Metalogix CEO Steve Murphy started looking for growth capital for his DC-based firm this summer and quickly realized a better way to expand the venture-backed company: sell to a PE firm. The company, which helps enterprises manage their collaboration platforms, was acquired this week by Permira, a European PE firm with offices in NYC and Menlo Park. Steve and other senior managers will maintain equity stakes and keep their jobs, along with all 400 Metalogix employees. He expects the company to double revenue in the next year through acquisitions and organically. The collaboration market will reach $67B by 2018, says Forrester.
Steve says the company was at a crossroads between raising more VC, going public, or finding a large strategic partner. An IPO is still on the table, but Steve says a PE firm like Permira, in the same league as DC-based Carlyle, can help fund its growth without diluting the business. Plus he says the content management market is bigger than what the company envisioned, with players like Google, Amazon, and IBM coming in. Even so, Microsoft dominates the space. Steve says Metalogix, which generates 15% of its revenue from the public sector, will stay in DC, and he’s looking for bigger office space.
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