ABRY Partners lead an equity financing in conjunction with Landmark Partners, J.P. Morgan Private Equity and Karlani Capital for Accela, a provider of cloud-based civic engagement solutions for government. The $143.5 million in new financing will help Accela deploy the new capital to round out its cloud offering, expand the capabilities of the Civic Platform, and scale sales efforts for its worldwide installed base.
The latest funding round brings the total capital raised by the Company to more than $200 million in the past 15 months, which includes a $40 million growth equity investment led by Bregal Sagemount in October 2013 and a $20 million in debt financing raised from Wells Fargo Capital Finance. Credit Suisse acted as the exclusive private placement agency to the Company.
The Civic Platform is transforming how governments interact with citizens and businesses by deploying cloud technology to modernize civic processes. Accela will capitalize on the $30 billion local and regional governments spend annually on software.
“The marketplace for government SaaS solutions is expanding rapidly as agencies look to increase service levels without significant capital expenditures,” said Maury Blackman, Accela president and CEO. “We believe doing business with government can be as simple and engaging as buying products on Amazon or hailing cars via Uber.”
“We are just beginning to tap the potential of civic technology for government,” commented Tyler Wick of ABRY Partners and incoming board member. “We are investing not only in Accela’s differentiated and comprehensive Civic Platform offering, but also in the future impact that these solutions can have on government agencies and the communities they serve.”
ABRY Partners is a media, communications, business and information service focused private equity investment firms in North America.