HCAP Partners Announces Successful Exit of Portfolio Company Vertical Management Systems
Leading Technology Innovation Firm Positions Itself for Next Phase of Growth
San Diego, CA (January 31, 2017) – HCAP Partners, a California-based private equity firm and recognized impact investor, today announced the sale of Vertical Management Systems, Inc. (“VMS”) to NewSpring Holdings, LLC (“NewSpring”), the dedicated control buyout strategy of NewSpring Capital, a family of private equity funds.
VMS is a leading technology innovation firm founded by Brad Kuhlin and Bob Clancy to provide integrated solutions to the financial services industry. The company’s solutions are designed to solve key issues such as fiduciary risk, fee transparency, and revenue reconciliation. Today the Company delivers specialized products built with a focus on full transparency and flexible integrations, and processes over $600 billion in assets, 5 million accounts, and tens of millions of trades annually.
HCAP Partners invested into VMS in 2011 to support the Company’s growth and development of its next generation retirement platform, Retirement Revolution. In 2015, with a stable product and client base, and the first release of Retirement Revolution product in production, VMS hired financial technology veterans Kevin Rafferty (CEO), Bob Ward (CRO) and other industry executives to help bring Retirement Revolution to the marketplace.
“We were pleased to partner with Brad and Bob to assist them with their goals to build a successful business and to have a lasting impact on the retirement industry,” said Tim Bubnack, Managing Partner of HCAP. “Brad recognized that the next phase of growth would require additional expertise. Bringing in industry veterans and an outside private equity group with the focus and experience of NewSpring was a natural step in the progression of the business. VMS has a bright future, and we are glad that the existing employees and management team will participate with NewSpring in further organic growth and future acquisitions.”
"HCAP Partners was a great partner in helping us achieve our goals,” said Brad Kuhlin. “In addition to bringing in the needed capital, they were an integral and active part of our team, providing valuable advice on governance, senior leadership selection, team incentive structuring, and a number of other topics over the years. I really can’t speak highly enough about them and hope to work with them on other projects in the future."
About Vertical Management Systems, Inc. (VMS)
Vertical Management Systems (VMS) is one of the nation’s leading providers of data, financial networking, and account aggregation technology. For nearly 25 years, VMS has designed, developed and hosted accounting and securities process-and-control solutions for the largest financial institutions in the United States. VMS’s three core products include its retirement platform, Retirement Revolution, a leading supplier of next-generation retirement solutions; Mutual Fund Desk (MFD), a mutual fund process-and-control platform; and Specialized Information Services (SIS), a comprehensive source of customized, audited financial data. For more information, please visit www.vmsholdings.com.
About HCAP Partners
HCAP Partners was founded in 2000 and is a provider of mezzanine debt and private equity for underserved, lower-middle market companies throughout California and the Western United States. The firm seeks to invest $2 million to $9 million in established businesses generating between $10 million and $75 million in revenues in the healthcare, software, services, and manufacturing industries.
HCAP has invested in over 50 companies since it was founded and through ongoing, active engagement with portfolio companies, the team at HCAP Partners provides value-added resources to help optimize performance and increase enterprise value. The firm has been recognized as an ImpactAssets 50 fund three years running, and through its Gainful Jobs Approach works to facilitate a positive impact on underserved businesses, their employees, and their communities through active portfolio engagement. Tim Bubnack, Morgan Miller, Frank Mora, Hope Mago, and Nicolas Lopez lead HCAP Partners’ investment team. For more information, please visit www.hcapllc.com or call (858) 259-7654.