Serent News

ICon Professional Services Combines with Synergy Services

November 11, 2015

Foster City, CA - November 11, 2015 — ICon Professional Services, a leading provider of independent contractor compliance and contingent workforce management solutions, has combined with Synergy Services, another leading provider in the market. Serent Capital, a San Francisco-based private equity firm focused on selectively investing in rapidly growing industry leaders, supported the transaction. Serent had acquired a majority stake in ICon earlier this year.

"The rapidly growing market for contingent labor makes it ever more critical for our clients to find solutions to better manage this spend," said Teresa Creech, CEO of the combined firms. Regarding the combination of the two businesses, she added, "Putting these two incredible growth companies together enables us to better service the evolving contingent workforce market. Our clients will benefit from the strongest leadership team in the industry, who are focused on anticipating and addressing the changes in the engaging and maximizing of independent talent."

"The combined knowledge of these two companies allows the organization to better adapt to the changing needs of its customers," said Synergy CEO, Tim Miller. "The combined business will also be better positioned to win new accounts through its increased size and scale," he added.

"This was a natural combination in many ways," said David Kennedy, co-founder and General Partner of Serent Capital. "ICon and Synergy are both fast-growing companies that share a passion for excellent customer service and a focus on technology as a way to drive improvements in their offerings. The cultural and strategic fit here is very strong."

The transaction marks Serent’s third investment in the HR space in the last two years. Serent continues to be committed to investing in innovative and growing companies within the HR technology and HR compliance industries.

About ICon Professional Services

ICon is a leading provider of Contingent Workforce Management solutions, which include 1099 contractor compliance, payroll and benefits administration. Since 1997, ICon has applied experience, technology, and process execution to create solutions that deliver on the promise of an independent workforce by expertly navigating the complexity of government compliance. Our award-winning iConnect® technology platform remains at the forefront of the industry and provides powerful competitive advantages in terms of cost and performance. This technological advantage, along with our dedication to providing superior customer service, has earned ICon a long list of awards and satisfied customers.

For additional information, visit www.gotoicon.com.

About Synergy Services

Synergy’s core business is helping flexible workers and the organizations who require their services to work together in an easy, economical, and secure manner. Synergy Services acts as a “middle-ware” solution for enterprise clients to onboard known talent, evaluate their worker classifications, and manage the complete engagement through payment and off-boarding.

Hiring managers need speedy, elegant and cost effective ways to engage self-sourced, or non-agency, flexible workers. Business leaders need to solve the persistent problems of worker misclassification and reduce the risks that come with co-employment as a part of an overall workforce strategy.

Innovative engagement solutions, and cloud-based applications such as Synergy Talent Communities™ and Synergy Online™ do just that while helping enterprises find, manage, and pay their flexible workforce. Integrated analytics provide visibility, cost control and the strategic ability to engage the right talent in the right place at the right time.

For additional information, visit www.synergyservicescorp.com.

About Serent Capital

Serent Capital invests in growing businesses that have developed compelling solutions that address their customers' needs. As those businesses grow and evolve, the opportunities and challenges that they face evolve with it. Principals at Serent Capital have firsthand experience at capturing those opportunities and navigating those challenges through their experiences as CEOs, strategic advisors, and board members to successful, growing businesses. By bringing its experience and capital to bear, Serent helps growing businesses thrive.

For more information on Serent Capital, visit www.serentcapital.com.

Serent Capital invests in profitable, growing service companies. We typically invest in founder-led companies and often represent the first institutional capital in the company. We are highly selective, choosing to invest in only a handful of businesses each year. Our selectivity ensures that all our companies receive the attention and expertise that they need. Learn more about our portfolio companies.

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