Technology Trends

On February 8, 2023, Nextracker Inc. (Nextracker or the Company) priced their Initial Public Offering which featured a base offering of $638 million that grew to $734 million after the overallotment option was exercised. The Company plans to use net proceeds from the offering to purchase LLC commons units from Yuma (a subsidiary of Flex, which is the parent company of Nextracker). KeyBanc Capital Markets served as a Joint Bookrunner on the transaction.

On January 25, 2023, KeyBanc Capital Markets (KBCM) successfully advised OpenAsset Enterprises (OpenAsset) on its investment from Marlin Equity Partners (Marlin). KBCM served as Exclusive Financial Advisor.

OpenAsset is the leading provider of Digital Asset Management (DAM) to the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. Purpose built, AI-enhanced search tools enable OpenAsset users to organize assets by projects and employees. Users can create highly flexible and automated marketing collateral, such as custom image and document templates, project and building spotlights, and more. Industry specific integrations with technology providers in the AEC industry improve marketing efficiency and help customers win new business. OpenAsset has offices in London and New York.

Marlin Equity Partners is a global investment firm with over $8.5 billion of capital under management. Marlin is focused on providing corporate parents, shareholders and other stakeholders with tailored solutions that meet their business and liquidity needs. Marlin invests in businesses across multiple industries where its capital base, industry relationships, and extensive network of operational resources significantly strengthen a company’s outlook and enhance value. Since its inception, Marlin, through its group of funds and related companies, has successfully completed over 200 acquisitions. Marlin is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, with an additional office in London.

On November 29, 2022, KeyBanc Capital Markets (KBCM) successfully closed the syndication of $700 million of Senior Secured Credit Facilities (the Credit Facilities) for Sterling Infosystems, Inc., a subsidiary of Sterling Check Corp. (Sterling). The Credit Facilities consist of a $400 million Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility and a $300 million Senior Secured Term Loan. Proceeds from the Credit Facilities will be used to refinance existing indebtedness, fund working capital needs, general corporate purposes, and pay transaction-related fees and expenses. KBCM acted as Left Lead Arranger, Joint Bookrunner and Administrative Agent on the transaction.

Sterling (NASDAQ: STER) — a leading provider of background and identity services — offers background and identity verification to help over 50,000 clients create people-first cultures built on a foundation of trust and safety. Sterling’s tech-enabled services help organizations across all industries establish great environments for their workers, partners, and customers. With operations around the world, Sterling conducted more than 95 million searches in the twelve months ended December 31, 2021.

On August 1, 2022, KeyBank successfully closed a Senior Secured Credit Facility for United Wireless, Inc. Proceeds from the facility were used to refinance the company's existing debt and fund a strategic acquisition. KeyBank acted as Sole Lender on the transaction.

United Wireless currently owns and operates over 150 T-Mobile branded retail stores in 11 states and is actively seeking additional acquisition opportunities. The company was established in 1999 and is headquartered in Farmington Hills, Michigan. United Wireless has become one of the faster growing retailers in the nation and takes great pride in providing the best products and services to their customers while also being devoted to their collection of retail wireless professionals.

On July 1, 2022, KeyBanc Capital Markets (KBCM) successfully advised Redi2 Technologies Inc. (Redi2), on its sale to Envestnet, Inc. (Envestnet). KBCM was engaged as Exclusive Sell-Side Advisor due to its industry leading FinTech sector expertise and strong M&A capabilities.

Redi2 automates complex billing, accounting, and back-office tasks through technology that streamlines operations, enhances client services, and meets compliance requirements. Their products leverage modern, scalable technology to deliver purpose-built solutions for distinct segments of the financial services industry. Redi2 performs client billing and revenue accounting, multi-party billing and payouts, and advisory billing and invoices for asset managers, wealth managers, and financial advisors.

Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Chicago, IL, Envestnet is transforming the way financial advice and insight are delivered by empowering financial advisors and service providers with innovative technology, solutions, and intelligence. Envestnet has been a leader in transforming wealth management through a financial network connecting technology, solutions, and data. Over 108,000 advisors and more than 6,000 companies, including 18 of the 20 largest U.S. banks, 47 of the 50 largest wealth management and brokerage firms, over 500 of the largest RIAs, and hundreds of FinTech companies, leverage Envestnet technology and services that help drive better outcomes for enterprises, advisors, and their clients.

On June 21, 2022, KeyBanc Capital Markets (KBCM) successfully advised Platform.sh on its $140 million Series D Funding. KBCM served as Exclusive Financial Advisor on the transaction. The round was led by Munich-based Digital+ Partners, San Francisco-based Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, and Paris-based Revaia, alongside existing investors BGV, Eurazeo, Hiinov, and Partech, all re-investing. The funds will allow Platform.sh to build on its leading position in Europe, the US and Asia, recruiting new employees worldwide to meet its expansion goals. Building on the successful acquisition of Blackfire in May 2021 that helped the company to strengthen its offering in application performance management, Platform.sh intends to use part of the proceeds to fund future acquisitions to accelerate its organic product roll out.

Platform.sh is a unified, secure, enterprise-grade platform for building, running and scaling web applications. Founded in 2015, the company is headquartered in Paris and San Francisco. Platform.sh employs 340 people across 36 countries and is available in Europe, the United States and Asia, through global partnerships with AWS, GCP, Azure and OVHcloud.

Based in Frankfurt, Munich and London, Digital+ Partners is a leading technology growth equity investor focused on DACH and European technology companies with over $800 million assets under management. Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital is the growth-focused private investment platform within Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital targets growth equity and credit investments within technology, healthcare, consumer, digital media and other high-growth sectors.

Based in the core of Europe, with their roots in two of the continent’s financial and technology powerhouses – Paris and Berlin – Revaia is pan-European at heart. Revaia invests in European growth-stage companies with global ambitions and sustainable leadership.

On March 29, 2022, KeyBanc Capital Markets (KBCM) successfully closed the syndication of a $250 million Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility (the Revolver) for DigitalOcean, LLC (the Company). Proceeds from the Revolver will be used to fund working capital needs and other general corporate purposes. KBCM acted as Left Lead Arranger, Joint Bookrunner and Administrative Agent on the transaction.

DigitalOcean is a leading cloud computing platform offering on-demand infrastructure and platform tools for developers, start-ups and small-to-medium size businesses. The Company offers infrastructure solutions across compute, storage and networking, and also enables developers to extend the native capabilities of the Company’s cloud with fully managed application, container and database offerings.

On January 25, 2022, KeyBanc Capital Markets (“KBCM”) successfully advised Global Upside Corporation (“GUC”) on its sale to SafeGuard World International Ltd. dba SafeGuard Global (“SafeGuard”), a portfolio company of Accel-KKR LLC (“AKKR”). KBCM was engaged as the Sell-Side Advisor due to its industry-leading HR Tech and HR Outsourcing expertise and strong M&A capabilities.

Global Upside Corporation offers a full suite of hire-to-retire HR software and services in 170+ countries, leveraging its four brands: Global Upside, Global PEO Services, Gava Talent Solutions, and Mihi Software. Through these four brands, GUC helps clients expand internationally and supports their complete HR business lifecycle needs.

Founded in 2005, SafeGuard is a global PEO and provider of managed payroll and EOR services. With over 900 clients and across 15 global offices, SafeGuard enables global business success through more efficient payroll, onboarding, time and expense management, and more.

AKKR is a leading middle market private equity firm with a focus on software and tech-enabled services. With over $10 billion in committed capital, AKKR has invested in over 300 companies, making it one of the most active private equity firms in the software and tech-enabled services sector.

On December 31, 2021, KeyBanc Capital Markets (“KBCM”) successfully advised QMR Holdings, LLC dba Quantum Workplace (“Quantum Workplace”), a portfolio company of McCarthy Capital, on its sale to LLR Partners (“LLR”). KBCM was engaged as the exclusive Sell-Side Advisor due to its industry-leading HR Tech expertise and strong M&A capabilities.

Quantum Workplace is a leading provider of comprehensive employee engagement and performance management software, as well as the leader in data collection for the nationally recognized Best Places to Work programs. Quantum Workplace equips workplaces with the smartest talent solutions so that they can grow and succeed, and the company has partnered with thousands of organizations to drive employee, team, and business success.

With more than $5B raised across six funds, LLR is a leading middle market private equity firm investing in technology and healthcare businesses. LLR has invested in more than 100 platform companies and completed more than 150 add-on acquisitions.

On December 21, 2021, KeyBanc Capital Markets ("KBCM") successfully advised FogHorn Systems (“FogHorn” or the “Company”) on its sale to Johnson Controls International. KBCM served as Exclusive Financial Advisor on this transaction.

FogHorn is a leading developer of edge AI software for industrial and commercial IoT application solutions. The Company's software platform brings the power of advanced analytics and machine learning to the on-premises edge environment enabling a new class of applications for advanced monitoring and diagnostics, machine performance optimization, proactive maintenance, and operational intelligence use cases. FogHorn's technology is ideally suited for OEMs, systems integrators and end customers in manufacturing, power and water, oil and gas, renewable energy, mining, transportation, healthcare, retail, as well as smart grid, smart city, smart building, and connected vehicle applications.

Johnson Controls is the global leader in smart, healthy and sustainable buildings. With a history of more than 135 years of innovation, Johnson Controls delivers the blueprint of the future for industries such as healthcare, schools, data centers, airports, stadiums, manufacturing and beyond. With a global team of 100,000 experts in more than 150 countries, Johnson Controls offers the world`s largest portfolio of building technology, software as well as service solutions with some of the most trusted names in the industry.

On December 20, 2021, KeyBanc Capital Markets (KBCM) successfully closed the syndication of an aggregate $980 million Senior Secured Credit Facilities for WideOpenWest Finance, LLC (WOW!), consisting of a 5-year $250 million Revolving Credit Facility and a 7-year $730 million Term Loan B. The proceeds of this transaction will be used to refinance existing indebtedness, fund working capital needs and general corporate purposes, and pay transaction-related fees and expenses. KBCM acted as Joint Lead Arranger and Joint Bookrunner on the transaction.

Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Englewood, CO, WOW! is one of the nation’s leading broadband providers, with an efficient, high-performing network that surpasses 1.9 million residential, business and wholesale consumers. WOW! provides services in 14 markets, primarily in the Midwest and Southeast, including Michigan, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia. The company's expansive portfolio of advanced services includes high-speed Internet, cable TV, phone, business data, voice, and cloud.

On November 8th, 2021, KeyBanc Capital Markets (“KBCM”) successfully advised Smartling, Inc., the leading cloud translation technology platform company, on its $160 Million Growth Investment from Battery Ventures, a global, technology-focused investment firm. KBCM acted as Exclusive Financial Advisor on this transaction.