Ottawa supply-chain-management software maker Assent Compliance Inc. says it is now valued at more than $1-billion after announcing a US$350-million financing round led by Vista Equity Partners Management LLC, one of the most active private-equity firms in the United States.
Assent’s industry experts and software map out supply chains for manufacturers so that they can comply with ethical and sustainable standards as well as various global regulations. U.S. private-equity giant Warburg Pincus LLC invested more than US$100-million in Assent in 2018, and the company says it’s seen significant growth since then, boosting its annual recurring revenue by more than half and its headcount by a third in the past year.
Armed with its new funding, Assent said Thursday that it would expand its team by 40 per cent; deepen its presence in Europe; and expand the environmental, social and governance (ESG) capabilities of its subscription-software platform.
Neither Assent nor Vista made any of its leaders available for interviews nor clarified how much of Vista’s investment was new equity or purchasing existing shareholders’ stakes.
Two Vista staff will join Assent’s board: Patrick Severson, co-head of the firm’s Foundation Fund, which made the investment, as well as Jake Hodgman, the fund’s managing director.
Assent’s software “empowers companies to mitigate their brand and reputation risk and become better corporate citizens,” Mr. Severson said in a press release.
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Last April, Vista invested $300-million in Toronto’s Vena Solutions Inc., which makes software for financial planning and analysis. Vista has more than US$86-billion in assets, focusing its investments on software for large companies and organizations. Its founder and chief executive officer, Robert Smith, is on Forbes’s billionaire list and known as a generous philanthropist.
He also has been embroiled in controversy in recent years as the central figure in a tax-evasion case, admitting to 15 years of tax evasion in a 2020 non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. He agreed to pay US$139-million in back taxes, interest and fines and relinquish deductions on US$182-million in charitable donations.
Warburg will remain Assent’s biggest shareholder, the press release said, and Assent’s founders and leadership team remain shareholders.
Assent’s software helps with supplier sourcing for manufacturers that deal with complex processes. Those clients usually have at least $100-million in revenue and are spread across a variety of industries from retail to aerospace. The software allows companies to upload details and documents that can be tracked for ethical or regulatory compliance.
The company has grown significantly since 2014, when Andrew Waitman joined as chief executive officer and invested $1-million. It’s since had several financing rounds led by Maryland’s Greenspring Associates and Boston’s Volition Capital. In 2018, Mr. Waitman said that Assent would consider going public when its annual revenue reached US$100-million.
With files from Sean Silcoff.
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