Enterprise software and business leader Blake Tablak will continue the growth of Global Transportation Spend Management Solutions Provider
DALLAS, Aug. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Trax Technologies (“Trax” or “the Company”), the global leader in Transportation Spend Management (TSM) solutions, today announced the appointment of Blake Tablak as CEO. Tablak succeeds Hampton Wall, who will transition to the role of special advisor.
Tablak brings a proven track record of navigating complex market dynamics in enterprise software and leading businesses as they scale. In his most recent role at ProcessMAP, Tablak redefined the strategy and focus and led the company through a successful acquisition by Ideagen. He previously held global leadership positions at Udacity, Workiva, and Topia, where he was responsible for driving innovative go-to-market strategies to accelerate sales.
“I look forward to leading and accelerating the growth of this incredible organization,” said Tablak. “Trax is a global leader in helping customers unlock valuable freight audit and payment data insights to optimize costs and ensure compliance. The talented team here at Trax is adept at driving innovation, capitalizing on emerging opportunities, and delivering outstanding value to our customers, strategic partners, and stakeholders.”
“Blake has the perfect background and skill set to lead Trax through its next stage of growth,” said Sean White, Trax Board Member. “Trax’s software is mission-critical to our customers as supply chains become increasingly complex, and we feel Blake is attuned to our customers’ needs.”
“Blake is a proven executive with a track record of growing cloud-based software companies at scale. His appointment will continue to elevate Trax’s position as a market leader in Transportation Spend Management solutions,” said Bob Morse, Trax Board Member. “Blake’s vision is to deliver an increasingly valuable suite of logistics products to Trax’s customers, arming them with the tools to identify trends, make strategic cost decisions, and better manage their entire supply chain ecosystem.”
“The Board of Directors and the entire Trax executive team extend their heartfelt appreciation to Hampton Wall for his invaluable contributions to the company’s success and his efforts establishing the strategic investment by Triumph Bank,” said Dave Dawson, Trax Board Member.
This news follows the announcement that Trax will leverage the TriumphPay payments network to deliver fraud protection, automated payments, and funds security for transportation payments. TriumphPay is the premier payments network for freight brokers, factors, shippers, and carriers in the North America trucking industry.
About Trax Technologies
Trax is the global leader in Transportation Spend Management solutions. Trax elevates traditional Freight Audit and Payment with a combination of industry leading cloud-based technology solutions and expert services to help enterprises with the world’s more complex supply chains better manage and control their global transportation costs and drive enterprise-wide efficiency and value. With a global footprint spanning North America, Latin America, Asia and Europe, Trax delivers data-based visibility and insights, higher savings and better control of transportation spend for shippers and 3PLs/4PLs of all sizes. For more information, visit www.traxtech.com.
About Strattam Capital
Strattam Capital invests in founder-led, independent, B2B software technology companies outside of Silicon Valley. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, we connect companies with the people, process, and scale needed to reach their potential. We believe in aligning with founders before signing, via our Five-Point Plan process, to allow execution with purpose, excitement, and efficiency. For more information, please visit Strattam.com.
About Spire Capital
Spire Capital is an active and experienced private equity firm with an investment focus in middle market companies within the technology-enabled business services, media, communications and education sectors. Spire Capital was founded on the principle of partnering with management teams and founders to help effectuate the next stage of growth for their companies. Spire professionals have a broad array of past operating, investing and advisory experiences they leverage to help portfolio companies accelerate growth, guide strategic direction and execute their business plan. Spire Capital is a New York-based investment advisor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
Spire Capital Management, LLC is a New York-based investment adviser registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. The Funds managed by Spire are unregistered, privately offered funds and are comprised only of private equity investments. Spire does not solicit or make its services available to the public or other advisory clients. This press release is intended solely to provide information regarding Spire’s potential capabilities for prospective portfolio companies and is not an offer to sell to any person, or a solicitation from any person of an offer to buy, any securities. This is not considered an advertisement, testimonial or endorsement of the advisory services of Spire Capital Management, LLC nor an offer to provide new advisory services.
MEDIA CONTACT
Leah R. H. Robinson, APR
LeadCoverage
leah@leadcoverage.com
Purcell brings over two decades of expertise in the life sciences and biotech industry, delivering clients’ key messaging and building mission critical engagement
FAIRFIELD, N.J., July 18, 2023 — The Inception Company (“Inception” or “the Company”), leading provider of creative meeting solutions, announced today its new executive leadership structure.
Patrick Purcell joins The Inception Company as President after 12+ years at Propel Health (formerly HealthSTAR Communications).
The board has also appointed Bruce Hernandez as Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Gary Gilchrist, who will step down from the position. Hernandez is a founding partner of Spire Capital, a private equity firm focused on the technology and media sectors. Hernandez’ expertise in fostering innovative and strategic thinking will equip the team with pivotal tools to provide improved solutions for the unique challenges that clients face.
Patrick Purcell brings over 25 years of leadership in the medical communications space, a key missing piece to the firm’s growth and positioning. Purcell has previously worked with Boron LePore, Cardinal Health, and Publicis among key industry players to deliver their medical and commercial messaging via multi-channel engagement.
Importantly, he has also held a strategic partnership with The Inception Company for over 10 years on the client side, which has given him a deep understanding of their clients’ most pressing needs.
Purcell expresses his enthusiasm for this new chapter of leadership at The Inception Company:
“I am thrilled to join The Inception Company and look forward to serving our agency partners, life sciences and biopharmaceutical customers, and their stakeholders. The firm has a technology-driven suite of solutions, and is well positioned to produce industry leading live, virtual, and digital engagement with healthcare professionals, patients, caregivers, as well as all other industries in need. The Inception Company can provide partners with efficiency and a competitive advantage in their corporate messaging needs – ranging from in-person to virtual and everything in between.”
About The Inception Company
The Inception Company (https://inceptioncompany.com/) is a leading technology-driven production company that builds and supports hybrid and virtual engagements since 2005. The Inception Company’s key offering Pando™ Meetings is the only hybrid and virtual platform with a fully integrated production studio. Its built-in 40 ft interactive video wall simulates the experience of a live meeting in a virtual setting so clients can focus on storytelling and engaging their audience from anywhere. The Company, headquartered in Fairfield, NJ delivers scalable meeting platforms, broadcast, video production, and meeting services solutions customized to all client needs.
Source: The Inception Company
Together, the companies will leverage AI-powered open-source intelligence to improve end-to-end digital investigations for law enforcement, public safety and national security customers
LINCOLN, NE (July 11, 2023) — Today, PenLink, Ltd. and Cobwebs Technologies join forces to provide missioncritical digital intelligence for modern investigations. The acquisition of Cobwebs, through capital investment partner, Spire Capital, will add industry-leading open-source intelligence capabilities to the PenLink digital investigation platform to support investigators, analysts, and prosecutors.
“PenLink is pleased to expand its capabilities to meet the emerging technology demands of modern investigations,” said Kevin Pope, PenLink CEO. “By combining the power of Cobwebs Technologies’ AI-powered open-source intelligence and our market-leading digital investigation solutions, PenLink will transform the speed and depth of insights developed across complex criminal investigations.”
PenLink and Cobwebs Technologies will leverage their extensive network of digital intelligence to enhance the analytical capabilities of their investigation solutions. By integrating these solutions, investigators will be able to quickly identify leads and make critical connections across social media, location data, financial records, LPR data, and phone records.
“Investigators and analysts are currently using a variety of siloed tools to perform retrieval, analysis, and presentation of OSINT data and digital evidence,” said Udi Levy, CEO and co-founder of Cobwebs Technologies. “Combining our solutions will empower law enforcement and national security agencies to bring all digital intelligence domains into a single unified platform to drive new levels of insight and efficiency.”
As the volume of digital intelligence escalates, there is a critical need for more sophisticated investigative solutions that bring together all relevant information for comprehensive analysis. This partnership will deliver a modern, end-to-end solution that empowers investigators to take proactive action against evolving threats for safer, more secure societies worldwide.
“This acquisition not only solidifies PenLink’s leading position with the law enforcement community but will change how technology and data are used to inform investigations within national security missions as well,” said Sean White, partner at Spire Capital Partners. “We are pleased to partner with both companies to strengthen their presence globally and provide a platform to reduce the growing burden facing today’s investigators.”
Through the acquisition, PenLink will combine each company’s technologies into a unique, end-to-end platform, while remaining headquartered in the United States. For more information on the platform, visit www.penlink.com.
About PenLink:
Founded in 1986, PenLink (https://www.penlink.com/) is the leading developer and provider of mission-critical communications and digital evidence collection and analysis software to law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and internationally. In addition to its flagship digital investigation platform, PenLink offers enhanced capabilities, including an interagency data-exchange network, 3-D visualization technology, and artificial intelligence-driven advanced analytics. The company has a 35-year history of serving law enforcement agencies in their mission to fight wrongdoing. PenLink is American-owned and operated, and is headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.A.
About Spire Capital Partners:
Spire Capital Partners (https://www.spirecapital.com/) is an active and experienced private equity firm with an investment focus on companies within the technology-enabled business services, media, communications, and education sectors. Spire Capital Partners was founded on the principle of partnering with management teams and founders to help effectuate the next stage of growth for their companies. Spire professionals have a broad range of operating, investing, and advisory experience that they leverage to help portfolio companies accelerate their growth, guide their strategic direction, and execute their business plan. Spire Capital Partners is a New York-based investment advisor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
About Cobwebs Technologies:
Cobwebs Technologies (https://www.cobwebs.com) is a worldwide leader in web intelligence. Cobwebs’
innovative solutions are tailored to the operational needs of national security agencies and the private sector, identifying threats. Cobwebs solutions were designed by intelligence and security experts as vital tools for seamless access to data from all web layers: open, deep, and dark web. Cobwebs web intelligence platform searches and analyzes these vast sources to reveal hidden leads and generate insights. The exclusive technology Cobwebs uses extracts targeted intelligence from big data using the latest machine learning algorithms, automatically generating intelligent insights.
For media inquiries contact:
Ashley Kestner
Director, Merritt Group
www.merrittgrp.com–
c: 571.970.8349
kestner@merrittgrp.com
NEW YORK, NY (JUNE 9, 2022) – Spire Capital Partners (“Spire Capital” or “Spire”), a leading private equity firm with an investment focus in companies within the technology-enabled business services, media, communications, and education sectors, announced that it has closed on the sale of the majority of Advocate Networks, LLC (“Advocate” or the “Company”), a leading Technology Business Management (“TBM”) and advisory services business, to Accenture. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Advocate provides technology-enabled managed services, IT expense management and advisory services to enterprise clients. During Spire’s partnership, Advocate exhibited strong organic growth by expanding its customer base rapidly, developing exceptional solutions and providing outstanding services to its clients.
“Tim Wise, Scott Fogle and their team led Advocate to achieve extraordinary growth and operational excellence that has positioned the Company as an industry leader in TBM services,” said David Schaible, Partner of Spire Capital. “The entire Advocate team has contributed to its success; we are proud of their accomplishments and look forward to seeing Advocate accelerate its market position within Accenture. It has been an amazing partnership and they are leading adoption of TBM services in the broader technology market. We wish them continued success as they continue to serve the rapidly changing needs of the technology ecosystem.”
“We are tremendously proud of the Company’s results during our partnership with Spire,” commented Tim Wise and Scott Fogle, Advocate’s Co-Founders and Co-CEO’s. “The Spire team believed in our vision and was instrumental in their strategic support to help us achieve our goals. We appreciate all of our clients, partners, team members and Spire’s efforts and contributions to enable our Company’s success. The Spire team were great partners in all aspects and their partnership enabled us to achieve this next stage for the Company.” Tim Wise and Scott Fogle will join Accenture alongside their team members to continue TBM adoption globally.
Eisner served as legal counsel to Spire Capital and Advocate.
About Spire Capital Partners
Spire Capital (https://spirecapital.com/) is an active and experienced private equity firm with an investment focus in small market companies within the technology-enabled business services, media, communications, and education sectors. Spire Capital was founded on the principle of partnering with management teams and founders to help effectuate the next stage of growth for their companies. Spire professionals have a broad array of past operating, investing and advisory experiences they leverage to help portfolio companies accelerate growth, guide strategic direction and execute their business plan. Spire Capital is a New York-based investment advisor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
About Advocate Networks
Founded in 2001, Advocate (https://advocateinsiders.com/), the Premier TBM Services Company, provides technology business management (“TBM”) services to enterprise organizations looking to optimize their technology strategy and infrastructure. Advocate is headquartered in Atlanta, GA. Follow Advocate on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/advocate/), Twitter (https://twitter.com/advocateinsider), and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AdvocateInsiders/).
Media Contact:
David Schaible
Spire Capital Partners
Phone: (212) 218-5454
Email address: dschaible@spirecapital.com
The acquisition of Hargray Managed IT will expand Dynamic Quest’s presence in the Southeast region.
Greensboro, NC (May 31st, 2022) – Spire Capital Partners backed Dynamic Quest, a managed service provider offering IT and cloud services to enterprises and businesses, completed the acquisition of Hargray’s Managed IT Services division (“Hargray Managed IT”). Hargray Managed IT is a carve-out from Hargray, a Cable One company, based in Phoenix, Arizona.
Dynamic Quest, led by CEO and Founder Javier Gomez, continues to execute on its strategic vision to become a regional leader in the Southeastern United States with its acquisition of Hargray Managed IT.
Hargray Managed IT offers Managed Network services, Hardware-as-a-Service, Cloud Hosting, Backup & Disaster Recovery, and Managed Security Services for small-to-medium sized business across a wide array of verticals. The company has a long-tenured and strong customer base located primarily in South Carolina and Georgia. The Hargray Managed IT team members will join Dynamic Quest and continue to serve their client base in the Southeast markets.
Javier Gomez, CEO of Dynamic Quest stated, “We are extremely excited about bringing the fantastic team at Hargray Managed IT Services (HMIT) division into our Dynamic Quest-Family. The addition of the HMIT team into Dynamic Quest brings with it a great team of resources, a fantastic group of clients as well as opening two more regional markets in Macon-GA and Savannah-GA. Dynamic Quest has a core objective of bringing stability and reliability to our clients while also growing to become the best Southeastern Managed IT Service Provider. This acquisition brings us closer to our goals of being able to help clients in new geographic locations as well as clients that have multiple locations around the Southeast.”
“We are pleased to have the Hargray Managed Services team join Dynamic Quest – a company with a culture of integrity and exceptional service to their clients,” said Chris Boone, Cable One Senior Vice President Business Services and Emerging Markets.
The transaction will expand Dynamic Quest’s presence in the Southeast and provide the ability to cross-sell a broader base of products and services to the Hargray Managed IT customer base. Dynamic Quest will look to leverage its infrastructure including its data center, centralized delivery team, and sales and marketing initiatives to enhance service solutions for end clients and accelerate growth.
Bank Street Group LLC served as the exclusive financial advisor to Cable One, Inc. in connection with this transaction.
About Spire Capital Partners
Spire Capital Partners (https://spirecapital.com/) is an active and experienced private equity firm with an investment focus in small market companies within the technology enabled business services, media, communications and education sectors. Spire Capital Partners was founded on the principle of partnering with management teams and founders to help effectuate the next stage of growth for their companies. Spire professionals have a broad array of past operating, investing and advisory experiences they leverage to help portfolio companies accelerate growth, guide strategic direction and execute their business plan. Spire Capital Partners is a New York-based investment advisor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
About Dynamic Quest
Founded in 2000, Dynamic Quest is a managed service provider for IT services to enterprises and mid-sized businesses. Dynamic Quest offers a broad set of services including hosted cloud services, disaster recovery, managed IT, service plans, application support, virtual CIO and security services. The Company’s headquarters is in Greensboro, North Carolina. Dynamic Quest currently has satellite offices in Raleigh, North Carolina; Atlanta, Valdosta, Macon, and Savannah, Georgia; Jacksonville, Florida; Birmingham, AL; and Clark, Philippines. For more information, visit https://dynamicquest.com/ or follow Dynamic Quest on LinkedIn
NEW YORK (March 30, 2022) – Spire Capital Partners (“Spire Capital”), a leading New York-based private equity firm specializing in investments in the technology-enabled business services, communications, media, and education sectors, announced today it has completed the sale of NetFortris, an existing Spire portfolio company, to Sangoma Technologies Corporate (“TSX: STC; Nasdaq: SANG) (“Sangoma” or the “Company”). NetFortris provides UCaaS and cloud-based, fully managed MSP (managed service provider) solutions for businesses of all sizes and across all industries. NetFortris has over 6,000 customers in North America, representing over 60,000 seats. Sangoma is a trusted leader in providing Communications as a Service (CaaS) solutions to businesses of all sizes. The consideration will be satisfied through a combination of cash and Sangoma common shares. This transaction serves to complement Sangoma’s end-to-end platform and growing customer preference for a single communications vendor, increases Sangoma’s recurring revenue percentage, and increases the Company’s scale and positioning within cloud communications.
Q Advisors LLC is serving as financial advisor to NetFortris and Dentons LLP is acting as U.S. and Canadian legal counsel to NetFortris. INFOR Financial Inc. is serving as financial advisor to Sangoma and Norton Rose Fulbright LLP is acting as U.S. and Canadian legal counsel to Sangoma.
About Sangoma
Sangoma Technologies is a trusted leader in delivering Communications as a Service (CaaS) solutions for businesses of all sizes. Sangoma’s cloud-based Services include Unified Communication (UCaaS) business communications, Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS), Video Meetings as a Service (MaaS), Collaboration as a Service (Collab aaS), Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS), Trunking as a Service (TaaS), Fax as a Service (FaaS), Device as a Service (DaaS), and Access Control as a Service (ACaaS). In addition, Sangoma offers a full line of communications Products, including premise-based UC systems, a full line of desk phones and headsets, and a complete connectivity suite (gateways/SBCs/telephony cards). Sangoma’s products and services are used in leading UC, PBX, IVR, contact center, carrier networks, office productivity, and data communication applications worldwide. Sangoma is also the primary developer and sponsor of Asterisk and FreePBX, the world’s two most widely used open-source communication software projects.Sangoma Technologies Corporation is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: STC) and Nasdaq (Nasdaq: SANG). Additional information on Sangoma can be found at: www.sangoma.com.
About Spire Capital Partners
Spire Capital Partners (https://spirecapital.com/) is an experienced private equity firm with an investment focus in lower middle market companies within the technology-enabled business services, media, communications, and education sectors. Spire Capital was founded on the principle of partnering with management teams and founders to help effectuate the next stage of growth for their companies. Spire investment professionals have a deep set of operating and investing experiences that is leveraged to assist portfolio companies in accelerating growth, strategic planning, and executing business initiatives.
Spire Capital is a New York-based investment advisor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Act of 1940. Market conditions can vary over time, and past fund performance does not guarantee future fund results.
Spire Capital leverages its experience in enterprise software and technology-enabled services to partner with leading U.S. provider of mission-critical government investigative software solutions in its next phase of growth.
NEW YORK (April 5, 2022) – Spire Capital Partners (“Spire Capital”), a leading New York-based private equity firm specializing in investments in the technology-enabled business services, communications, media, and education sectors, announced it has completed a controlling investment in Pen-Link Inc. (“PenLink” or the “Company”). Based in Lincoln NE, PenLink is a leading provider of communications surveillance software to top federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and internationally. PenLink’s best-in-class software platform PLX (https://www.penlink.com/plx/) is often the first-choice software solution of law enforcement for communications collection and analysis. In addition to PLX, PenLink offers enhanced software capabilities purpose-developed to meet the most nascent technology demands of investigative analysts, delivering real-time actionable communications intelligence for mission-critical investigations.
Spire Capital will partner with PenLink’s seasoned management team to accelerate the Company’s growth by leveraging its experience in the government-focused technology sector, as well as through strategy to further penetrate the U.S. government marketplace and expand into new geographic and product adjacencies. Sean White, Managing Partner at Spire Capital, commented, “PenLink is a national leader with a deeply entrenched position in this mission-critical, high barriers-to-entry U.S. law enforcement software market. We are proud to partner with an existing team of highly capable and motivated executives, who are focused on the next phase of the Company’s growth.”
PenLink’s CEO Kevin Pope said, “We are extremely excited to have support from Spire Capital in our efforts to enable law enforcement agencies across the U.S. and internationally to achieve their missions. Spire Capital has an outstanding record of investing in market-leading technology companies to achieve rapid growth. In addition to the financial and business resources that Spire’s investment brings to bear, we are excited to partner with the Spire team as we expand our product capabilities and enhance our sales and marketing efforts.”
Dentons LLP served as legal counsel to Spire Capital. Chartwell Financial Advisory acted as exclusive financial advisor and Kutak Rock LLP as legal counsel to PenLink. Madison Capital Funding is providing senior debt financing to the Company.
About PenLink
Founded in 1986, PenLink (https://www.penlink.com/) is a leading developer and provider of mission-critical communications surveillance software to federal, state and regional law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and internationally. In addition to its flagship software platform PLX, PenLink also offers enhanced add-on capabilities, including the PenPoint mobile app, PLX Connect inter-agency data exchange network, and artificial intelligence-driven advanced analytics. The Company has a 35-year history of serving law enforcement agencies in their mission to fight crime with advanced surveillance software and communication data solutions.
About Spire Capital Partners
Spire Capital Partners (https://spirecapital.com/) is an active and experienced private equity firm with an investment focus in lower middle market companies within the technology-enabled business services, media, communications, and education sectors. Spire Capital Partners was founded on the principle of partnering with management teams and founders to help effectuate the next stage of growth for their companies. Spire Capital Partner professionals have a broad array of past operating, investing, and advisory experiences that they leverage to assist portfolio companies in accelerating growth, guiding strategic direction, and executing their business plans.
Spire Capital Partners is a New York-based investment advisor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Act of 1940. Market conditions can vary over time, and past fund performance does not guarantee future fund results.
O2B Kids continues to grow its early education footprint in Georgia through its acquisition of Cedars Preschool
Gainesville, FL (February 1, 2022) – O2B Kids (“O2B”), a premier provider of early education services, announced that it has acquired Cedars Preschool (or “Cedars”), a provider of high-quality early education services in Georgia.
Based in the greater Atlanta region, Georgia, Cedars operates preschools providing families with an education-focused and industry-leading environment for early education services. Since its founding, Cedars has demonstrated excellence in its program offerings, curriculum, and facilities, evidenced by its Quality Rated Child Care designations by the State of Georgia. Cedars operates eight schools in the greater Atlanta region, and O2B now has 10 schools operating in the state of Georgia.
“We are excited to continue expanding our footprint in Georgia by welcoming the Cedars family to O2B,” said O2B Kids CEO Andy Sherrard. “Their team operates exceptional schools providing a premium learning environment for children and families. We are excited to welcome all of the team members of Cedars to O2B. We will continue their legacy by expanding upon their unique preschool offering.”
“O2B is an excellent preschool operator and will be a great corporate parent to the Cedars’ schools,” noted Thad Joiner, Cedars Founder. “Our management team will gain additional resources to provide enhanced curriculum and learning opportunities for all of our students and families.”
“Andy and the team at O2B have invested over two decades building a trusted brand that is founded on their commitment to provide families with the highest quality of early education,” shared Rupali Varma, Principal at Spire Capital. “In Cedars, we have found a team and organization that shares the same values as O2B, and we could not be more excited to partner with them as we continue to strive to meet our families’ needs.”
About Spire Capital Partners
Spire Capital Partners (https://spirecapital.com) is an active and experienced private equity firm with an investment focus in lower middle market companies within the technology-enabled business services, media, communications, and education sectors. Spire Capital Partners was founded on the principle of partnering with management teams and founders to help effectuate the next stage of growth for their companies. Spire Capital Partner professionals have a broad array of past operating, investing, and advisory experiences that they leverage to assist portfolio companies in accelerating growth, guiding strategic direction, and executing their business plans.
Spire Capital Partners is a New York-based investment advisor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Act of 1940. Market conditions can vary over time, and past fund performance does not guarantee future fund results.
About O2B Kids
O2B Kids (http://www.o2bkids.com/) is a leading provider of early education services for children in the Southeast U.S. O2B offers preschool education for children 0 to 5 years old, afterschool enrichment programs for elementary school students, and an unprecedented family membership program for all kids 0 to 13 years old. For one all-inclusive price, O2B provides classes in karate, gymnastics, cheerleading, dance, music, drama, art, science, technology, sports, languages and more. While kids experiment with a rich variety of activities and discover their passions, parents enjoy unrivaled convenience and value. O2B’s magical facilities give a safe neighborhood back to kids and deliver valuable enrichment and character-building opportunities to our future generation. Follow O2B on Facebook and Instagram to stay up-to-date on all the latest news and events.
New York, NY (February 1, 2022) – Spire Capital Partners announced today that Peter J. Weber has joined the firm as an Operating Partner. Peter brings accomplished leadership experience, strong management and operating skills, and deep information technology services industry expertise. He will work alongside the Spire Capital Partners team to source new investments and work with the funds’ portfolio companies, with a specific concentration in technology-enabled services.
Peter has served as the Chief Executive Officer of numerous technology companies. He founded SevenSpace in 2000 to provide remote application hosting and managed services. He operated as its CEO for five years, and the company was subsequently acquired by Sun Microsystems. Peter then served as Senior Vice President of Services at Sun Microsystems, where he shared P&L responsibility for the $5 billion Services business unit. In 2008, he partnered with Spire Capital to acquire Carpathia Hosting and served as its CEO. Under Peter’s leadership, Carpathia grew revenue over 500%, expanded EBITDA margins from 25% to 40%, built an industry-leading management team, and successfully exited the business to QTS Realty Trust in 2015. Since 2016, Peter has served as Executive Chairman and CEO at Curvature and an Advisor to private equity firms.
“Peter is a talented leader with a strong track record of driving strategy, growth and operational excellence in technology services companies,” said Andy Armstrong, Partner at Spire Capital Partners. “We were fortunate to experience this first-hand with his leadership at Carpathia as Carpathia became one of the most successful investments at Spire. Peter’s vast experience as an entrepreneur and executive, deep industry knowledge, and diverse relationships will be a tremendous resource to our funds’ technology-enabled services strategy as we continue to invest in building our industry vertical exposure and expertise.”
“The technology-enabled services sector is an increasingly important vertical for our firm, and we seek to be the preferred partner for entrepreneurs and management teams in the lower middle market,” said Sean White, a Spire Capital Partner. “Peter has been an excellent CEO and partner to Spire Capital Partners over the years. His impact will be felt immediately on our efforts to identify attractive investment opportunities, establish trust-based partnerships with entrepreneurs, and work closely with management teams to create value in our portfolio companies.”
“Spire Capital Partners has long been recognized for building strong, growing, and sustainable businesses in the lower middle market,” said Peter. “I have worked alongside all of the Spire Capital Partners for numerous years; they are a partner to management, have keen insight to their markets, and have a strong track record of creating value at their portfolio companies. I look forward to working with this team and all of their executives, investors and managers.”
Mr. Weber is also the founder of several different entrepreneurial ventures and was a recipient of the Kauffman Fellowship; a program focused on developing the next generation of venture capital leaders and entrepreneurs. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
About Spire Capital Partners
Spire Capital Partners (https://spirecapital.com) is an active and experienced private equity firm with an investment focus in lower middle market companies within the technology-enabled business services, media, communications, and education sectors. Spire Capital Partners was founded on the principle of partnering with management teams and founders to help effectuate the next stage of growth for their companies. Spire Capital Partner professionals have a broad array of past operating, investing, and advisory experiences that they leverage to assist portfolio companies in accelerating growth, guiding strategic direction, and executing their business plans.
Spire Capital Partners is a New York-based investment advisor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Act of 1940. Market conditions can vary over time, and past fund performance does not guarantee future fund results.
O2B Kids expands its early education footprint into Minnesota through its acquisition of Children of Tomorrow
Gainesville, FL (January 25, 2022) – O2B Kids, a premier provider of early education services, announced today that it has acquired Children of Tomorrow (or “COT”), a provider of high-quality early education services in Minnesota.
Based in the greater Minneapolis region, Minnesota, Children of Tomorrow operates preschools providing families with an education-focused and enriched environment for infant care, preschool, afterschool and summer camp services. Since its founding in 2000, COT has demonstrated excellence in its program offerings and faculty, having been voted Best Childcare in Carver County several times. COT currently operates four schools in Carver County, Minnesota.
“We are thrilled to welcome the Children of Tomorrow team members to the O2B Kids family along with the children and families they serve,” said O2B Kids CEO Andy Sherrard. “Their team has built an outstanding enrichment environment for children and company culture in Minnesota, and we are excited by the opportunity to continue to grow that legacy into the future.”
“We have admired the O2B team, its schools, and their focus on early education for quite some time” relayed Aleta Mechtel, Founder of Children of Tomorrow. “Our team is thrilled to become part of the O2B family of schools and is excited to serve as the hub to expand operations in the Midwest.”
“O2B Kids and its management team continue to deliver differentiated early education services to all of their constituents, while growing dramatically,” shared David Schaible, Partner at Spire Capital. “We welcome the Children of Tomorrow team members to O2B. Children of Tomorrow’s schools and team members are leaders in the Minneapolis region, and they will serve as a foundation for O2B’s expansion into the Midwestern geography.”
About Spire Capital Partners
Spire Capital (https://spirecapital.com/) is an active and experienced private equity firm with an investment focus in small market companies within the technology enabled business services, media, communications and education sectors. Spire Capital was founded on the principle of partnering with management teams and founders to help effectuate the next stage of growth for their companies. Spire professionals have a broad array of past operating, investing and advisory experiences they leverage to help portfolio companies accelerate growth, guide strategic direction and execute their business plan. Spire Capital is a New York-based investment advisor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
About O2B Kids
O2B Kids (http://www.o2bkids.com/) is a leading provider of early education services for children in the Southeast U.S. O2B offers preschool education for children 0 to 5 years old, afterschool enrichment programs for elementary school students, and an unprecedented family membership program for all kids 0 to 13 years old. For one all-inclusive price, O2B provides classes in karate, gymnastics, cheerleading, dance, music, drama, art, science, technology, sports, languages and more. While kids experiment with a rich variety of activities and discover their passions, parents enjoy unrivaled convenience and value. O2B’s magical facilities give a safe neighborhood back to kids and deliver valuable enrichment and character-building opportunities to our future generation. Follow O2B on Facebook and Instagram to stay up-to-date on all the latest news and events.