In another example of private equity funds driving change in the legal tech and adjacent sectors, virtual data room (VDR) Datasite is to be acquired by CapVest Partners.
VDR companies have experienced an ‘unusual’ year, to put it politely, given they are often driven by M&A activity, which has fluctuated dramatically during the pandemic, sometimes seeing a spate of deals driven via emergency takeovers in one sector, and then in some markets deals have evaporated almost entirely.
Headquartered in Minneapolis, Datasite has more than 750 employees in 25 locations across 13 countries. Despite the problems of 2020, in 2019, Datasite increased revenue by more than 30% as it ‘facilitated close to 10,000 deals’ they said.
Datasite CEO, Rusty Wiley, said of the acquisition: ‘This is an exciting day for the entire Datasite family – employees, customers and industry partners alike – and further solidifies the company’s position as a leading SaaS provider for the global M&A community.
‘We have the best people and the best technology, making transactions faster, simpler, and more secure. CapVest’s long track record of transforming the size and scale of their portfolio companies and enabling them to realise their potential makes them an exciting partner for our next phase of growth. We look forward to bringing new products to address our customers’ pain points and increase efficiency.’
While Christopher Campbell, Partner, CapVest, concluded: ‘Rusty and the team have done a fantastic job in transforming Datasite into a leading platform, providing essential services to dealmakers around the world. Datasite is the comprehensive solution provider for the dealmaking community. We look forward to bringing additional innovative products to market to continue to address customer needs.’
The buy-out value has not been published, although……given Datasite’s size this is likely to be a very significant sum.