use and highly integrated automation solutions help enterprises automate the critical workflows which power their core commercial and IT operations,” said Steven White, Managing Director at Vista Equity Partners. “We are excited to partner with Redwood and Warburg Pincus to deliver even more customer value and efficiency as the demand for automation solutions capable of spanning multiple data, application and cloud environments continues to accelerate.”

“As a leading next generation enterprise automation platform, Redwood enables businesses to streamline and optimize their mission-critical business processes, an essential service as enterprise IT becomes increasingly complex. We believe that Redwood is well-positioned to capture the growth in the market given the company’s strong capabilities in business and IT automation and are excited to continue investing in Redwood’s innovative solutions both organically and through strategic M&A,” said Parag Gupta, Managing Director, Warburg Pincus. “We look forward to the partnership with Redwood and Vista in this next phase of growth.”

“It has been our privilege to support Redwood on its remarkable journey as it continues to build one of the leading automation software companies in the world,” noted Matthew Amico, Partner at Turn/River Capital. “Throughout our partnership, Redwood has experienced significant growth, and with its strong set of automation products and exceptional team led by Kevin Greene, we believe strongly that the best is yet to come.”

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC is serving as exclusive financial advisor to Redwood; Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP is serving as legal counsel to Turn/River Capital and Redwood. Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as legal counsel to Vista. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is serving as legal advisor to Warburg Pincus.

About Redwood Software
Redwood Software is the leader in full stack automation fabric solutions for mission-critical business processes. With the first SaaS-based composable automation platform specifically built for ERP, we believe in the transformative power of automation. Our unparalleled solutions empower you to orchestrate, manage and monitor your workflows across any application, service or server — in the cloud or on premises — with confidence and control. Redwood’s global team of automation experts and customer success engineers provide solutions and world-class support designed to give you the freedom and time to imagine and define your future. Get out of the weeds and see the forest, with Redwood Software. For more information, visit www.redwood.com. Follow Redwood Software on LinkedIn, @Redwood Software.

About Vista Equity Partners
Vista is a leading global investment firm with more than $100 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2024. The firm exclusively invests in enterprise software, data and technology-enabled organizations across private equity, permanent capital, credit and public equity strategies, bringing an approach that prioritizes creating enduring market value for the benefit of its global ecosystem of investors, companies, customers and employees. Vista’s investments are anchored by a sizable long-term capital base, experience in structuring technology-oriented transactions and proven, flexible management techniques that drive sustainable growth. Vista believes the transformative power of technology is the key to an even better future – a healthier planet, a smarter economy, a diverse and inclusive community and a broader path to prosperity. Further information is available at vistaequitypartners.com. Follow Vista on LinkedIn, @Vista Equity Partners, and on X, @Vista_Equity.

About Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus LLC is the oldest private equity firm and a leading global growth investor. The firm has more than $83 billion in assets under management. The firm’s active portfolio of more than 225 companies is highly diversified by stage, sector, and geography. Warburg Pincus is an experienced partner to management teams seeking to build durable companies with sustainable value. Since its founding in 1966, Warburg Pincus has invested more than $117 billion in over 1,000 companies globally across its private equity, real estate, and capital solutions strategies. The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, Berlin, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Mauritius, San Francisco, São Paulo, Shanghai, and Singapore.  For more information, please visit www.warburgpincus.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.

About Turn/River
Turn/River Capital is a lower middle market private equity firm that uses a proprietary growth engineering strategy to drive revenue acceleration and build enduring value. Turn/River partners with B2B software companies and provide data-driven methods, hands-on operational support and flexible capital to catalyze the next phase of growth. The firm’s team of equal software operators and investors have firsthand experience scaling go-to-market and solving its challenges. Founded in 2012 in San Francisco, Turn/River invests globally with a particular focus in North America and Europe. For more information, visit www.turnriver.com.

Media Contacts

For Redwood Software
Liz Reilly
lreilly@nextpr.com
(401) 525-1775

For Vista Equity Partners
Brian Steel
media@vistaequitypartners.com
(212) 804-9170

For Warburg Pincus
Kerrie Cohen
kerrie.cohen@warburgpincus.com
(917) 887-9184

For Turn/River
Katie Duckhorn
media@turnriver.com
(901) 832-0680

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Our Series A Investment in Laravel: The Future of Shipping

Accel

The first time we met Taylor Otwell it was clear he had only scratched the surface of his long-term vision for Laravel. It took us a year of persistence and 21 cold calls to get in front of Taylor for eggs and biscuits in Little Rock, and during that time, we’d attended Laracon meetups in Portugal, Ahmedabad, and Nashville. From one event to the next, we observed the builder ethos of Laravel, a passionate community of developers committed to supporting each other, contributing to the open source project, and shipping great products.  By any description, Taylor had it all—vibrant business, beautiful family, idyllic lifestyle (and, yes, a Lamborghini)—all while running a bootstrapped, profitable business far outside the Bay Area.

Yet he felt he owed it to the Laravel community to do more, to really “go for it” with an ambitious roadmap to unlock new levels of productivity and joy for Laravel users.  Taylor dazzled us with his inspiration for the future of Laravel, his clarity of vision, and his deep love for the Laravel community—he simply lacked the resources to weave it all together.  Today we’re pleased to announce Accel’s support of Taylor’s vision with a $57 million Series A investment into Laravel.

Laravel’s web application development frameworks are foundational to many of the products and services that underpin modern work (for example, Square’s commerce engine, a Fortune 10 retailer’s internal CRM, and the Milwaukee Bucks website are all built on Laravel). With Laravel tooling, a developer can get from idea to application quickly and delightfully, but to host, scale, and improve that application, the developer historically needed to tie in a number of downstream services at additional cost and complexity.  Taylor dreamed of providing those services within a holistic Laravel experience, and as he announced last week at Laracon, Laravel Cloud will do just that—“from hello world to hello web in under a minute.”

Laravel Cloud is a transformative product and just a preview of what Taylor and his team can accomplish. Like Mike and Scott from Atlassian, Ryan from Qualtrics, Vlad and Bryant from Webflow, and other bootstrapped Founders we’ve been fortunate to partner with, Taylor is customer-obsessed and will use the funds not to change but to amplify his vision.  Already he is off to the races: Laravel has more than tripled its engineering capacity, given equity to its entire team, brought a number of longtime Laravel builders formally into the company, and just launched a platform product to enthusiastic reviews. Hear more about what Taylor’s been working on here.

Taylor likes to say that the Laravel community “just has good vibes.” We think the company he’s building does, too. At Accel, we’ve long believed that innovation is a global phenomenon, and that companies built in places like Sydney, Provo, Amsterdam, Helsinki, Vancouver, and Little Rock are reshaping the technology landscape.  The good vibes of Laravel drive forward this trend, and we’re excited to back Taylor for the journey ahead.

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MirrorWeb Raises $63M of Growth Capital from Mainsail Partners

Mainsail partners

Investment to support product innovation and customer success, helping financial services firms meet their digital communications archiving and regulatory compliance needs 

Austin, TX – September 05, 2024 – MirrorWeb, a leader in the digital communications archiving, supervision, and surveillance software space, today announced a $63 million growth equity investment from Mainsail Partners. The investment will enable MirrorWeb to further accelerate product development and continue to grow its customer success organization, as it helps financial institutions and other regulated companies manage increasing regulatory demands.

“Regulators have never been more focused on ensuring the integrity of financial markets, protecting investors and preventing systematic risk to our economy,” said David Clee, co-founder and CEO of MirrorWeb. “Mainsail’s investment and operational resources will help us continue to support financial institutions as they navigate this environment and to meet their compliance and digital preservation needs.”

Founded in 2016, MirrorWeb provides unified communications supervision software to financial services firms, governments, and other regulated industries across the globe. MirrorWeb’s Insight platform enables firms to capture, archive, and monitor communications across channels, including websites, mobile, email, instant messaging, and social media. The platform facilitates compliance with digital communication regulations and helps firms remain both compliant and audit-ready.

“MirrorWeb’s robust and user-friendly SaaS platform is trusted by organizations globally to help them keep pace with the proliferation of communication channels and proactively improve their compliance management,” said David Farsai, Partner at Mainsail Partners. “We are excited to partner with the MirrorWeb team to continue to deliver the product innovation and support that helps customers meet their regulatory goals.”

“MirrorWeb has demonstrated a commitment to delivering strong customer service and innovative products. We look forward to working with Dave, Phil, and the entire team to double down on this focus, bringing peace of mind to customers facing increasing regulatory pressures,” said Garret Jackson, Vice President at Mainsail Partners.

As part of this investment, David Farsai and Garret Jackson of Mainsail Partners will join the MirrorWeb Board of Directors, along with Romir Bosu, the CEO of Nadavon Capital Partners. DC Advisory served as the exclusive financial advisor to MirrorWeb in this transaction.

 

Contact:

Kristy DelMuto
(415) 940-2085
kristy@mainsailpartners.com

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Maven achieves return of up to 5.1x on sale of MirrorWeb

Maven

Sale of Manchester headquartered MirrorWeb to a US buyer generates a profitable return for the Maven VCTs and NPIF Maven Equity Finance.

Published: Sep 05, 2024
Focus: Growth CapitalNPIF Maven Equity Finance

Maven has realised a significant majority of its investment in award-winning compliance and preservation software provider MirrorWeb, through a sale to MainSail Partners, a US growth equity firm. The profitable realisation has generated a 4.0x return on cost for the Maven VCTs, including the value of a retained minority holding in the business and a 5.1x return on cost for NPIF Maven Equity Finance (which has exited its holding in full).

Manchester based MirrorWeb has built significant momentum in the US thanks to the company’s leading proprietary technology. Through its platform, the business enables financial services institutions to communicate via native channels, capturing and archiving in a fully compliant way enabling the world’s largest financial institutions to meet strict record-keeping requirements.

MirrorWeb helps businesses, multinationals, institutions and government departments manage and evidence changes in their digital content via its unified communications surveillance platform. The requirement for digital preservation is high on the compliance agenda driven by increased regulation. This has resulted in increased demand for MirrorWeb’s robust solution, particularly in financial services, where monitoring and archiving content across websites, social media platforms, email and business communications such as Microsoft Teams and Slack, is demanded.

Maven first supported MirrorWeb in 2018, through NPIF Maven Equity Finance to enable the business to roll-out its innovative technology. At that point MirrorWeb was an emerging business with low revenues and high customer concentration but had developed a cutting-edge compliance focused solution and a clear and credible business strategy to build scale. Over multiple funding rounds, which latterly included investment from the Maven VCTs, the business grew rapidly, taking Maven’s total investment in MirrorWeb to over £6.2 million.

The funding has enabled MirrorWeb to enter the US market, with CEO David Clee relocating to Austin, Texas to lead the Company’s go to market strategy and invest heavily in product development to further enhance the functionality of its technology. Helping MirrorWeb to consistently achieve year-on-year recurring revenue growth, and significantly grow its headcount.

“This transaction is an excellent outcome for Maven’s client funds, the management team and the business. MirrorWeb’s story demonstrates what an ambitious Manchester-based business can achieve when a talented leadership team is provided with the right support and funding. As well as generating significant cash proceeds, the structure of the deal also allows the Maven VCTs to retain an equity stake in MirrorWeb post-transaction, this was a key objective based on our knowledge of the business and the team who we expect to continue to deliver strong growth and shareholder value.

It has been an absolute privilege to work with this team, led by David Clee, who have successfully opened up the US market. David’s decision to relocate to the US demonstrates his entrepreneurial drive and is a testament to his leadership.”

Jeremy Thompson, Partner at Maven

“Maven supported us when we were a small start-up business, they believed in us as a management team and could see the potential in what we were trying to build. Following that original investment, they continued to support us through multiple follow-on funding rounds which were critical to the development of both our product and our commercial strategy. Throughout the six years we have worked together, Maven have provided genuine and valuable advice that has helped us to grow the business. The relationship between Maven and MirrorWeb has been a true partnership and I’m proud of what we have achieved together.”

David Clee, CEO at MirrorWeb

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Ncontracts Acquires Venminder Via Hg Buyout

Gryphon Investors
  • Ncontracts announces the acquisition of Venminder to broaden its governance, risk and compliance solutions capabilities.
  • Hg, a leading investor in software and services businesses, has become a new investor in the combined business, backing Founder and CEO, Michael Berman.
  • Gryphon Investors, a leading middle-market private equity firm, has completed a full exit of Ncontracts.

Ncontracts, a leading provider of integrated compliance, risk, and vendor management solutions to the financial services industry, announced today that it has acquired Venminder, a unified platform for managing third-party risk.

Simultaneously with this transaction, Hg has bought out prior Ncontracts shareholder Gryphon Investors (“Gryphon”), as well as prior Venminder shareholders. Hg is a leading investor in software and services businesses and is backing Founder and CEO, Michael Berman, to lead the combined business, which promises to deliver more value to customers via these expanded capabilities.

Acquiring Venminder gives Ncontracts more depth and expertise in third-party risk management, further enhancing its position as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) and knowledge-as-a-service (KaaS) leader in enterprise risk management.  The investment from Hg brings resources and expertise, continuing to strengthen Ncontracts as a leader in governance, risk and compliance (“GRC”) software solutions for banks, credit unions, mortgage companies, fintechs and registered investment advisors, as they grapple with increased risks and regulatory scrutiny.

“We are excited to join forces with Venminder,” said Michael Berman, Ncontracts Founder and CEO. “With our teams coming together to help reduce risk, improve compliance and control costs, we will continue to strengthen the financial industry and the communities they serve. With the investment and support from Hg, we are well positioned to continue our rapid growth. Gryphon has been a valuable partner, and I want to thank their outstanding team of operating partners, operating advisors and investment professionals.”

“Uniting Venminder and Ncontracts will bring tremendous value to our customers,” stated James Hyde, Venminder’s CEO. “This strategic partnership extends beyond third-party risk management, propelling Venminder into the broader integrated risk and compliance space. By combining our strengths, we are poised to deliver even more comprehensive and innovative solutions to our clients and the broader market.  Our unwavering commitment is to continue to support our clients by guiding them through the complex landscape of third-party risk.”

Ncontracts has been named in the prestigious Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in America for the sixth consecutive year in 2024. This transaction will grow Ncontracts’ customer base further to over 5,000 customers. The investment and acquisition demonstrate Ncontracts’ commitment to continued growth from both an organic and inorganic perspective.

Alan Cline, Head of North America at Hg, said: “We see Ncontracts swiftly becoming a ‘gold standard’ provider of highly automated, AI-enabled, integrated software solutions for the financial industry. The merger with Venminder creates a compelling platform with a comprehensive product suite that can deliver significant value to customers.”

Alexander Johnson, a Director at Hg added: “We’re excited to partner with Michael Berman as he continues to lead and scale the company for its next stage of growth.”

Jon Cheek, Partner & Co-Head of the Software Group at Gryphon, said: “We are delighted to have completed a complex transaction that significantly transforms Ncontracts and positions it to continue to thrive. Through a combination of organic and inorganic growth strategies, Ncontracts has more than quadrupled in size since Gryphon originally invested in 2020. With its comprehensive suite of products meeting the continued demand for sophisticated financial services governance, risk and compliance management tools, the company is poised to continue that aggressive growth going forward.”

Gryphon sees continued attractive opportunity for new platform investments in the GRC sector and retains its investment in separate portfolio company RegEd, a leading provider of enterprise regulatory compliance solutions to insurance companies and financial services firms.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Raymond James served as the lead financial advisor to Gryphon, with Atlas Technology Group also advising Gryphon; Kirkland & Ellis acted as Gryphon’s legal advisor. William Blair served as exclusive financial advisor to Venminder.  Choate Hall & Stewart, LLP served as legal counsel to Venminder.  Goldman Sachs served as financial advisor to Hg; Latham & Watkins served as Hg’s legal advisor.

For more information, please contact:

Company Contact Person Contact Email
Ncontracts Shawn McKee shawn.mckee@ncontracts.com
Venminder Deirdre Grubbs media@venminder.com
Hg Tom Eckersley tom.eckersley@hgcapital.com
Gryphon Investors Caroline Luz cluz@lambert.com


About Ncontracts

Ncontracts provides integrated risk, vendor and compliance management software to a rapidly expanding customer base of over 4,000 financial institutions, mortgage companies, and fintech companies in the United States. The company’s powerful combination of software and services enables financial institutions to achieve their risk management and compliance goals with an integrated, user-friendly cloud-based solution suite encompassing vendor, organizational, audit, and compliance risk management. Visit www.ncontracts.com or follow the company on LinkedIn and Twitter for more information.

About Venminder

Venminder is the leading provider offering a unified SaaS platform for third-party risk management. The platform is used by more than 1,200 customers to manage the entire vendor lifecycle, from onboarding to offboarding, with ease and efficiency. Venminder combines technology and human expertise to enable customers to manage vendors, track contract data, perform due diligence and oversight, send and score questionnaires, conduct risk assessments, systemically monitor risks across domains, order due diligence assessments on vendor controls, and much more. Venminder also powers Third Party ThinkTank, the largest online community dedicated to the practice of third-party risk.

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Ncontracts acquires Venminder via Hg buyout

HG Capital

Ncontracts announces the acquisition of Venminder to broaden its governance, risk and compliance solutions capabilities.

Hg, a leading investor in software and services businesses, has become a new investor in the combined business, backing Founder and CEO, Michael Berman.

Gryphon Investors, a leading middle-market private equity firm, has completed a full exit of Ncontracts.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn., September 4, 2024
Ncontracts, a leading provider of integrated compliance, risk, and vendor management solutions to the financial services industry, announced today that it has acquired Venminder, a unified platform for managing third-party risk.

Simultaneously with this transaction, Hg has bought out prior Ncontracts shareholder Gryphon Investors (“Gryphon”), as well as prior Venminder shareholders. Hg is a leading investor in software and services businesses and is backing Founder and CEO, Michael Berman, to lead the combined business, which promises to deliver more value to customers via these expanded capabilities.

Acquiring Venminder gives Ncontracts more depth and expertise in third-party risk management, further enhancing its position as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) and knowledge-as-a-service (KaaS) leader in enterprise risk management. The investment from Hg brings resources and expertise, continuing to strengthen Ncontracts as a leader in governance, risk and compliance (“GRC”) software solutions for banks, credit unions, mortgage companies, fintechs and registered investment advisors, as they grapple with increased risks and regulatory scrutiny.

“We are excited to join forces with Venminder,” said Michael Berman, Ncontracts Founder and CEO. “With our teams coming together to help reduce risk, improve compliance and control costs, we will continue to strengthen the financial industry and the communities they serve. With the investment and support from Hg, we are well positioned to continue our rapid growth. Gryphon has been a valuable partner, and I want to thank their outstanding team of operating partners, operating advisors and investment professionals.”

“Uniting Venminder and Ncontracts will bring tremendous value to our customers,” stated James Hyde, Venminder’s CEO. “This strategic partnership extends beyond third-party risk management, propelling Venminder into the broader integrated risk and compliance space. By combining our strengths, we are poised to deliver even more comprehensive and innovative solutions to our clients and the broader market. Our unwavering commitment is to continue to support our clients by guiding them through the complex landscape of third-party risk.”

Ncontracts has been named in the prestigious Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in America for the sixth consecutive year in 2024. This transaction will grow Ncontracts’ customer base further to over 5,000 customers. The investment and acquisition demonstrate Ncontracts’ commitment to continued growth from both an organic and inorganic perspective.

Alan Cline, Head of North America at Hg, said: “We see Ncontracts swiftly becoming a ‘gold standard’ provider of highly automated, AI-enabled, integrated software solutions for the financial industry. The merger with Venminder creates a compelling platform with a comprehensive product suite that can deliver significant value to customers.”

Alexander Johnson, a Director at Hg added: “We’re excited to partner with Michael Berman as he continues to lead and scale the company for its next stage of growth.”

Jon Cheek, Partner & Co-Head of the Software Group at Gryphon, said: “We are delighted to have completed a complex transaction that significantly transforms Ncontracts and positions it to continue to thrive. Through a combination of organic and inorganic growth strategies, Ncontracts has more than quadrupled in size since Gryphon originally invested in 2020. With its comprehensive suite of products meeting the continued demand for sophisticated financial services governance, risk and compliance management tools, the company is poised to continue that aggressive growth going forward.”

Gryphon sees continued attractive opportunity for new platform investments in the GRC sector and retains its investment in separate portfolio company RegEd, a leading provider of enterprise regulatory compliance solutions to insurance companies and financial services firms.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Raymond James served as the lead financial advisor to Gryphon, with Atlas Technology Group also advising Gryphon; Kirkland & Ellis acted as Gryphon’s legal advisor. William Blair served as exclusive financial advisor to Venminder. Choate Hall & Stewart, LLP served as legal counsel to Venminder. Goldman Sachs served as exclusive financial advisor to Hg; Latham & Watkins served as Hg’s legal advisor.


For more information, please contact:

Ncontracts
ShawnMcKee, shawn.mckee@ncontracts.com

Venminder
Deirdre Grubbs, media@vinminder.com

Hg
Tom Eckersley, tom.eckersley@hgcapital.com

Gryphon Investors
Caroline Luz, cluz@lambert.com

About Ncontracts

Ncontracts provides integrated risk, vendor and compliance management software to a rapidly expanding customer base of over 4,000 financial institutions, mortgage companies, and fintech companies in the United States. The company’s powerful combination of software and services enables financial institutions to achieve their risk management and compliance goals with an integrated, user-friendly cloud-based solution suite encompassing vendor, organizational, audit, and compliance risk management. Visit www.ncontracts.com or follow the company on LinkedIn and Twitter for more information.

About Venminder

Venminder is the leading provider offering a unified SaaS platform for third-party risk management. The platform is used by more than 1,200 customers to manage the entire vendor lifecycle, from onboarding to offboarding, with ease and efficiency. Venminder combines technology and human expertise to enable customers to manage vendors, track contract data, perform due diligence and oversight, send and score questionnaires, conduct risk assessments, systemically monitor risks across domains, order due diligence assessments on vendor controls, and much more. Venminder also powers Third Party ThinkTank, the largest online community dedicated to the practice of third-party risk.

About Hg

Hg supports the building of sector-leading enterprises that supply businesses with critical software applications or workflow services, delivering a more automated workplace for their customers. This industry is characterized by digitization trends that are in early stages of adoption and are set to transform the workplace for professionals over decades to come. Hg’s support combines deep end-market knowledge with world class operational resources, together providing compelling support to entrepreneurial leaders looking to scale their business – businesses that are well invested, enduring and serve their customers well. With a vast European network and strong presence across North America, Hg’s 400 employees and $70 billion in funds under management support a portfolio of more than 50 businesses, worth over $150 billion aggregate enterprise value, with over 110,000 employees, consistently growing revenues at more than 20%.

About Gryphon Investors

Gryphon Investors (www.gryphoninvestors.com) is a leading middle-market private equity firm focused on profitably growing and competitively advantaged companies in the Business Services, Consumer, Healthcare, Industrial Growth, and Software sectors. With approximately $9 billion of assets under management, Gryphon prioritizes investments in which it can form strong partnerships with founders, owners, and executives to accelerate the building of leading companies and generate enduring value through its integrated deal and operations business model. Gryphon’s highly-differentiated model integrates its well-proven Operations Resources Group, which is led by full-time, Gryphon senior operating executives with general management, human capital acquisition and development, treasury, finance, and accounting expertise. Gryphon’s three core investment strategies include its Flagship, Heritage, and Junior Capital strategies, each with dedicated funds of capital. The Flagship and Heritage strategies target equity investments of $50 million to $350 million per portfolio company. The Junior Capital strategy targets investments in junior securities of credit facilities, arranged by leading middle-market lenders, in both Gryphon-controlled companies, as well as in other private equity-backed companies operating in Gryphon’s targeted investment sectors.

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KKR Launches Tender Offer for FUJI SOFT

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KKR

TOKYO, September 4, 2024 – KKR, a leading global investment firm, announced today that it will launch its tender offer for the common shares and share options of FUJI SOFT INCORPORATED (“FUJI SOFT” or the “Company”; TSE stock code 9749) through FK Co., Ltd. (the “Offeror”), an entity owned by investment funds managed by KKR (the “Tender Offer”). The tender offer period will commence on September 5, 2024 and run until October 21, 2024 (tender offer price: JPY 8,800 per share). The Board of Directors of FUJI SOFT has resolved today again to express its opinion in support of the Tender Offer and to recommend the shareholders and share option holders of the Company tender their shares and options.

FUJI SOFT is a leading system integrator in Japan with a focus on embedded, control and operational software and systems. The Company serves clients across various industries based on advanced technologies built on decades of experience with a team of over 10,000 system engineers. Under the Company’s five-year “Mid-Term Business Plan 2028,” FUJI SOFT’s vision is to become a leading provider of system, software, and service both in information technology and operational technology fields. The Company’s five-year plan also outlines its strategy to improve the profitability of its existing businesses, strengthen group synergies, and capture new growth opportunities.

The tender offer will be financed predominantly from KKR Asian Fund IV.

For more details regarding the conditions of the tender offer, please refer to the full text of the release issued by the Offeror today titled “Notice Regarding the Commencement of Tender Offer for the Shares of FUJI SOFT INCORPORATED (Securities Code: 9749) by FK Co., Ltd.” *** This press release should be read in conjunction with the release issued by the Offeror today titled “Notice Regarding the Commencement of Tender Offer for the Shares of FUJI SOFT INCORPORATED (Code: 9749) by FK Co., Ltd.

” The purpose of this press release is to publicly announce the commencement of the tender offer and it has not been prepared for the purpose of soliciting an offer to sell or purchase in the tender offer. When making an application to tender, please be sure to read the tender offer explanatory statement for the tender offer and make your own decision as a shareholder or share option holder. This press release does not constitute, either in whole or in part, a solicitation of an offer to sell or purchase any securities, and the existence of this press release (or any part thereof) or its distribution shall not be construed as a basis for any agreement regarding the tender offer, nor shall it be relied upon in concluding an agreement regarding the tender offer.

The tender offer will be conducted in compliance with the procedures and information disclosure standards set forth in Japanese law, and those procedures and standards are not always the same as the procedures and information disclosure standards in the U.S. In particular, neither sections 13(e) or 14(d) of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (as amended; the same shall apply hereinafter) or the rules under these sections apply to the tender offer; and therefore the tender offer will not be conducted in accordance with those procedures and standards.

Unless otherwise specified, all procedures relating to the tender offer are to be conducted entirely in Japanese. All or a part of the documentation relating to the tender offer will be prepared in English; however, if there is any discrepancy between the English-language documents and the Japanese-language documents, the Japanese-language documents shall prevail. 1 This press release includes statements that fall under “forward-looking statements” as defined in section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Due to known or unknown risks, uncertainties or other factors, actual results may differ materially from the predictions indicated by the statements that are implicitly or explicitly forward-looking statements. Neither the Offeror nor any of its affiliates guarantee that the predictions indicated by the statements that are implicitly or expressly forward-looking statements will materialize. The forward-looking statements in this press release were prepared based on information held by the Offeror as of today, and the Offeror and its affiliates shall not be obliged to amend or revise such statements to reflect future events or circumstances, except as required by laws and regulations.

The Offeror, its financial advisors and the tender offer agent (and their respective affiliates) may purchase the common shares and share options of the Company, by means other than the tender offer, or conduct an act aimed at such purchases, for their own account or for their client’s accounts, in the scope of their ordinary business and to the extent permitted under financial instrument exchange-related laws and regulations, and any other applicable laws and regulations in Japan, in accordance with the requirements of Rule 14e-5(b) of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the tender offer period. Such purchases may be conducted at the market price through market transactions or at a price determined by negotiations off-market. In the event that information regarding such purchases is disclosed in Japan, such information will also be disclosed on the English website of the person conducting such purchases (or by any other method of public disclosure).

About KKR

KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR’s insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life and reinsurance products under the management of Global Atlantic Financial Group. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com. For additional information about Global Atlantic Financial Group, please visit Global Atlantic Financial Group’s website at www.globalatlantic.com. For more information, please contact: KKR Asia Pacific Wei Jun Ong +65 6922 5813 WeiJun.Ong@kkr.com

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AVP Investment Thesis – Finbourne

AXA

AVP and Highland Europe recently co-led a Series B investment in Finbourne, a cloud native, investment and data management platform. The software market for large asset managers is dominated by large, legacy incumbents and it is becoming increasingly critical for financial institutions to upgrade their legacy systems to remain competitive in a dynamic and ever evolving environment.

Financial markets are often assumed to be some of our most technologically advanced but we found the reality to be quite different as we dug deeper. Over the last few decades asset management has significantly increased in complexity with the proliferation of asset classes, globalization and increased reporting requirements for reasons of transparency or regulation. In an effort to keep pace asset managers have stitched together disparate technology solutions into a patchwork quilt sewn with COBOL and spreadsheets.

As technology teams are asked to stretch this to accommodate new requirements such as ESG reporting or to provide data to train AI models things are reaching a breaking point for many of the largest asset managers. Painful, manual data extractions and reconciliations between systems that were never designed to talk to another have also been driving up costs. At the same time innovation has been restrained by the high complexity of solutions and the business risk if a systems change was to impact on the end customers.

Finbourne solves these problems with an end-to-end platform built on a unified data model across asset classes. The Operational Data Store brings all assets under a single pane of glanss and they provide a suite of models, analytics and products built for financial institutions. Building upon their success at the infrastructure layer they now offer best in class portfolio management systems, an investment book of record (IBOR) and an accounting book of record (ABOR). Core to the success of the solution have been their bidirectional data pipelines to other software and data repositories at their clients. To pursue the earlier metaphor, Finbourne allows clients to replace one patch at a time without ever needing to leave a hole and giving a migration path away from the legacy systems and towards a single source of the truth across assets.

This great technology could only come from a great team, here led by Tom McHugh who cofounded the company in 2016. Having worn both the CEO and the CTO hats Tom has a rare blend of commercial and technical skills and under his direction we believe Finbourne will become the market leader in the space. We’re excited to partner with Finbourne on their journey to setting the new standard in asset management technology.

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