Topics: Serent Sectors

Serent Capital's Field Services Sector Update

Our Work in Field Services and New Field Services Investments

September 16, 2020

With hundreds of thousands of service providers across lawn care, landscaping, pest control, plumbing, electrical, and many other sectors in the early stages of software adoption, the field services software ecosystem is growing rapidly. At Serent, we have spent years getting to know the players in the space. Our understanding of the broad market dynamics at play uniquely positions us to help high-growth field services software companies scale. Through our model of active engagement, we support our partners in accelerating growth: whether it's securing the right executive talent, improving go-to-market strategy and process, rolling out integrated payments, or considering opportunities for M&A or new product lines.

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Why Field Services?

Field services software companies are nicely positioned to benefit from two-sided demand in the market. While software adoption in field services has lagged in some industries, residential and commercial service providers are now recognizing the benefits of cloud and mobile technology—increased office and field worker efficiency, improved resource optimization, higher accuracy in invoicing, faster collections, and better customer engagement leading to higher customer satisfaction (to name just a few). Additionally, customers of service providers now desire (or demand!) functionality for easier touch-points like online appointment scheduling and automated payments. Modern field services software solutions enable service providers to improve customer engagement and satisfaction, creating a clear competitive advantage over other local providers.

Our Work in the Field Services Sector

At Serent, our dedicated Growth Team, a resource provided without consulting fees to Serent's portfolio companies, has built significant IP in scaling field services software companies by optimizing go-to-market strategies and accelerating customer acquisition. We also assist our partners with strategies to better monetize their market position through improvements in account management, integrated payments processing, and partnerships.

Field Services Final

 

An example of our work in the sector is our investment in Real Green Systems, a software and marketing services provider to lawn care, landscape, and pest companies, who we partnered with in late 2018. Within the first year, we worked closely with the management team to help fill critical leadership team gaps, establish key functions (e.g. account management), and redesign the approach to sales and marketing by incorporating best practices. Additionally, we helped the company bring payment processing capabilities in-house by establishing an internal payments facilitator, enabling Real Green to build deeper payment processing functionality into its core software platform and control the customer experience. This development has led to both improved operational efficiency for Real Green in managing an essential aspect of their business, as well as delighted customers who can now more easily manage their collections and eliminate double entry. Through these efforts, Serent helped Real Green increase its software and payments growth rate by more than ten percentage points.  

"Thanks to the strong collaboration that we’ve had with Serent, we’ve been able to exceed our initial targets in the PayFac. It’s still early in the process. Time will tell if we can maintain that momentum, but things are looking very promising."

-Bill Nunan,CEO, Real Green Systems

bill nunan

Read More About Bill's Story

In a similar vein, we help field service software companies explore expansion through accretive M&A: including both acquiring smaller, direct competitors as well as moving into adjacent markets to add new product or service lines.

This strategy has been the approach with Next Gear Solutions, a leading provider of job management, workflow automation, and carrier guideline management software to the insurance restoration market. Next Gear has a SaaS platform used by thousands of restoration contractors to manage all aspects of their restoration businesses from sales acquisition to work execution. Next Gear partnered with Serent in 2016 and since then, it has completed five accretive M&A transactions, which has helped them add product adjacencies, open up new markets, and accelerate their growth. Since Serent's investment, Next Gear has seen a nearly 4x increase in revenue. 

"M&A for us has been a huge value creator...One of the things that you learn when you're doing mergers and acquisitions is that you need a team behind you to do it. There's a lot of work involved, and what's great about it from a management team perspective is if you have Serent's growth team and deal team on your side, they do most of the heavy lifting for you. So you're able to continue to run the business and figure out how you want to integrate the businesses, while they're handling the rest."

-Garret Gray, Founder and CEO, Next Gear Solutions

garret gray

Read More About Garret's Story

At Serent, we work alongside our portfolio companies to support growth across multiple dimensions. If you're looking for a partner who can offer expert guidance, support, and an extensive network of C-level talent and resources to support your company's growth trajectory, we'd love to hear from you.  

Are you interested in discussing the field services market? Connect with us.

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Field Services Investments - By the Numbers

Since our founding in 2008, Serent has invested in thirteen field services software and services companies, including CoConstruct, Davisware, LMN, Mercury Network, Next Gear Solutions, and Real Green Systems.

6
Platform Companies

7
Add-On Companies

47
Number of Executives Placed in Our Field Services Companies Since 2016

Select Field Service Investment Sectors

End Markets

  • Alarm 
  • Appraisal & Inspection
  • Arbory
  • Cleaning & Janitorial
  • Commercial Service
  • Electrical
  • Energy
  • Fire & Safety
  • Food Equipment
  • General Contractor
  • HVAC
  • Irrigation
  • Landscaping
  • Lawn Care
  • Pest Control
  • Plumbing
  • Pool & Spa
  • Restoration
  • Security

Higher-Education

  • Admissions
  • Alumni & Advancement
  • Athletics
  • Career Services
  • Finance, Accounting, & Operations
  • Financial Aid
  • Fundraising & Development
  • HR / HCM (HE)
  • Marketing Recruiting
  • Online Services
  • Student Life / Services
  • Student Success / Academic Outcomes

Professional Development

Early Childhood Education

Meet with the Serent Field Services Team

We'd love to meet with you to discuss industry trends, our views on partnership, and our industry experience. Please let us know if you will be attending by requesting a meeting with our field services investment team below.

Schedule a Meeting

Founded in 2008, Serent Capital is a leading lower-middle market private equity firm focused on investing in high growth service and technology businesses. Our operating model is distinct in its focus on business building. We strive to be an involved, value-added investor, capable of providing significant operational and strategic support to our portfolio company CEOs on the most critical issues that they face as their companies scale.

Serent Capital's ability to assist its companies is based on its principals' experience as CEOs, strategic advisers, and Board Members, and a deep network of formal and informal advisors.

Our mission is to deliver extraordinary returns by partnering with outstanding executive teams to grow exceptional businesses. Our success in this mission comes from our persistent adherence to our values.

Focus

Vertical Specific B2B Software, Data, or Tech-Enabled Services Companies

Enterprise Value

$15m to $250m
(Smaller for add-ons)

Company Size

>$5M of recurring or reoccurring revenue
(Smaller for add-ons)

Geography

USA & Canada

Growth

10% - 1,000%

Profitability

EBITDA up to $15M

Ownership

Minority or Majority Transactions
30-100%

Disclaimer:
Nothing presented herein is intended to constitute investment advice, nor sales material, and no investment decision should be made based on any information provided herein. Information provided reflects Serent's views as of a particular time and are subject to change without notice. Any forward looking statements or forecasts are based on assumptions and actual results are expected to vary from any such statements or forecasts. While Serent has used reasonable efforts to obtain information from reliable sources, we make no representations or warranties as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of third party information presented herein. Past performance is not indicative of future results. There can be no guarantee that any investment strategy employed by Serent will be successful. A full list of portfolio holdings is available on Serent's website.

The information contained herein may not be copied, reproduced, republished, or posted in whole or in part, in any form without the prior written consent of Serent.