Ionic Partners Completes Sale of Gigster to Virtasant

Dramatic Transformation of Gigster Under Ionic’s Ownership

Ionic Partners, a global investment platform focused on the acquisition of ‘Second Chasm’ enterprise software companies, announced today the successful completion of the sale of Gigster to Virtasant, a leading provider of cloud optimization services. This sale crystallizes a dramatic transformation of the Gigster business since its acquisition by Ionic in May 2021.

“We are thrilled to welcome Gigster to the Virtasant family,” said Michael Kearns, CEO of Virtasant. “Gigster’s innovative approach to assembling cloud teams, combined with Virtasant’s cloud expertise, will enable us to deliver even greater value to our customers. We look forward to working closely with the Gigster team to drive continued growth and success.”

Ionic’s decision to acquire Gigster in 2021 stemmed from the team’s research-driven approach to understanding the future of work. Ionic developed an investment thesis around delivering scalable software solutions via the human cloud and identified Gigster as being uniquely positioned as an investment candidate.

Founded in 2014 and backed by well-established venture capital investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Redpoint Ventures, Y Combinator and others, Gigster quickly built a roster of blue-chip customers and established a strong reputation as an innovative platform for the delivery of advanced software products, built by the best engineering talent in the world. However, despite having established itself as an early leader, Gigster was facing a number of business and financial constraints that threatened the company’s existence.

“At the time of Ionic’s investment, Gigster was saddled with operational and balance sheet issues that hindered the business and obscured the exceptional quality of Gigster’s products, employees, and customers,” described Donald Park, Co-Founder of Ionic Partners. “This is not uncommon among ‘Second Chasm’ companies – organizations with excellent products and people but burdened by misalignment among stakeholders.”

The successful sale of Gigster to Virtasant represents the culmination of a significant turnaround under Ionic’s ownership. In less than three years, Ionic Partners utilized its differentiated transformation approach, value creation strategies, and operational best practices to overhaul Gigster’s business. Ionic reconstructed Gigster’s operational framework, achieved profitability, expanded its employee base globally, and deepened strategic relationships with Fortune 500 clients, propelling the company towards strong growth and scalability. This growth was further amplified by Gigster’s acquisition of CodersRank, now Metrx, in 2023.

The strategic sale of Gigster to Virtasant also represents a significant milestone in Ionic Partners’ growth strategy and underscores its commitment to delivering exceptional value to its investors, partners, and portfolio companies.

Some highlights of Ionic’s investment in Gigster include:

– Distinctive sourcing and evaluation: Ionic leveraged its extensive domain expertise to identify a unique investment opportunity.

– Fast, fair, and disciplined partner: The acquisition of Gigster was completed in 10 business days – being fast, fair, and disciplined are all hallmarks of Ionic’s approach.

– Immediate atomic-level operational focus: Ionic deployed its team of experienced operators and proprietary best practices and playbooks to accelerate transformation and reinvest in the business.

– Organic and inorganic growth: Ionic drove revenue growth by focusing on providing more value to existing customers, achieving ‘100% customer success’, and expanding into new markets and products, including the CodersRank acquisition.

– Finding the right home: Combining Gigster with a highly strategic acquirer in Virtasant provides Gigster’s employees, customers, and products with the best platform for its future growth.

Looking Ahead:
As Gigster embarks on this new chapter, Ionic Partners remains committed to identifying and nurturing exceptional investment opportunities. The firm will continue to seek out challenged but durable businesses, pursuing strong asymmetric return potential without typical early-stage risk.

About Ionic Partners:
Led by a team of seasoned software operators, Ionic Partners is a global enterprise software platform focused on Second Chasm companies with strong core products and recurring revenue. Ionic creates extraordinary value through a product-led thesis, leveraging a cloud-first global workforce, building elastic infrastructure, and infusing world-class operating best practices into the daily workflow of their companies.
For more information, visit www.ionicpartners.com

About Virtasant:
Virtasant is a leading provider of cloud optimization, cloud operations, product development, and outsourcing services. As a global team of cloud professionals in over 130 countries, we work with leading companies around the world to help them thrive in the cloud.
For more information, visit www.virtasant.com

March 21, 2024March 21, 2024

Ionic Partners unites Edsembli and Sparkrock to forge a new powerhouse in Canada’s K-12 EdTech space

Ionic Partners announced the acquisition of Edsembli, a leading provider of ERP & SIS solutions for K-12 school boards in Canada, merging it with Sparkrock. This strategic move aims to unite industry leaders, enhance product offerings, accelerate technological advancements, and foster community collaboration for greater impact on student outcomes.

March 19, 2024 – Ionic Partners announced today that they have acquired Edsembli, a trusted provider of ERP & SIS solutions tailored to K-12 school boards across Canada. Ionic Partners will integrate Edsembli into its previous acquisition in the K-12 education space – Sparkrock. This strategic move unites two industry leaders in Canada, accelerating innovation and increasing scalability for their customers. Moving forward, Ionic remains committed to working closely with the unified Sparkrock and Edsembli teams, focusing on strategic value creation via Ionic’s proprietary best practices and prioritizing successful outcomes for each of the combined company’s valued customers.

By harnessing the strengths of both organizations, Sparkrock is set to deliver an enhanced suite of Finance, HR/Payroll, and SIS solutions. This combination will seamlessly blend decades of industry experience with cutting-edge technology, improve the speed of implementations, and accelerate the development of AI-enhanced solutions, ultimately helping school districts make a greater impact on student outcomes.

“Sparkrock and Edsembli will bring together two world-class organizations with truly complementary products in the K-12 space. We already share numerous customers & are united in our unwavering dedication to achieving 100% customer success,” stated Andy Tryba, CEO of Sparkrock. “Bringing these two companies together will empower both customer communities to benefit from our team’s extensive industry expertise and world-class products.”

Randy Lenaghan, CEO of Edsembli, shared his thoughts on the acquisition, “Joining Sparkrock marks an exciting new chapter for Edsembli. Our product suites, years of experience and organizational cultures complement perfectly. But this combination is not solely about merging products; it’s about reshaping how educational institutions leverage technology to achieve greater efficiency and impact.”

Key Highlights of the Acquisition:

A Leader in Edtech for K-12 in Canada: This acquisition positions the combined entity as a leading ERP & SIS solutions provider for the K-12 education sector in Canada
Comprehensive ERP & SIS Solution: The new Sparkrock will merge the ‘best of’ feature sets to offer a comprehensive ERP solution and an integrated SIS platform.
Accelerating Migrations & Implementations: With additional resources & expertise – new and existing customers can now accelerate their move to the cloud and receive the benefits of greater flexibility, scalability, and security.
Community Collaboration: Continuing to foster community-driven forums, workshops, and user groups, with a strong emphasis on knowledge sharing and collaborative growth.

Stacy Veld, Superintendent of Business Services and Treasurer at the District School Board of Niagara, a joint customer of Sparkrock and Edsembli, also shared her enthusiasm: “We are thrilled about Sparkrock’s acquisition of Edsembli. This merger brings together two highly regarded software enterprises in educational technology, promising us enhanced solutions and services. We eagerly anticipate the innovative changes and improvements that will support our system and day-to-day operations.”

About Ionic Partners

Led by a team of seasoned software operators, Ionic Partners is a global enterprise software platform focused on investing in businesses with strong core products and durable recurring revenue. Ionic creates extraordinary value through a product-led thesis and by infusing world-class operating best practices into the daily workflow of their companies.

For more information, please visit www.ionicpartners.com or follow @IonicPartners on Twitter

About Edsembli

Edsembli is a leader in ERP and SIS solutions for K-12 education in Canada. Their solutions empower educators to reshape the student learning journey. By integrating essential functions like human resources, payroll, finance, and student information management into a singular platform, Edsembli seeks to modernize educational institutions to meet the demands of contemporary education.

For more information, please visit www.edsembli.com.

About Sparkrock

Since its establishment in 2003, Sparkrock has provided ERP solutions to Education, Nonprofit, Health, and Human Service organizations. Their ERP software, Sparkrock 365, is built on the highly reliable and secure Microsoft cloud platform. While most solutions are built for for-profit businesses, Sparkrock 365 is specifically designed to empower educational institutions with essential tools for thriving in the digital era.

For more information, please visit www.sparkrock.com or follow @sparkrockinc on Twitter

March 8, 2023March 7, 2023

John Jonson Joins Ionic Partners as Principal, Capital Formation

Ionic Partners, a pioneer in investing in and operating Second Chasm software companies, announces the appointment of John Jonson as Principal, Capital Formation.

March 8, 2023 – Ionic Partners (“Ionic”) announced today that John Jonson has joined the firm to lead Ionic’s capital formation efforts, bringing his decades of experience as a leader in fundraising, investment entity structuring, and business development.

“We created Ionic to bring to bear world class software and technology expertise to an untapped part of the market. As we are now poised to apply our team’s experience and skills to a targeted and significant opportunity set, we are thrilled to have someone of John’s extensive background and deep relationships on board to help enable this inflection point,” said Donald Park, Co-Founder & President of Ionic Partners. He added, “John has a proven track record of translating unique manager strategies across various industries for major institutions and family offices. As we expand our offering to investors across both the equity and credit spectrum, John will be an essential addition to our team.”

“Translating top tier investment strategies to all types of investors has been a gratifying experience during my career. Having been an allocator for family offices as well as a university endowment, I understand and enjoy the substantial process in finding optimal fits,” said Jonson.

He added “Donald and Andy have created at Ionic an exceptional team at an opportune time. With experienced, discerning, and steady hands on the wheel, they and their team have become one of the most stellar emerging software managers in one of the most attractive investment spaces for the coming decade. The combination of finding the right companies along with Ionic’s specialized focus and expertise is a unique and highly appealing value proposition to many, and I’m incredibly excited to join and contribute.”

Jonson joins Ionic as its third Principal, joining Audrey Pang and Tanner Cerand who joined the firm from Vista Equity Partners and focus on Operations and Origination, respectively. Prior to joining Ionic, John served as Head of Capital Formation at Pantera Capital, the first blockchain hedge and venture fund in the United States and considered one of the pre-eminent firms in the space. While at Pantera, John led the successful raise of the $1.3B Blockchain Fund. Prior to that, John was a Managing Director at Lyrical Partners from 2013 to 2020, where he led the single and multi-family office, university endowment and institutional capital formation efforts, and also helped source, diligence and manage the firm’s venture investments. Before Lyrical, John was a co-founding Managing Principal of Capricorn Investment Group, originally the single-family office for Jeff Skoll, the first president of eBay. John served as Capricorn’s Chief Operating Officer and led Strategic Business Development for Capricorn and its affiliates. During his tenure, the firm was an early investor in Tesla, VitaminWater, SpaceX, TrueCar, HeartFlow, and Yammer.

John received a BA in Public Policy from Duke University and an MBA with high honors from the International Business Program at the Moore School at the University of South Carolina, with a focus on Japanese finance. He has served on the University Endowment’s Investment Oversight Committee since 2009.

About Ionic Partners

Ionic Partners brings together over 50 years of global software industry expertise as both operators and investors. The company is led by Andy Tryba and Donald Park, formerly of ESW Capital and Vista Equity Partners, respectively. Ionic has experience investing in businesses as entrepreneurs from startup to growth stage, to IPO and Fortune 500-scale. They have also been advisers and partners to management teams and boards. Ionic acquires recurring revenue software businesses and creates value through a proven operating model, a dedicated team of software operators and executives, and change management experts with deep experience in building world-class culture, processes, and successful outcomes.

January 11, 2022January 11, 2022

Ionic Partners Names Tanner Cerand Principal, Origination

Ionic Partners, experts in acquiring and operating recurring revenue software businesses, announces the appointment of Tanner Cerand as Principal, Origination.

January 11, 2022 – Ionic Partners (“Ionic”) announced today that Tanner Cerand will join the firm to lead Ionic’s sourcing efforts, bringing to bear his decades of experience as a leader in investment research, origination, and business development.

With an established and permanent capital base, Ionic is a highly active acquirer of recurring revenue enterprise software businesses. Ionic Partners is distinguished by its focus on acquiring and operating “Second Chasm” software companies – those that have strong products and teams, but whose revenue growth and profitability don’t reflect the intrinsic value of their offerings. These companies are characterized by lower revenue growth and sometimes near break-even profitability, which causes investors and operators to recognize that they need a new operating approach to successfully scale.

“In a market awash in capital and outsized returns, many companies today believe they must exhibit hyper-growth characteristics to be successful. We don’t believe that at all. Many companies have great products and great teams but struggle to access the best resources in the world to remain competitive,” said Donald Park, Co-Founder & President of Ionic Partners. “Ionic was created to find companies where leadership recognizes these challenges and seeks a fundamentally different way of operating to succeed in the new world. Tanner Cerand has a proven history of identifying great companies with strong products and attributes that others may overlook, and he’ll be a great addition to our team.”

Cerand added, “Second Chasm companies typically find themselves in a marginalized position in the marketplace. They tend to be too small to garner the attention of traditional acquirers and growing too slowly to attract traditional investors in a ‘growth-first’ economy. Where others may overlook these companies, Ionic sees tremendous undiscovered value potential. This combination of finding the right companies along with the Ionic team’s specialized focus and expertise at running and growing these companies is a unique and exciting value proposition that I’m thrilled to be a part of.”

Ionic Partners builds sets of enterprise software companies through acquisition, focusing on $3mm to $30mm revenue businesses globally. Ionic specializes in transactions that require unparalleled speed and certainty – from corporate carve-outs and ‘end of life’ venture investments, to entrepreneur-led businesses and family-held operations. Ionic brings over 50 years of experience as software entrepreneurs, operators, and investors and is led by Andy Tryba and Donald Park, formerly of ESW Capital and Vista Equity Partners, respectively. As part of their unique operating methodology, Ionic acquires businesses and transforms them into modern companies with a cloud-first approach towards product, workflow, and especially, talent. Ionic’s recent acquisition of Gigster, from investors Andreessen Horowitz and Redpoint Ventures, has accelerated their ability to provide enterprises with the ability to quickly develop world-class software products and digital assets using an elastic, globally-connected workforce.

“The modern cloud presents opportunities to deliver high-skill jobs to the right person, instead of the person to the job, which is how most businesses operate,” said Andy Tryba, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Ionic Partners. “We help bring companies with stalled growth or operational challenges into the modern cloud using our expertise in building and managing remote teams,” said Andy Tryba. “Tanner’s deep industry relationships and established track record at some of the world’s best software investment firms will help bring the right kind of companies into our unique model of value creation through innovation.”

Cerand brings 18 years of financial market experience and nine years of experience in software and technology deal sourcing. Cerand previously led deal sourcing at Build Acquisition Corp. and BuildGroup, an operator-led permanent capital software investment group led by Lanham Napier, the former CEO of Rackspace (NASDAQ: RXT). Prior to BuildGroup, Tanner helped build and lead research and business development strategies at Vista Equity Partners, a leading software investment firm with over $86 billion in AUM. Tanner’s work on the Founding Committee for BEAM Angel Network helps provide equitable access to capital for women-founded companies and generational wealth for the founders and investors that support them.

“I love engaging with executives and investors to have thoughtful conversations around key technology trends and where markets are headed, while building meaningful connections between founders, executives, and investors across my expansive network,” said Cerand.

About Ionic Partners

Ionic Partners brings together over 50 years of global software industry expertise as both operators and investors. The leadership team has experience investing in businesses as entrepreneurs from startup to growth stage, to IPO and Fortune 500-scale. They have also been advisers and partners to management teams and boards. Ionic acquires recurring revenue software businesses – specializing in carve-outs and Second Chasm companies – and creates value through a proven operating model, a dedicated team of software operators and executives, and change management experts with deep experience in building world-class culture, processes, and successful outcomes.