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Growth Equity

Overview

Harbert Growth Partners (“HGP”) seeks to generate attractive returns for our investors by identifying and investing in promising emerging growth stage technology companies.

We seek to invest in what we believe are attractive technology ecosystems outside of Silicon Valley and the Northeast, areas with a vibrant entrepreneurial community, leading research universities and significant startup and early-stage investment activity. The HGP team combines substantial investment, advisory, and operating experience with capital and an extensive network to support great entrepreneurial teams in successfully executing their growth plans.

Investment Team

Wayne L. Hunter
Managing Partner

Wayne L. Hunter is the Managing Partner of HGP and co-founder and head of HMC’s Growth Equity investment strategy. Mr. Hunter joined HMC in 2002 and previously led the HGP Funds’ investments in and was a board member of exited portfolio investments MapAnything (sold to Salesforce), Unitrends (sold to Insight Venture Partners), and Yap (sold to Amazon).

Mr. Hunter also serves on the board of the Florida Venture Forum and previously served on the boards of North Carolina’s Council for Entrepreneurial Development, Venture Atlanta, and Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology. Prior to joining HMC, Mr. Hunter was founding Managing Director and Head of Wachovia’s (and predecessor firms First Union Securities’ and Wheat First Butcher Singer’s) Technology Investment Banking Group. In addition, Mr. Hunter was a member of Wachovia’s Private Equity/Venture Capital Fund Investment Committee and served on Wachovia’s Investment Banking Management Committee. Mr. Hunter has more than thirty years of experience working with leading entrepreneurs and venture capitalists in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.

Mr. Hunter holds a degree in law (J.D.) from the University of Alabama School of Law and a Bachelor of Science (Economics) degree from Auburn University.

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Brian C. Carney
General Partner

Brian C. Carney is a Partner with HGP and joined HMC in 2007. Mr. Carney serves on the board of the Council for Entrepreneurial Development in Durham, NC and is a former board member of the Richmond Venture Forum. Mr. Carney is currently a member of the St. Catherine’s School Board of Governors and is past President of the St. Catherine’s School Foundation Board. Prior to joining HMC, Mr. Carney was an associate with Morgan Stanley Venture Partners where he executed growth equity investments. Prior to that, Mr. Carney was a financial analyst in Morgan Stanley’s Healthcare Investment Banking Group.

Mr. Carney holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Virginia and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with honors from Washington & Lee University.

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Thomas D. Roberts III
General Partner

Thomas D. Roberts III is a Partner with HGP and joined HMC in 2002 as a founding member of its Growth Equity investment strategy. Mr. Roberts previously led the HGP Funds’ investments in and was a board member of exited portfolio investments Agility Healthcare (sold to GE Healthcare), JackBe (sold to Software AG), Invincea (sold to Sophos), Mobile Posse (sold to Digital Turbine), Stella Connect (sold to Medallia), and Voci Technologies (sold to Medallia).

Mr. Roberts is a former member of the Executive Committee of the board of the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association. Before joining HMC, Mr. Roberts was a senior investment banker for Wachovia (and predecessor firms First Union Securities and Wheat First Butcher Singer), where he originated and executed public and private equity and M&A advisory transactions as a founding member of First Union’s Technology Investment Banking Group. Prior to investment banking, Mr. Roberts was with Markowitz & McNaughton, a strategy consulting firm, specializing in competitive analysis, market opportunity assessment, benchmarking, and acquisition buy-side search and due diligence services for Fortune 500 clients.

Mr. Roberts holds a Master of Business Administration degree and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Virginia.

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David C. Gerstenmaier, Jr.
Senior Associate

David C. Gerstenmaier, Jr. (also known as Chip) is a Senior Associate with HGP. Mr. Gerstenmaier joined HMC in July 2016 to assist in the areas of financial analysis, deal sourcing, portfolio company monitoring, and new investment due diligence. Mr. Gerstenmaier currently serves as a member of the Selection Committee for the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association and is a Mentor with Startup Virginia, a Richmond-based startup incubator program. Prior to joining HMC, Mr. Gerstenmaier worked in the Investment Banking Group at BB&T Capital Markets where he participated in a variety of sell-side M&A, leveraged buy­out, and capital markets transactions across a broad range of industries including transportation and logistics, financial services, and industrial manufacturing.

Mr. Gerstenmaier holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with honors from the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University.

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Tyler Holly
Associate

William T. Holly (Tyler) is an Associate with HGP. Mr. Holly joined HMC in July 2019 to assist with financial analysis, investment due diligence, deal sourcing, and portfolio company monitoring. Prior to joining HMC, Mr. Holly was a Chief of Staff for Capital One’s B2B payments sales leadership team, and also spent time working with the U.S. Government and in management consulting and investment banking roles with Accenture and Deloitte Corporate Finance (McColl Partners). Mr. Holly currently serves as a member of the Selection Committee for the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association.

Mr. Holly holds a Bachelor of Arts in Leadership and Public Policy with high distinction from the Frank Batten School at the University of Virginia.

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Investment Criteria

HGP seeks to identify and invest in emerging companies with high growth potential. We seek to invest with experienced entrepreneurs building emerging growth stage companies with defensible positions in large and growing markets. HGP typically invests $5.0 million to $8.0 million initially and continues to invest and build value through the growth of our portfolio companies. We typically seek board representation in our investments and provide constructive, strategic, operating and networking support to our portfolio companies.

We concentrate our investment focus on opportunities that, in our view, demonstrate the following characteristics:

  • Experienced management teams
  • Large and growing addressable markets
  • Recurring revenue business models
  • Scalable operating platforms

Information Technology:

  • Enterprise Software
  • Cybersecurity
  • Financial Technology
  • Real Estate Technology
  • Healthcare IT
Portfolio

Current Portfolio

Active Companies

Information Technology

Ceterus provides “done-for-you” accounting and benchmarked performance reporting solutions to small businesses and franchise owners in markets such as fitness, health and wellness, restaurants, retail, and education. Ceterus’ platform includes automated data entry, access to a professional accountant, and niche-specific financial reports and dashboards that provide business owners with valuable insights into how their business is operating month-to-month and how it compares to other franchises within the same brand family. Ceterus’ cloud-based solution, known as Edge, provides a dashboard that is custom made for a specific franchise brand or industry. The Company also offers tax planning, preparation, and filing through Ceterus Tax, enabling the Company to offer a comprehensive solution for entrepreneurs.Charleston, SC
www.ceterus.com
Clarabridge is a leading software as a service provider of customer experience analytics software. Clarabridge’s Content Mining Platform provides marketing and operations executives access to customer sentiments by mining and exposing actionable customer experience feedback buried in text-based survey responses, web postings and support calls. The output from this platform enables companies to create more profitable offerings and develop stronger relationships with their customers.Reston, VA
www.clarabridge.com
Cloud Elements is a cloud API management and integration service that enables developers to publish, integrate, aggregate, and manage APIs through a unified platform. Cloud Elements’ integration solution enables developers to connect entire categories of cloud services (e.g. CRM, Documents, Finance) or synchronize data between multiple cloud services (e.g. Salesforce, ZenDesk, and QuickBooks). Cloud Elements’ solution allows developer teams to focus critical resources on building proprietary solutions, rather than building and maintaining integrations to other software platforms, which, while necessary for customer satisfaction, are often costly and time consuming.Denver, CO
www.cloud-elements.com
Ledbury is a rapidly growing e-commerce shirtmaker and menswear brand. Ledbury focuses on the design and innovative marketing of luxury men’s shirts, clothing and accessories. The Company’s vertically integrated e-commerce platform is low-cost, high-margin and scalable. This model allows the brand to deliver signature quality, value and convenience to customers that is unmatched by traditional retail. Where retailers typically offer 2-4 collections a year, Ledbury offers more than 20. The Company also has the ability to test small collections, avoiding the high fashion risk of traditional retail.Richmond, VA
www.ledbury.com
Netsertive’s digital marketing intelligence platform empowers brands and local businesses to work together to win local customers. The Company’s two complementary solutions, MarketWise™ for Brands and StreetWise™ for Local Businesses, enable cooperative marketing and resource sharing between brands and their local business partners. Both are powered by Netsertive’s proprietary learning engine, which combines the Company’s deep industry experience with the collective intelligence of its extensive network of automotive, IT technology, major appliance, furniture, consumer electronics, dental and eye care clients to deliver unprecedented campaign speed, performance and value. Founded in 2009 and based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, the Company has a history of rapid growth, a world-class team and the strength of venture capital funding from top firms RRE Ventures, Harbert Venture Partners and Greycroft Partners. Netsertive was named 2014 Software Company of the Year by North Carolina Technology Association and was named among Inc. Magazine’s 500 fastest-growing private companies two years in a row.Morrisville, NC
www.netsertive.com
SafeGuard Cyber enables social collaboration to create competitive advantage while overcoming regulatory compliance challenges, legal threats, and security risk exposure. SafeGuard Cyber is an award-winning and industry leading solution for social risk management in use by leading companies in the pharmaceutical, retail, consumer and financial services industries.Charlottesville, VA
www.safeguardcyber.com
Sidecar Interactive develops advanced machine learning technology for retailers hungry to unlock the full potential of today’s fastest-growing online shopping channels. Specifically, the Company is a best-in-class technology provider focused on helping brands and other retailers maximize the potential return from investing in Shopping ads, one of the most rapidly growing categories of digital advertising. Sidecar’s technology considers an average of 1.2 million data points each day to analyze and index every product in a retailer’s catalog to ensure profitable revenue growth out of paid product acquisition channels such as Google Shopping, Bing Shopping, and Facebook Dynamic Ads.Philadelphia, PA
www.getsidecar.com
Snag is a human capital management (“HCM”) software company with a technology platform that assists employers in hiring, training and retaining employees. The Company’s technology platform consists of three products on the market today, On-boarding, Learning Management and Performance Management, and several other products currently in development. The Company believes a significant opportunity exists to bring an affordable HCM solution and the necessary functional and regulatory training content to the underserved small to medium-sized business market.Glen Allen, VA
www.snagajob.com
Springbot provides an eCommerce marketing platform to small and midsized eCommerce retailers that combines the power of marketing automation and marketing analytics. The cloud-based offering integrates and simplifies the data, content, and multi-channel marketing tools (social media, online, email, etc.) eCommerce website owners need to drive more traffic, conversions, and revenue. Springbot’s platform integrates with eCommerce retailers using Magento, Shopify, and BigCommerce shopping carts to leverage marketing and purchasing behavior data to help customers grow their revenue by taking smarter, data-driven marketing actions.Atlanta, GA
www.springbot.com
Two Six Labs invents, prototypes and engineers breakthrough technologies for government and industry, with broad commitments in multiple areas of technological innovation. Two Six Labs’ projects range from situational awareness interfaces for cyber operators to distributed sensor networks, to machine learning models that learn to reverse engineer malware, to embedded devices that enable and protect our nation’s warfighters.Fairfax, VA
www.twosixlabs.com
Unitrends specializes in data protection and rapid recovery appliances, providing business systems continuity for small and middle market enterprises. The core of the Company’s solution is file-level backup/restore, Bare Metal Recovery and Block-Based Replication. The Company’s software is integrated into a backup device known as a Data Protection Unit (“DPU”), which is available in a variety of form factors and storage capacities. DPU’s can be deployed locally and also replicated to an offsite vault for offsite disaster recovery.Columbia, SC
www.unitrends.com
WhyHotel partners with leading multifamily real estate developers to operate temporary pop-up hotels in newly built, luxury apartment buildings during their initial lease-up period. WhyHotel converts up to half of a new building’s units into furnished hotel rooms, and offers cleaning services and other benefits to both hotel guests and apartment residents while operating at a property. The Company’s hotels enable developers to monetize vacant apartment units that often take 8 to 24 months to lease-up, while also helping to market the property to prospective long-term tenants by activating the building and surrounding retail areas. WhyHotel’s ability to offer luxury amenities at sub-market daily hotel rates make the Company’s pop-up product an attractive alternative to traditional hotels for corporate and leisure travelers seeking a “home away from home” experience.Washington, D.C.
www.whyhotel.com

HEALTHCARE

Anutra Medical has developed a novel local anesthetic delivery system designed to reduce the time of anesthetic onset and significantly reduce pain on injection for patients. The Company’s patented system simplifies the process for buffering anesthesia and was launched initially in the dental market.Research Triangle Park, NC
www.anutramedical.com
Clinipace is a global full-service digital Clinical Research Organization (dCRO) offering technology-driven clinical services to pharmaceutical and medical device companies conducting clinical trials and registries. The digital component of the Company’s service offerings, through its proprietary TEMPO software, is a key differentiator in the way it services the CRO market, and allows Clinipace to provide greater efficiency and transparency to its clients.Morrisville, NC
www.clinipace.com
A hands-on engagement services organization, Envera Health offers a complete continuum of solutions to empower the Company’s provider partners to succeed in delivering consumer-driven healthcare. Envera Health’s solutions cover what the Company believes are primary sources of issues in healthcare: growth, access, care coordination and network development. Envera Health’s engagement services are designed to create seamless connections for providers and patients and enable the Company’s healthcare partners to succeed in balancing both clinical and financial performance. By offering a complete continuum of solutions strategically designed together with Envera Health’s partners, the Company empowers providers to deliver better, more connected care.Richmond, VA
www.enverahealth.com
Healthcare Interactive focuses on consuming massive amounts of healthcare data from existing systems in order to present this information, along with analytic measures, in an actionable way. Using patented technology and flexible architecture, the Company empowers insurance companies, health systems, and third-party administrators in processing complex benefit designs.Glenwood, MD
www.hciactive.com
kaléo is a medical device drug delivery company focused on the design and development of prescription pharmaceutical devices utilizing its proprietary, state-of-the-art technology platforms. The Company’s first product, Auvi-Q, is an innovative auto-injector device designed to deliver epinephrine during allergic emergencies known as anaphylaxis. The product is designed to be smaller, safer, and more user-friendly than existing treatments for anaphylaxis. The Company’s mission is to provide demonstrably superior medical products that empower patients and caregivers to confidently take control in potentially life-threatening situations. kaléo believes patients and caregivers are the experts on how their medical condition impacts their lives, and are an integral part of our product development process. Each kaléo product combines an established drug with an innovative delivery platform with the goal of achieving superiority and cost effectiveness.Richmond, VA
www.kaleopharma.com
MaxCyte is a clinical stage cell therapeutics company with a pipeline of product development partnerships in cell-based therapies. The Company’s platform technology utilizes flow electroporation (brief pulses of electric current used to permeate cell membranes) to break down the barriers to ex-vivo cell loading and the manufacture of viral vectors.Gaithersburg, MD
www.maxcyte.com
TemperPack designs, manufactures, and distributes sustainable, thermal packaging products for customers in the perishable food and life sciences industries. The Company’s most innovative product, ClimaCell, is certified for curbside recyclability and allows customers to protect temperature sensitive shipments while reducing packaging waste. TemperPack’s products can be used to replace expanded polystyrene (“EPS”) foam coolers and other plastic liners.Richmond, VA
www.temperpack.com

Notable Exits

Agility provides business process optimization solutions targeted at hospitals and other acute care facilities. The company combines its proprietary software and implementation services with RFID and other location-tracking technologies to provide significant ROI for hospitals in transforming their enterprise patient care management and operational workflow. Sold to GE Healthcare in 2008.Richmond, VA
Invincea is an innovative emerging cybersecurity anti-malware software company that has developed a patent-pending, revolutionary desktop security software suite and threat intelligence network appliance for protecting enterprise, government and home users from Internet attacks. Sold to Sophos in 2017.Fairfax, VA
JackBe delivers real-time business intelligence software that empowers organizations to create, customize, and collaborate through enterprise mashups for faster decision-making and better business results. JackBe’s Presto platform provides dynamic solutions that leverage internal and external data while meeting tough enterprise security and governance requirements. Sold to Software AG (DAX – SOW AG) in August of 2013.Chevy Chase, MD
ControlScan is an emerging provider of Payment Card Industry (“PCI”) security compliance solutions focused exclusively on small- and medium-sized businesses (“SMBs”). PCI data security standards have been adopted by the major credit card brands to alleviate security vulnerabilities and protect cardholder data for all merchants that handle cardholder data. ControlScan is the only provider focused exclusively on SMB merchants, which are defined as merchants processing fewer than 1 million brand transactions. The Company has uniquely tailored its services to meet SMB merchants’ needs for easily-implemented and cost-effective PCI compliance solutions. Merged with EchoSat, a leading provider of payments security, managed firewall, and managed network solutions, in 2017.Atlanta, GA
MapAnything provides a SaaS-based mapping and geo-analytics solution built on top of the Salesforce platform. The Company’s goal is to become the world’s leading business platform for “Where” software. MapAnything recently extended its product suite to be compatible with the ServiceNow platform, creating another large market opportunity for the Company’s products. MapAnything’s solution dramatically improves the productivity of sales and service teams in the field by providing real time geo-location, route optimization, schedule planning, territory management, and powerful analytics for sales management. MapAnything is a Salesforce Gold App Innovation Partner and a ServiceNow Technology Partner.Charlotte, NC
Mobile Posse is the leading provider of next-generation mobile advertising and mCRM solutions for the active home screen. Using proprietary patent-pending technology, Mobile Posse enables advertisers, content providers and wireless carriers to proactively reach consumers through the prime real-estate on the mobile phone.McLean, VA
nContact is a cardiovascular medical device company that is developing a complete minimally-invasive surgical platform for treating Atrial Fibrillation (“AF”). The Company’s technology uses radiofrequency (RF) ablation devices that enable active contact and engagement between flexible, conformable electrodes and cardiac tissue, providing predictable and effective cardiac tissue ablation.Morrisville, NC
NovaMin is establishing its proprietary oral healthcare technology as the next generation active-ingredient foundation for consumer oral healthcare and professional dental products. NovaMin addresses rapidly growing, unmet oral care needs by amplifying the natural biological defenses and repair mechanisms of the mouth. Sold to GlaxoSmithKline in 2009.Alachua, FL
Shipt has developed a rapidly growing technology-enabled services business powered by a proprietary app, which allows subscribers to buy groceries online, from their preferred local grocery outlet, and receive their orders in as little as one hour. The app matches Shipt shoppers with customer orders in a manner similar to the Uber model. Shipt opened its first market in Birmingham in May 2015 and is now operating in more than 60 markets throughout the Southeast, Midwest, Texas, and Arizona, and is rapidly expanding into new markets given strong demand from the Company’s grocery partners. Shipt has delivery partnerships with Costco, Whole Foods, Meijer, H-E-B, Harris Teeter, and ABC Fine Wine and Spirits.Birmingham, AL
Stella Connect offers a SaaS-based people success platform built specifically for customer service teams. Through real-time customer feedback, recognition, and rewards, Stella Connect allows customer service teams to identify areas for improvement, enabling on-the-spot micro-coaching and driving friendly competition through features like leaderboards. With the loss of each contact center agent costing a brand up to $15,000, as well as the high costs of scaling a contact center, Stella Connect can have a dramatic bottom-line impact by keeping agents happier and helping contact centers grow with fewer resources. The Company serves an impressive list of more than 200 customers, including well-known brands such as Williams Sonoma, Neiman Marcus, Postmates, LuLuLemon, Moen, Walmart, Quicken Loans, Warby Parker, Nestle, and Mercedes-Benz, among others.New York, NY
Voci offers speech recognition software that allows enterprises to make informed decisions based on actionable insights extracted from their voice data. Voci offers speech intelligence solutions that meet business requirements for customer experience, call center operations, compliance and risk management, eDiscovery, and additional transcription applications. The Company’s hardware-accelerated technology was spun out of Carnegie Mellon University in 2007. Voci’s solutions provide customers with data and insights used to: (i) prevent customer churn, (ii) optimize Quality Assurance efficiency, (iii) boost sales effectiveness, (iv) monitor employee compliance, and (v) prepare for audits and lawsuits.Pittsburgh, PA
WellCentive offers a comprehensive set of Web-based patient registry, modular Electronic Health Record (EHR) and other HIT solutions for preventive care, chronic disease management, and health information exchange programs. Sold to Royal Philips NV in 2016.Atlanta, GA
Yap creates and markets voice-enabled software that converts speech into text for multiple applications for mobile devices. For example, users can send emails, text messages, and access web services such as search, via a unified client interface on their mobile devices. Yap also offers fully automated voicemail transcription services. Sold to a Fortune 100 technology company in 2011.Charlotte, NC
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Contact
HARBERT GROWTH PARTNERS

5702 Grove Avenue, Suite 200
Richmond, VA 23226

Contact:
Brenda Mustian
bmustian@harbert.net
804.782.3800