Partnering with Venero proved pivotal in shaping our M&A path, ensuring we maximized value without compromising our vision.
We founded People Analytix with a mission to revolutionize how organizations manage their approach to skills development. Having observed that current skills solutions in the market used relatively basic taxonomy that did not reflect current market developments, we set out to build something truly different.
At the heart of our solution was an AI-powered ontology built over ten years with human guidance. Our skills management platform included a proprietary multilingual skills ontology with over 20,000 unique skills, enabling companies to identify organizational skills gaps, uncover workforce trends, and match employees to jobs, projects, and learning opportunities.
After a lot of hard work, twists, turns and perseverance , we reached a point where our specialized technology was attracting serious interest from strategic buyers who recognized the transformative potential of our platform.
As founders, we recognized this was a pivotal moment for our company and ourselves personally. We needed robust support in order to do things right. One of our founding shareholders was a lawyer with relevant experience and was happy to offer support. However, all of us recognized this would not be sufficient for maximizing the value of our exit. We needed an experienced investment banker to take responsibility for leading the process from beginning to end. Besides, we still had to run the business day-to-day and ensure it continued performing well!
Ultimately, it came down to the fact that selling the company would be pivotal in our journey. Having someone more emotionally removed seemed important, and indeed proved helpful in our case. Not to mention that having professional representation signals to buyers that you are serious, which makes them take you and the process more seriously as well.
Company: People-Analytix
Founders: Christoph Kuffer, Cornel Muller, Thomas Debus
Transaction Type: Full Sale
Buyer: Learning Pool (Marlin Equity Partners portfolio company)
Financial Advisors: Venero Capital Advisors
When multiple strategic buyers came calling, we discovered that having the right advisor and maintaining competitive tension were essential to achieving the best outcome.
After evaluating our options, we chose to work with Venero. They came recommended, had a long track record of similar transactions, and demonstrated a thorough understanding of our market dynamics.
What impressed us most was their view on how we could best position People-Analytix, and what buyers would be looking for in our case. They even flagged potential issues, along with ways to work around them.
The Venero team wasn't overselling or overpromising. And we had a great personality match with the senior banker we ended up working with. Other banks may have been more aggressive in their pitch, but Venero seemed like the gold standard and a safe choice for companies like ours.
Over the course of a few months, Venero did an outstanding job getting us on the radar of potential buyers while providing invaluable support.
Eventually it came down to two frontrunners. On one hand, we had a large conglomerate that understood our strategic value, had the resources to pay a premium but was moving very slowly. On the other hand, we had a PE-backed strategic buyer that could move more decisively and close more efficiently.
Venero was able to navigate this complex dynamic expertly. They maintained competitive tension between both parties while carefully managing the timing and process to our advantage.
They managed to secure improved terms from the PE-backed party that could move more quickly, ultimately delivering a better overall outcome than what we might have achieved with the slower-moving conglomerate.
The offer also included a performance-based earnout, which can be tricky to get right. The Venero team was exceptional in helping us assess and plan for a broad range of potential scenarios, ensuring that the earnout structure aligned our incentives with the buyer's goals and minimized downside risk.
Venero's disciplined approach ensured we did not get caught up in a prolonged process with multiple approval layers that might have resulted in deal fatigue or changing market conditions affecting the outcome. Instead, we achieved a clean, efficient transaction that reflected the strategic value of what we had built.
They say "time kills all deals", and I would definitely agree. The best acquirer combines strategic conviction, fair pricing, and the ability to close the deal quickly.
Working with Venero proved essential to navigating these complex dynamics and securing the optimal outcome. Their expertise in our market, combined with their skill in managing competitive buyer processes, enabled us to achieve both our financial and strategic objectives while positioning our technology for continued growth and impact alongside the right acquirer.
Venero managed the process with a steady hand, ensuring that the strategic value they had helped us articulate was reflected in the final outcome.
From local hero to Asia Pac leader: Venero helped build the bridge to our future.
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