ECI Partners, the leading growth-focused mid-market private equity firm, today announces its investment in Commify, the UK-headquartered European leader in business messaging solutions to Local Enterprises. The deal, valued at €300 million, provides a full realisation for Hg, a leading investor in European and transatlantic software and services businesses, that has backed Commify’s transformation since 2016.
Commify’s integrated solutions enable over 45,000 customers to communicate with their customers and staff, sending over 5 billion messages per year, covering a range of business critical use cases from appointment confirmations to emergency alerts, via a range of channels including SMS, WhatsApp, RCS, email and voice.
The business is a long-established leader in the European Local Enterprise segment, complemented by fast-growing operations in the US and Australia. It operates at global scale, taken to market locally in each country via both its global solutions brand Esendex and local self-serve brands. Commify has completed 16 complementary acquisitions in the last decade, and the investment from ECI will support further acquisitions across both existing and new countries, as well as to accelerate future platform and product development.
Richard Hanscott, CEO, Commify: “With Hg’s backing in recent years we have built a highly differentiated market-leading business, with material investment in both M&A and our business messaging platform. ECI’s ownership will allow us to accelerate our investment in new products and services, including our growing range of messaging channels such as WhatsApp. Alongside this we are excited to continue to drive expansion through further acquisitions in both existing and new countries. Commify is perfectly positioned to continue to deliver high quality, sustainable growth. This is a very exciting time for Commify, our customers and our employees as we look forward to further strong growth supported by ECI’s significant investment.”
Paul McCreadie, Partner at ECI, comments: “Commify has built a differentiated position in an exciting global market, and with messaging becoming the number one customer engagement channel, there is a clear and compelling growth opportunity across Europe, the US and Australia. We’re delighted to be partnering with Richard and the Commify team to support them on further organic and acquisitive growth for the next stage of their journey.”
Nick Jordan, Partner at Hg comments: “The investment from ECI is a big milestone for the management and staff at Commify. We have been incredibly proud to support the business as it expanded into multiple new European geographies and the US, more than doubling the size of business in doing so. We wish the team well for the future, in partnership with ECI.”
Advisors to ECI: Houlihan Lokey, Squire Patton Boggs, EY
Advisors to Commify: Moelis & Company, Linklaters, EY, Strategy&, Liberty Corporate Finance, Baker Botts, KPMG
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About Commify
Commify (www.commify.com) is the team behind a portfolio of business messaging brands, serving over 45,000 businesses and sending 5 billion messages a year. Whether it’s SMS, WhatsApp, RCS, email, voice, web or payments, any business can easily use Commify’s services to transform their communications with their customers and staff.
Headquartered in Nottingham, UK, the business operates in the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Australia under a portfolio of customer-facing brands addressing different markets and different customer segments.
Private equity backed and growing rapidly through both organic investment and acquisitions, its mission is to ‘make business communication brilliant’.
About ECI
ECI is a leading private equity investor, focused on offering collaborative support to management teams. ECI pride themselves on being straightforward to deal with, helping where they believe they can add value, and working in absolute alignment with management teams. This is how they have delivered such exceptional results for over 45 years.
ECI manages funds of over £2bn and invests in growth businesses valued up to £300m, investing as either a majority or a minority investor. Its growth focus is integral to how it has built its team. ECI has created the capability to support management teams on anything from sourcing and executing acquisitions, developing market entry strategies, understanding and improving employee engagement, or ensuring tech platforms can scale as quickly as the companies they back, and much more.
About Hg
We support the building of sector-leading enterprises that supply businesses with critical software applications or workflow services, delivering a more automated workplace for their customers.
This industry is characterised by digitisation trends that are in early stages of adoption and are set to transform the workplace for professionals over decades to come. Our support combines deep end-market knowledge with world class operational resources, together providing compelling support to entrepreneurial leaders looking to scale their business – businesses that are well invested, enduring and serve their customers well.
With a vast European network and strong presence across North America, our 400 employees and $65bn in funds under management support a portfolio of more than 45 businesses, worth over $125 billion aggregate enterprise value, with over 100,000 employees, consistently growing revenues at more than 20% annually. If you’d like to see more, check us out at www.hgcapital.com.
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