San Francisco, CA – October 20, 2017 — Serent Capital, a San Francisco-based private equity firm focused on investing in fast-growing, founder-owned software and services businesses, announced the close of Serent Capital III, a $572 million fund. Since inception in 2008 Serent Capital has raised over $1 billion in capital.
The raise was largely completed from existing investors in Serent, with only a handful of new limited partners, and exceeded the firm’s target of $475 million. The new fund will be a continuation of Serent’s strategy of partnering with the management teams of leading software and services businesses and supporting those teams through key value creation initiatives that are geared toward accelerating growth.
“Along with my Partners Lance (Fenton) and Kevin (Frick), we are very excited and thankful for the overwhelming support from our new and existing limited partners during this fundraising process” said David Kennedy. “Almost 10 years ago, we set out on a mission to build an operationally focused private equity firm that was unique to the lower-middle market. Since then, we have been fortunate to partner with great management teams to deliver terrific returns for our investors. The interest and demand we received for SCIII was only further validation of our strategy and we are looking forward to the road ahead with Fund III.”
The closing of the third fund comes during a period of significant activity for Serent Capital. Over the last 12 months, Serent has made 5 add-on acquisitions, 3 new platform investments, and had 1 exit. The Firm also added 7 new hires, bringing the team to nearly 40 people.
New platform investments include:
- Digarc, a leading provider of catalog and curriculum management software to higher education institutions
- Pondera Solutions, a leading provider of fraud detection solutions to the government sector
- Arbiter Sports, a leading provider of sports management solutions to the education market
Portfolio M&A Activity:
- Compeat, a leading provider of integrated restaurant accounting, back office and workforce management software, acquired Ctuit, a California-based provider of restaurant management software.
- NextGear Solutions, a leading provider of workflow and job management software to the restoration industry acquired Luxor CRM, a Canadian-based provider of CRM solutions, as well as MICA Software, a Florida-based provider of mitigation software.
- Mercury Network, a leading provider of appraisal vendor management software to the mortgage industry acquired Appraisal Scope, a Maryland-based appraisal management software company.
- Avionté Staffing Software, a leading provider of staffing and recruiting technology solutions for the human resources industry acquired Applied Systems Technology, a New York-based provider of staffing software.
Exits:
- Mercury Network, a leading provider of appraisal vendor management software was acquired by CoreLogic.
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 change with them. Principals at Serent Capital have firsthand experience at capturing those opportunities and navigating these difficulties through their experiences as CEOs, strategic advisors and board members to successful growing businesses. By bringing its expertise and capital to bear, Serent helps growing businesses thrive. For more information on Serent Capital, visit www.serentcapital.com.
