We're passionate about discovering and partnering with technology companies to help them exceed their lifelong goals.
"What a ride. There were literally countless of times when I thought back to a few months ago when we were discussing if it's even necessary to work with an advisor and thinking how grateful I am to have you on board. Having gone through all of this now I can't believe the option was even on the table. Fred and the team got us to a signed deal on what I'd say are excellent terms. Thank you for that, I don't think we would have landed here otherwise."
"KeyedIn was in its eleventh year, growing quickly, and exceeding key double-digit million revenue milestones and we knew the time was right to find a partner to help us get to triple-digit revenue. We have been working with AGC on multiple opportunities. After many discoveries, opportunities, and economic ebbs and flows, we launched a targeted process and identified STG Group / Sciforma as the right partner to help drive long term value and growth. AGC helped us navigate the complexities of the deal with Sciforma, a product carve-out, and ultimately closing on a premium merger of two very strong PPM solutions. The entire team worked tirelessly to make it happen and were a pleasure to work with. Thank you to Hugh, Charlie, Logan, and Pierce for pulling all of this together. Up and to the right!"
"We chose AGC due to their depth of knowledge in our space as well as the solid reputation for delivering results! We built a strong relationship with senior leadership and their team quickly and they were there to guide us and advise us every step of the way. Their attention to every aspect of the transaction and being able to view and explain the process from a 360 degree perspective was important to us as well as operating with integrity. We could have not picked a better partner to go through this process with us."
"The AGC team surpassed expectations at every stage of the process. They didn't just grasp our business and markets, they truly got it, and were instrumental in delivering a result that the founders and management are proud of. With their round-the-clock dedication, creative thinking, and unwavering persistence, they kept the ball rolling and ensured seamless communication throughout. I would strongly recommend AGC as a financial advisor."
"AGC's ability to jump into our turnaround story and introduce us to the right partners was amazing. Their team was smart, creative, responsive and dedicated throughout both the equity and debt fund raising processes. We highly recommend AGC and look forward to working with them again in the future."
"For many closely-held business owners, the sale of their company or a large capital round is one of the biggest decisions we will ever make. Choosing the right advisor to assist in this process is critical to achieving the best value, terms and overall outcome. When I think about my experience with AGC, I can say selecting them without question was the best decision I made in the entire process. They became part of my team and worked harder than anyone I had ever seen. While in the end we signed the perfect deal, the process alone with AGC has been one of the most valuable investments of time for my company and me personally."
"The AGC team with Jon and Doug at the helm was instrumental in structuring and executing the LiquidFrameworks process which ultimately resulted in a transaction with ServiceMax and a planned public market listing of the combined companies. This outcome of the process they led can only be described as outstanding. Their knowledge, expertise and perspective in matters involving finance and deal negotiation as well as timely specifics related to our SaaS industry provided critical guidance and advice used throughout the process."
"Our business had gone through a period oftremendous growth and was in a space seeing consolidation that resulted in ourneed for an investment banking partner that was well connected to both growthinvestors and strategic partners. AGC did an outstanding job of learning ourbusiness model and translating that into a compelling business case. Theyworked tirelessly to help get a great deal and we look forward to working withthe team again! Thanks so much to all of the team. Your calm and patientapproach won the day, even during some difficult times."
We thoroughly appreciated and enjoyed working with Sean and the AGC team. They were supportive and expert partners day in and day out. They made managing three time zones a non-issue for us by always being available. Thanks to AGC we had a competitive process and realized the best outcome for our shareholders and team. We can recommend AGC without hesitation!
"To us, it was essential that our banker could fundamentally understand the Promon technology and offering. The AGC team quickly gained such understanding. By doing so, they could 'connect the dots' very rapidly; providing us with deep insight into which partnerships would long-term create the greatest return for all parties. On top of that, they don't forget the small details, which ultimately will lead to a timely and satisfactory transaction. We can give AGC our strongest recommendations as an M&A advisor in the IT security industry."
"Throughout the process, I have been glad we had the counsel and support of the AGC team. They quickly establish trust and confidence with the Board who relied heavily on their advice and experience. Their capacity to shape the presentation and willingness to be clear and forthright when we needed to be challenged was incredibly helpful. Now that the transaction is closed I'm going to miss working with this amazing team. If I had to do it all over again, I'd do it with AGC Partners."
"Sean and the AGC team differentiated themselves through their unrelenting commitment to Bookboon and deep understanding of our platform. I personally spent most of my professional career building Bookboon into a global leader and I needed an advisor that I could trust with this critical transaction process. The whole AGC team worked tirelessly throughout every stage of the process, ensuring Bookboon found an outstanding new home and partner in the Access Group. We give Sean and AGC our highest recommendation as a technology M&A advisor."
"What a ride. There were literally countless of times when I thought back to a few months ago when we were discussing if it's even necessary to work with an advisor and thinking how grateful I am to have you on board. Having gone through all of this now I can't believe the option was even on the table. Fred and the team got us to a signed deal on what I'd say are excellent terms. Thank you for that, I don't think we would have landed here otherwise."
"KeyedIn was in its eleventh year, growing quickly, and exceeding key double-digit million revenue milestones and we knew the time was right to find a partner to help us get to triple-digit revenue. We have been working with AGC on multiple opportunities. After many discoveries, opportunities, and economic ebbs and flows, we launched a targeted process and identified STG Group / Sciforma as the right partner to help drive long term value and growth. AGC helped us navigate the complexities of the deal with Sciforma, a product carve-out, and ultimately closing on a premium merger of two very strong PPM solutions. The entire team worked tirelessly to make it happen and were a pleasure to work with. Thank you to Hugh, Charlie, Logan, and Pierce for pulling all of this together. Up and to the right!"
"We chose AGC due to their depth of knowledge in our space as well as the solid reputation for delivering results! We built a strong relationship with senior leadership and their team quickly and they were there to guide us and advise us every step of the way. Their attention to every aspect of the transaction and being able to view and explain the process from a 360 degree perspective was important to us as well as operating with integrity. We could have not picked a better partner to go through this process with us."
"The AGC team surpassed expectations at every stage of the process. They didn't just grasp our business and markets, they truly got it, and were instrumental in delivering a result that the founders and management are proud of. With their round-the-clock dedication, creative thinking, and unwavering persistence, they kept the ball rolling and ensured seamless communication throughout. I would strongly recommend AGC as a financial advisor."
"AGC's ability to jump into our turnaround story and introduce us to the right partners was amazing. Their team was smart, creative, responsive and dedicated throughout both the equity and debt fund raising processes. We highly recommend AGC and look forward to working with them again in the future."
"For many closely-held business owners, the sale of their company or a large capital round is one of the biggest decisions we will ever make. Choosing the right advisor to assist in this process is critical to achieving the best value, terms and overall outcome. When I think about my experience with AGC, I can say selecting them without question was the best decision I made in the entire process. They became part of my team and worked harder than anyone I had ever seen. While in the end we signed the perfect deal, the process alone with AGC has been one of the most valuable investments of time for my company and me personally."
"The AGC team with Jon and Doug at the helm was instrumental in structuring and executing the LiquidFrameworks process which ultimately resulted in a transaction with ServiceMax and a planned public market listing of the combined companies. This outcome of the process they led can only be described as outstanding. Their knowledge, expertise and perspective in matters involving finance and deal negotiation as well as timely specifics related to our SaaS industry provided critical guidance and advice used throughout the process."
"Our business had gone through a period oftremendous growth and was in a space seeing consolidation that resulted in ourneed for an investment banking partner that was well connected to both growthinvestors and strategic partners. AGC did an outstanding job of learning ourbusiness model and translating that into a compelling business case. Theyworked tirelessly to help get a great deal and we look forward to working withthe team again! Thanks so much to all of the team. Your calm and patientapproach won the day, even during some difficult times."
We thoroughly appreciated and enjoyed working with Sean and the AGC team. They were supportive and expert partners day in and day out. They made managing three time zones a non-issue for us by always being available. Thanks to AGC we had a competitive process and realized the best outcome for our shareholders and team. We can recommend AGC without hesitation!
"To us, it was essential that our banker could fundamentally understand the Promon technology and offering. The AGC team quickly gained such understanding. By doing so, they could 'connect the dots' very rapidly; providing us with deep insight into which partnerships would long-term create the greatest return for all parties. On top of that, they don't forget the small details, which ultimately will lead to a timely and satisfactory transaction. We can give AGC our strongest recommendations as an M&A advisor in the IT security industry."
"Throughout the process, I have been glad we had the counsel and support of the AGC team. They quickly establish trust and confidence with the Board who relied heavily on their advice and experience. Their capacity to shape the presentation and willingness to be clear and forthright when we needed to be challenged was incredibly helpful. Now that the transaction is closed I'm going to miss working with this amazing team. If I had to do it all over again, I'd do it with AGC Partners."
"Sean and the AGC team differentiated themselves through their unrelenting commitment to Bookboon and deep understanding of our platform. I personally spent most of my professional career building Bookboon into a global leader and I needed an advisor that I could trust with this critical transaction process. The whole AGC team worked tirelessly throughout every stage of the process, ensuring Bookboon found an outstanding new home and partner in the Access Group. We give Sean and AGC our highest recommendation as a technology M&A advisor."
These reports cover the key trends and challenges in the market and include a listing of recent M&A, private placement, and IPO activity.
After closing the books across the Global Technology landscape for Q1 2024, we can only hope that what was an abysmal quarter for SaaS revenue growth at 13% and M&A transaction activity down 19%, marked rock bottom. AGC closed a number of great deals, two at 10x+ ARR, including ORTEC to Battery, Klaus to Zendesk (H&F), Nomadix to ASSA ABLOY, APS to IBS Software (Apax), and more, but it was still the worst quarter in our 20-year history. Goldman, with strong Q1 earnings, is saying that capital markets are back – maybe, maybe not, as global M&A is up 15% YoY on a value basis, but down 33% on a transaction volume basis. Mega deals in any quarter are obviously a huge boost to your banking performance, but history has shown that they are definitely not predictable, and it is not clear yet whether we are out of the woods on the entire M&A market or more specifically the technology market.
Over the last quarter, we have had at least 75 calls with Senior Partners at top Tech PE funds, representing roughly 1,500 portfolio companies. As you might guess, some share more than others 😊 but most shared a lot, and the consensus is that their portfolios are healthy with improved profitability, but growth rate acceleration has clearly not yet happened. Depending on the scale and maturity of SaaS companies in portfolios, we are hearing about average growth rates from 15-30%, implying that virtually any company with more than 25% growth in portfolios is an outperformer. Obviously, there are some SaaS companies out there that are producing 50%+ growth, but these are few and far between. Large enterprise SaaS sales with long deployment schedules are very hard to close in a market where buyers want to make smaller ticket commitments with faster deployments and rapid ROI. SaaS CEOs are battling more than they have in the past with renewals and are having trouble holding historical gross retention metrics. In other words, it is not clear if we have yet to hit the revenue growth inflection point in the global SaaS marketplace. So, don’t be surprised if we continue at the same revenue growth rates for a couple more quarters.
Deals are getting done but there are far fewer, they are smaller, and they are not all perfect. Suffice it to say that even with all the focus on optimizing performance in 2023, premier revenue growth is still extremely hard to achieve, which is limiting the supply of companies to bring to market, putting a big wrench in the M&A deal making machine. The premier companies that we are bringing out are getting preempted on a regular basis and those that are getting a full market check are generating 10x+ revenue multiples, in some cases on a forward basis. Many B quality deals, even with 10+ IOI bids, are still getting hung up on the bid-ask spread. When you move down from great companies to good companies, you have a dramatic difference in reception from buyers, particularly PEs, who after their sins of ’21 and ’22 are being told to hold their fire for only the best shots. This can leave you with a healthy marketing process that has strong engagement and competitive IOIs, and then the Monday morning investment committee squashes the deal you have been working on for five months. And not to be forgotten is the new due diligence checklist item of the impact AI has on virtually every company’s future roadmap.
All that said, there are reasons to be hopeful even in these early challenging days of 2024. Dry powder is increasing because deal activity is down, and new funds are still being raised. Tech companies across the land are healthier after more rigorous focus on performance and oversight by their shareholders. The number of companies looking to transact keeps accumulating as holding periods mature and life goes on without liquidity. Fund Partners would like to hold companies beyond projected hold periods to meet target returns, but pressure for DPI will force the portfolio companies out sooner at lower returns. PE Portfolio companies continue to be our best buyers but strategics are jumping back in the game in Q1 as you saw with a surge in deals: Synopsys / Ansys, Hewlett Packard Enterprise / Juniper Networks, and Zscaler / Avalor. A few PEs have chosen to exit some of their premium companies and have achieved exceptional valuations, arguably better than the heights of COVID, e.g., JMI Equity’s sale of Incident IQ to Cove Hill and Insight’s sale of Jama Software to Francisco Partners. This is a testament to the powder keg of dry powder, itching to make platform investments with virtually no premium companies available on the market, creating an explosion in pricing.
For some good news-bad news, after watching the $2T deficit budget bill and the incremental $100B foreign war funding bill fly rapidly through Washington and having sat down last week with one of the senior leaders in Congress, I no longer believe that our government is going to cut back on the mega deficits. So, let the deficit-driven economy continue at full steam. We hope we have hit the bottom from a growth perspective and better performance will be the biggest driver to increased transaction volumes. Anecdotally, pitch volumes and new engagements have picked up dramatically, which we hope will convert to many more closed deals in the last quarter of 2024.
AGC runs six industry conferences each year in the US, Canada & Europe, providing one-on-one meetings between strategic tech acquirers, investors, and emerging growth companies.