Private Equity deals handpicked by our team to have longevity, strong fundamentals, an intelligent executive team, and growth-oriented investors. Text is aggregated from various press release news sources, released by the acquiring firms.
If you're looking at the future of each respective industry, these are the companies to pay attention to. If you're a functional expert looking to get involved with mature startups like the ones listed below, get in touch to see if you're a fit to join our Flywheel.
Talespin, a spatial computing company focused on workforce knowledge transfer and skills mobility, today announced new funding from the WestRiver Group (WRG). The deal also includes Talespin's strategic acquisition of the 'Pioneer Adaptive Learning Platform' from Singularity Group, and including the addition of new employees and advisors from Singularity.
Turbulent financial markets have caused investment and company growth plans across industries to become more conservative, and the Fortune 500 and Wall Street are bracing for a potential inflation-driven economic downturn. One exception that continues to see significant investment, despite these conditions, is the Metaverse – a segment of the Web 3.0 technology market predicted to be worth $800 billion by 2024. In particular, education and workforce skills development are two growing use cases among the burgeoning Metaverse technology space, with companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Cisco investing in technology designed to enable immersive learning. The Metaverse is becoming a C-Suite priority, as companies look to shore up their talent gaps, and leverage it to optimize their operations.
Talespin is a beneficiary of this increasing demand, with WestRiver Group (WRG) joining its growing list of investors, including SEEK Investments, Cornerstone, Pearson, Accenture, and Go1 – illustrating the collective interest in the Metaverse from global leaders in learning, workforce transformation, and human-capital investment.
The new funding deal will see WRG Founder and Chief Executive Officer Erik Anderson join Talespin's board of directors. Anderson, a global innovation, investment and philanthropist leader, currently serves as Vice Chairman of Callaway Golf Company, and is the former Executive Chairman of Topgolf Entertainment Group. Additionally, he is Executive Chairman of the SVB Capital Credit Platform and serves as Chair of the SVB Capital Advisory Committee. He is also the Executive Chairman of Singularity University.
"WestRiver Group is proud to invest in this latest stage of growth for Talespin," said Anderson. "This social impact-driven innovation is the exact type of investment we at WestRiver Group are excited to support."
KnowBe4, Inc. (the “Company” or “KnowBe4”) (Nasdaq: KNBE), the provider of the world’s largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Vista Equity Partners (“Vista”) in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $4.6 billion on an equity value basis.
Under the terms of the merger agreement, KnowBe4 stockholders will receive $24.90 per share in cash upon completion of the proposed transaction. The per share purchase price represents a 44 percent premium to the Company’s unaffected closing price on September 16, 2022, the last full trading day before Vista publicly disclosed its initial non-binding acquisition proposal on its Schedule 13-D. As disclosed by KnowBe4 in a press release dated September 19, 2022, an independent Special Committee of KnowBe4’s Board of Directors (the “Special Committee”) was formed to review this proposal and other potential value creation opportunities.
“Today’s announcement is a testament to the success of our strategy and the strength of our incredible team. This acquisition by Vista represents the next phase of our journey,” said Stu Sjouwerman, founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of KnowBe4. “KnowBe4 has a strong record of performance, as evidenced by our market-leading platform and global customer base. Under Vista’s ownership, we will have access to additional resources and support, which will help us achieve our goals and deliver enhanced value to our customers. We look forward to partnering with Vista’s team to continue empowering businesses worldwide to strengthen their human firewall and make smarter security decisions every day.”
Under the terms of the agreement, which was unanimously approved and recommended to the Board by the Special Committee and then unanimously approved and recommended for approval by the stockholders by KnowBe4’s Board of Directors, KnowBe4 stockholders will receive $24.90 in cash for each share of common stock that they own.
The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2023, subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of regulatory approvals and approval by KnowBe4 stockholders.
Clearlake Capital Group and Clearlake operating advisor Sam Soni announced today the acquisition of Ticket Evolution Inc. ("Ticket Evolution" or the "Company"), an end-to-end software provider for the event ticketing industry. The acquisition was completed through Victory Live, Inc. ("VictoryLive"), an event management and ticketing technology platform backed by Clearlake and Mr. Soni, who is a pioneer and leader in the multi-billion-dollar premium ticket and sports hospitality event industry. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Ticket Evolution manages thousands of sports and events tickets on behalf of both professional ticket resellers and rightsholders through an established B2B marketplace with distribution capabilities. The Company's offerings include both a full-service and an automated SaaS platform providing operational needs to ticket distributors, including ticket fulfillment and delivery. These software solutions are complemented by Ticket Evolution's pricing intelligence platform, which enables automated price changes in response to market fluctuations or pricing strategies.
Chronograph, a leading private markets technology company, today announced a 'Series X' funding round led by global growth equity investor Summit Partners. Existing investors Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) and Nasdaq Ventures also participated in the round. The new investment will position Chronograph to further accelerate global growth and development of the company's robust portfolio monitoring, reporting, and analytics solutions.
Headquartered in Brooklyn, Chronograph was founded by technologists and private equity investment professionals to bring next-generation technology to private capital markets participants. Through a suite of cloud-based analytics and data management solutions, Chronograph's technology plays a crucial role in how many of the world's largest and most sophisticated investors understand, value, and manage their private investments. The company has grown rapidly since its founding in 2016, and today monitors over $6 trillion of private equity and venture capital assets on behalf of institutional limited partners and general partners, with over 100,000 private companies represented on the Chronograph platform.
"Calling this our 'Series X' funding round reflects the fact we have not pursued a traditional fundraising strategy. Instead, we have focused on building a scalable, capital-efficient company with a world-class team. And our team is growing – we are hiring across all functions and are incredibly hungry for exceptional talent in engineering, product, sales, client success, and other areas," Tafoya remarked. "We are thrilled to benefit from Summit Partners' deep experience in the technology sector and further leverage our partnerships with Carlyle and Nasdaq to push Chronograph to the next level."
Text is aggregated from various press release news sources, released by the acquiring firms.
If you're looking at the future of each respective industry, these are the companies to pay attention to. If you're a functional expert looking to get involved with mature startups like the ones listed below, get in touch to see if you're a fit to join our Flywheel.
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