Private Equity & the Software Economy

Did someone say ARR...... 😏

Private Equity tech deals are on a roll in 2021. According to EY’s Q1 pulse report, they accounted for 26% of global deal activity and 34% of US deal activity in the last year.

In 2021 alone there have been many notable software acquisitions including:

• The largest cloud acquisition by a Private Equity Firm

• Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners Purchase Ellucian

and most notably…

• Bloom Venture Partners acquired Viostream, a leading video sourcing, management and distribution platform

Over the past decade or two, with the rise of the software economy, many PE players have flocked to the market. Private Equity is shaping the software landscape and there are many more innings to be played in the space.

At Bloom VP we love acquiring profitable software businesses with predictable revenue and sticky enterprise customers. Specifically, we look for software companies that check these boxes:
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 • generating $1mm to $10mm in annual recurring revenue
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 • low churn with large + loyal community or dominant brand
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 • a mature and proven product

Want to learn more about Bloom’s investment strategy? Make sure to check out Jay Vas’s (GP @ Bloom) article on Bloom Equity’s buyout strategy.

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What We’re Reading and Listening To…

📚 Tips for launching on Product Hunt (founders, this is a must-read 🔥)

📚 For Private Equity Software Investors, Product-Market Fit Is King

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Favorites from the Ecosystem

Investors👇…..

ValueAdd™ @ValueAddCapital

The benefits of sourcing deal flow is that it transfers with you amongst funds. A Company I tried to buy 18 months ago just called to tell me he’s selling and to give him an offer. He went from 4x ARR to 3x ARR in five minutes on the phone. Let’s make a deal.

Bart Macdonald • Bloomvp.com @BartMacdonald

Couldn't have said this any better myself, so i'll just leave it here:

Founders👇……

Michael Martocci 🚀 SwagUp @MichaelMartocci

1/ I’m a huge proponent of bootstrapping if you can do it I think it creates constraints that force you to focus on providing users value they’d pay for and you avoid giving up equity while your business is super risky But your cash flow dynamics will make or break you 👇

Steve Ressler @steveressler

I've founded / been an exec / invested / advised in 25+ SaaS companies. Here are 5 common challenges I see in sub-scale SaaS companies & advise through the trough. A thread🧵

Operators👇…..

Marc Thomas @iammarcthomas

SaaS positioning is hard and people get confused by it I do the positioning work for all of Powered By Search's clients Here's the process I follow for getting clear positioning every time:

Romeen Sheth @RomeenSheth

0/ If you’re an SMB operator and want to increase the value of your business, focus on 2 things above all else. 1. EBITDA: how much $ do you make 2. Risk: how reliable is the $ you make Enough has been written about #1. Here are 5 things you can do to tackle #2: [THREAD]

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News from the Industry: deals, deals, and more deals 💰

Brookfield & Onex battle it out

Apax Partners acquires Infogain from ChrysCapital

Club Deals Are Back. Here’s Why Asset Owners Are Skeptical

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Partner with Us!

Interested in joining Bloom Venture Partners' Investment Club? Drop us a line and we’ll be in touch.

About Bloom Venture Partners

Bloom is a global investment firm focused on minority and majority investments in software businesses. Our mission is to invest in market-leading software and leverage our team's deep operational and commercial experience to deliver exceptional returns to all stakeholders.