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Apex Group (Apex) has expanded its relationship with Launch Africa Ventures (Launch Africa), a Pan-African Venture Capital fund, addressing the significant funding gap in the Seed and pre-Series A investment landscape in Africa.
Launch Africa invests capital, time, and expertise into leading B2B and B2B2C early-stage, technology-driven startups with strong management teams and scalable solutions. Their current portfolio spans 11 countries, and includes co-investments alongside leading regional funds, accelerators and angel investor groups on the continent. By drawing upon diverse global advisory networks and unique access to corporate distribution channels across Africa, Launch Africa seeks to unlock value for their
Hanover Investors, a special situations specialist, is appointing John Woodard as a Senior Partner.
Woodard has spent more than 25 years in the private equity industry in positions spanning Credit Suisse First Boston, Wesray Capital Corporation, The Blackstone Group and Vestar Capital Partners, where he led the Industrial practice, served on the investment committee and spent three years in Japan running Asian operations.
He joins the firm with immediate effect as part of the leadership team as well as having a key role in the Hanover Active Equity Fund II (HAEF II) and future successor funds. The HAEF strategy deploys
Shore Capital Partners (Shore), a strategic private equity firm focused on microcap investing in the healthcare, food and beverage, business services and real estate industries, with offices in Chicago and Nashville, has made four new hires and ten promotions at the senior level on its rapidly-growing investment team.
These moves support Shore’s continued growth and recent closings of Shore Capital Healthcare Partners Fund IV (USD366 million) and Shore Capital Business Services Partners Fund I (USD213 million). Shore now manages a total committed capital base of USD2 billion.
“Recognising and attracting top talent is a critical part of our vision to
Priority Power Management (Priority Power), an independent energy services provider, has secured a USD250 million investment from funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management (Oaktree) and other select institutional investors.
Ara Partners, a Houston-based private equity firm specialising in industrial decarbonisation investments that acquired Priority Power in 2019, will continue to hold an ownership stake.
“Oaktree is excited to partner with Priority Power and Ara Partners to accelerate Priority Power’s deployment of innovative energy solutions that enable customers to secure energy resources reliably and economically while contributing to grid stability, advancing their adoption of renewable energy, and achieving their sustainability goals.”
Kirkland & Ellis has advised Bain Capital on its investment in Berlin Brands Group (BBG).
With Bain Capital’s acquisition of a minority stake from Ardian, BBG becomes the latest European unicorn. The majority of the shares are still held by Peter Chaljawski and the executive team. BBG has also secured USD700 million of additional equity and debt financing to further develop growth and fund M&A.
BBG is a global e-commerce company and one of the pioneers in the direct-to-consumer business. The Berlin-based hidden champion currently sells over 3,700 everyday items and trendy products across 34 of its own e-commerce
Investcorp, a global provider and manager of alternative investment products, has completed the sale of PRO Unlimited by Investcorp and funds managed by Harvest Partners, an established New York-based private equity firm, to EQT Private Equity, a global investment firm.
The transaction was first announced on 28 June, 2021.
Founded in 1991, PRO Unlimited delivers a full range of services to address procurement, management and compliance issues related to contingent and temporary workers, including independent contractors, consultants and freelancers. PRO Unlimited operates in over 50 countries and provides services to some of the world’s largest and most prestigious companies through
Insurify, a US-based virtual insurance agent and comparison platform, has closed USD100 million in Series B funding led by Motive Partners, a specialist private equity firm focused on financial technology investments.
The round included participation from existing investors Viola FinTech, MassMutual Ventures, Nationwide, Hearst Ventures, Moneta VC, as well as new investors Viola Growth and Fort Ross Ventures.
This is the most recent development for the fast-growing company, which has raised a total of USD128 million to date, has grown its new and recurring revenue by 6x since its Series A funding in Q4 of 2019, and has achieved
Follett Corporation has sold Follett School Solutions (FSS), the company’s K-12 software and content division, to Francisco Partners, a technology-focused global investment firm.
Follett School Solutions, based in McHenry, Illinois, is a longtime trusted educational partner to K-12 schools and districts that provides software and content products, including Follett Destiny, FSS’ market-leading library management system with installations in more than 75,000 K-12 schools worldwide. FSS will join Francisco Partners’ growing portfolio of K-12 education-focused businesses and technologies, including Renaissance Learning, Discovery Education, Freckle, myON and Mystery Science.
“FSS has played a pivotal leadership role in the development of content
Stephen Kenny (pictured) from Blick Rothenberg’s Financial Services team reviews HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) recent announcement on moving the accounting year end for unincorporated businesses.
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), a global investment group, is to acquire the majority ownership of Wizeline, a global technology services provider that partners with clients to build digital products and platforms.
Apax Digital Fund, which has been a majority owner since 2018, will remain as a share holder following the transaction.
Founded in 2014, Wizeline’s origins as a cloud-native, product development company have served it well in its partnerships with customers needing to mature their data-driven capabilities, build next-generation products and platforms, and stay competitive in a constantly evolving market. The company works with its
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