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Transaction Update | October 2023

Transaction Update
October 2023

In a year of suppressed deal activity driven by a range of factors, we have maintained a high level of activity having completed 16 deals to date.

We have remained active across the Global Technology and Consulting Services sector and continue to see strong market appetite for leading businesses providing digital transformation, cloud and data capabilities.

Our busiest sub-sector so far this year has been Legal Technology and Services, having advised on four transactions ranging from Enterprise Software to Consulting/Services business models.

While we anticipate the rest of the year will pose challenges for deal-making, we are starting to see the green shoots of positive activity as we enter into 2024 budgeting season.

Please contact us if you want to hear about any of these deals in greater detail.

Outsell Signature Event 2023 | Key takeaways

Outsell Signature Event 2023 | Key takeaways

The JEGI CLARITY team had the privilege of co-producing the annual Outsell Signature Event, which recently took place at the Four Seasons Hotel, in Hampshire, UK. 

The conference is a seminal event for senior leaders in the data and information industry.  It provides a platform for discussing key trends and their implications for the industry, while providing guests with an opportunity to make valuable connections within the sector. Full agenda and speaker list can be found here.

Key Takeaways

Generative AI for some but not necessarily for all

Throughout the event, there was an acknowledgement that your business model, offering and client base will likely drive what stage you are at in the ‘AI journey’. Some have been using AI for decades, while others are just beginning to explore its potential.

Understanding whether AI will be focused internally in driving efficiencies or speed to market, or focused externally, for example on enhancing product solutions will be a key part of determining the extent to which AI is deployed into your business.

For some businesses, the use of generative AI might be excessive and unnecessary to attain their goals. It’s essential to have a clear understanding of your objectives before determining whether these tools will genuinely contribute to reaching them, and many organizations are grappling with understanding this.

Many leaders in the room cautioned against rapid investment into AI without a framework covering a true understanding of your organization’s data and processes, your clients’ view and use of AI and the AI development approach, including ROI at each stage.

The importance of organizational buy-in

The transition to leveraging AI needs to be led by executive and senior management, but with a measured approach of proof testing, reviewing, evolving, and continually verifying.

Organizational buy-in is viewed as critical even at the testing stage so people and teams across the organization understand what the AI can potentially deliver, and what the aims and benefits are. Without this, it will be very difficult to meaningfully leverage AI.

It was noted that the regulatory framework around AI must catch up with the rapid pace of the technology, inevitability leading to a growing industry of regulations and policies. How the regulatory environment intersects with an individual business, and the organization, will be critical and at the moment, this intersection is unclear.

More than a hype bubble

What was resounding across the two days was the profound impact of AI on the knowledge economy. Attendees were aware that change is coming and fast, and that although there were parameters to establish how the industry integrates AI into it, the opportunities it presents are impossible and dangerous to ignore.

Indeed, the prevailing theme of the event reflected what we are hearing across our industry, and many others: how AI, and specifically the latest wave of generative technologies, can be augmented into businesses. There is a clear recognition, however, that while there are potential benefits, how these can be achieved is a work in progress for many.

Are we ready?

Considerable debate centered on some of the perceived risks as well. IP infringement, plagiarism, erosion of jobs, bias; all areas that need monitoring and care. The importance of clear policies and compliance frameworks both internally and externally underpinned by an understanding of the technology will be crucial for all businesses in the sector and beyond.

The M&A viewpoint  

Wilma Jordan, Founder and CEO, North America at JEGI CLARITY presented an insightful overview of the M&A marketplace offering projections for the future in light of economic outlook, high interest rates and pressure on cash and profits.

Describing green shoots appearing from those businesses that have real understanding of the use of data, she also outlined how AI is already driving a wave of investment that will continue to gather pace in the next 12 months. 

With 2023 already a record year for investment in generative AI start-ups, with equity funding estimated to have reached $14.1 billion*, there is no doubt that those companies within the AI arena will continue to power this pace.

If you would like to receive a copy of our presentation on the M&A viewpoint, please contact us.

[*] https://www.cbinsights.com/research/generative-ai-funding-top-startups-investors/

Power of 5: Events Reinvigorated

Power of 5: Events Reinvigorated An Industry on the Move

5 Leaders, 5 Questions, 5 Minutes

In our most recent Power of 5 series, JEGI CLARITY Managing Director, Kathleen Thomas and Partner, San Datta asked five questions to five leading executives across the global B2B Information and Events landscape.  

This series featured Peter Jones, CEO of Nineteen Group, Lisa Hannant, CEO of Clarion Events, Paul Miller, CEO of Questex, Gareth Bowhill, CEO of CloserStill and Simon Foster, Group CEO of Arc. A big thank you to all the participants for their involvement.

Here we share some of their collective thoughts on the trends and opportunities ahead for the events industry. Please click here if you would like to access the videos.

How have you seen the B2B events market evolve in the last 12-24 months?

The resounding story from the B2B Information and Events sector over the past couple of years has been the successful return of live events. 

We’ve seen a ferocious appetite from both exhibitors, sponsors and also delegates to come back to events.

Gareth Bowhill, CEO, CloserStill

Peter Jones of Nineteen Group emphasized the value of live events, suggesting that their true worth became evident only when they were temporarily lost. A sentiment echoed by Gareth Bowhill of CloserStill who stated that their revenues have surged by 15% organically compared to pre-Covid levels.  Statistics and attitudes of clients clearly indicate that people wanted live media that they could trust for lead generation opportunities, continued Simon Foster of Arc. 

However, as several participants in the Power of 5 identified, the composition of event audiences has undergone significant changes.  Lisa Hannant of Clarion observed that there was a trend happening pre-pandemic of people, both in the industry and customers, changing roles, which has accelerated post-pandemic. She noted that industry operators need to adapt as their customer base is predicted to change roles every two-three years, which would continue to drive a shift towards many more first-time attendees to the events. 

This change in audience masked a second trend explained by Paul Miller of Questex – the entrance of technology and software into the market. These tools enable data driven strategies that, through smarter customer insights, are resulting in better products and more meaningful relationships. 

We see ourselves as a modern media business, bringing communities together 365, 24/7.

Paul Miller, CEO of Questex


Where do you see the key opportunities for your business during the next year?

There was an agreement from all the participants that the future is omnichannel businesses that seamlessly integrate content and live events with strong membership models.

Nineteen Group’s commitment to embracing digital through podcasting and digital events, while retaining a focus on physical events was the main emphasis for the next year according to Peter Jones.  Gareth Bowhill of CloserStill outlined their core growth levers being existing events and extensions of these brands, new product launches and engaging in M&A, seeing a landscape that allows them to push forward on all fronts.

We have a comfort in the many different formats that customers want to meet their customers – whether a conference, one to one event, digital or in-between – that allows us to respond in the right way to whatever customer group we are serving.

Lisa Hannant, CEO of Clarion Group

Simon Foster of Arc revealed their future strategy of integrating businesses within their group and leveraging the expertise and knowledge and different elements they have within the business to deliver success to their clients.  A commitment to doubling down on the data driven strategy aimed at providing superior products, that had been shaped from intelligence generated through interaction with content on their websites, was stated as a key opportunity for Paul Miller of Questex.

From an M&A perspective what is your criteria and where are you focusing?

Criteria for possible mergers and acquisitions included shared interests with existing organizations – mutual markets, complementary geographies, client synergies – or adjacent industries, companies with talent sets that can help build greater businesses and those with matching cultures and ethos. 

Lisa Hannant of Clarion mentioned that they have a clear view of the sectors the Clarion team felt the business was potentially unweighted in and wanted to push harder in. Gareth Bowhill of CloserStill, echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the importance of opportunities of the underlying markets they are already serving. 

Paul Miller of Questex stressed the significance of EBITDA thresholds and focusing on businesses with verticals they are already within or adjacencies to the verticals, so they can build buy-sell strategies. Peter Jones of Nineteen Group emphasized their strategy of identifying established, successful events with existing infrastructure and enhancing them to achieve even faster growth.

There were no real limitations when it came to regions for most, although the US, Europe and Asia were of particular focus. 

We are looking at businesses that fit with our existing structure and existing markets that can add value as opposed to just driving scale.

Simon Foster, Group CEO, Arc

If you look at the landscape, who of your peers do you admire?

Companies that are not only great to the outside world but are focused on building culture and strength internally while growing was the type of business Simon Foster of Arc admired. While Lisa Hannant of Clarion Group acknowledged how there is so much good work from so many organizations in the sector – from larger companies to smaller, more nimble start-ups. But what she admires most are those companies that are focused, and purpose driven around individual markets. Paul Miller of Questex commended companies that prioritize culture and leadership and are not building just a great business but a strong culture as they grow.

Phil Soar is an absolute genius. He has the ability to see around corners in blizzards.

Peter Jones, CEO of Nineteen Group

All the stakeholders underscored the importance of collaboration within the sector, acknowledging their peers and their organizations as those they admired and respected the most. Clear articulation around company vision, purpose driven business models around individual markets, leading stances on ESG initiatives and those that embedded culture into their leadership were admired by all. 

It is evident that these five leaders are at the forefront of driving the Information and Events landscape, with a shared vision for a promising and vibrant future.

To view the full interviews, please access Power of 5  Series – Events reinvigorated.

If you want to learn more about this series or the market more broadly, reach out to us at  Contact us

AI-volution | Performance Marketing

AI-volution | The unfolding story Performance Marketing

Authors:  Jonathan Davis (Partner, EMEA), Daniel Hart (Vice President, EMEA), Chris Karl (Chief Business Development Officer, US)

Technological advancements in processing vast amounts of data are sparking a revolution for Brands, Agencies, and Tech Partners across the Marketing Services landscape raising the bar yet again on the industry’s unwavering focus on improving performance.

The emergence of Generative AI and data analytics tools is transforming the way marketers harness data to create content and execute advertising campaigns across the addressable landscape; from paid search, and optimize organic SEO to Social and Connected TV (CTV).  

As adoption of technologies such as ChatGPT, Bard, Perplexity and a growing list of marketing focused AI tools take center stage, performance marketers are reaping the benefits including better campaign performance predictions, personalization at scale, and improved return on investment.

However, with the rewards come challenges such as brand safety concerns and questions about AI’s ability to produce expert content.

Data and Analytics: Decoding the Power of Insights

At the heart of the performance marketing revolution lies data and analytics. The integration of diverse, unstructured data sources is enabling marketers to glean new insights, providing a holistic understanding of their audience’s behaviors and preferences in advance of executing campaigns. Companies like Personalize, Chalice.ai, Ad Copy, Seven Sense are leveraging First-party data and Generative AI to deliver personalized and responsive experiences, supercharging the marketer’s ability to build stronger connections with their customers.

Interpreting this wealth of data to inform creative, strategy, and campaign optimization has emerged as an invaluable skill in the industry. Analysts who can decipher the data and draw meaningful conclusions are increasingly in high demand.  Selecting and parsing through disparate data sources can also be augmented by AI with tools like Narrative I/O’s Rosetta. 

In the big advertiser market, there is considerable interest in owning the predictive capabilities currently bundled with Google and Facebook media. Your own ad AI promises more efficiency, less risk.

Adam Heimlich, CEO of Chalice.ai

Content Creation: The Rise of Gen AI in Programmatic Advertising

Automation stands to reshape the content creation landscape, particularly for programmatic advertising aimed at CTV.

With Generative AI tools at their disposal, marketers can now automate content production in ways not before possible. Tools such as Memorable and INK use data-driven insights to inform content creation, facilitating a low-cost, fast-moving approach at scale.

The implications of this transformation are profound. Imagine a world where the actual visual content seen in Ads has been machine curated for you based on real-time data from your recent online activity and behaviors. We are fast approaching that moment.

However, as AI takes over content creation, concerns about brand safety have also surfaced. Striking a balance between mass personalization and maintaining brand integrity is a key challenge that marketers must address.

Paid Search: The Algorithmic Advantage

The world of paid search has seen a seismic shift with the rise of Generative AI and Data Analytics. Smart bidding and responsive ads have become the norm, leveraging AI’s ability to analyze vast amounts of data and optimize campaigns in real-time. Multi-model search algorithms (that can understand the context of connected images and words) have further enhanced search relevance and performance.

Can Paid Search improve even further in its efficacy? Marketers can now achieve more significant results with fewer resources. By capitalizing on AI-driven insights, they can improve return on ad spend, making every advertising dollar count.

Organic SEO: Elevating the Standards

AI-powered tools have refined the way marketers streamline copywriting, introducing mass automation and individualized relevance to create better-performing content. However, while AI copywriting (such as ChatGPT, Jasper and Anyword) has raised the bar, it still falls short in generating expert-level content that requires deep domain knowledge (albeit MarketMuse a research and copywriting tool is taking on this challenge).

As AI tools mature, there is a need to bridge the gap between AI-generated content and the expertise of human writers in order to achieve relevance at scale. The evolving SEO landscape is prompting marketers to reconsider their content strategies and find the right balance between AI-generated content and human expertise.

At our agency, embracing new technologies is not something new. It happened with cloud, with privacy and now with AI. Staying updated is a part of the offering. We need to lead in this space because our clients demand it, and it’s interesting to see the rapid innovation that comes from agencies ensuring they stay competitive and relevant.

Christoffer Lötebo, Group CEO of Precis Digital

Conclusion: Embracing the AI-Powered Future

Generative AI and data analytics are undeniably transforming performance marketing, enabling better predictions, personalized experiences, and improved ROI. The power of data has unlocked new insights and opportunities, empowering marketers to make data-driven decisions that resonate with their audiences.

While AI is revolutionizing content creation and its consequent effect on organic SEO, it is crucial for marketers to acknowledge the limitations and find ways to leverage AI’s strengths. Embracing the AI-powered future requires a delicate balance between automation and human expertise to maintain brand safety and produce high-quality, expert-level content.

As the AI landscape continues to evolve, performance marketers must stay agile and adapt to these transformative technologies.

M&A Role

With the adoption of Generative AI and the pace of change we expect M&A to play a central role as Brands, Agencies and Tech Vendors race to gain a competitive advantage be that in adding consultative expertise or in direct tech. The table below includes AI-related transactions over the last three years, which highlights this trend.

We look forward to continuing the conversation as the AI-story unfolds. If you have any queries or would like to have an in depth discussion on this topic or the broader market please Contact us. Our next AI article delves into the world of Animation & VFX. 

AI-volution | The unfolding story

AI-volution | The unfolding story

Recent breakthroughs, such as the advent of generative AI tools like ChatGPT, herald a new era set to rival the impact that personal computers, the internet, and smartphones had on our lives.

This wave of innovation has the potential to propel industries forward at a pace, promising to revolutionize the way businesses operate. Tasks, once mundane, are being automated, insights are generated with greater precision, and decision-making is reaching new heights of sophistication. At the same time, AI is opening up fresh avenues of growth, sparking product and service innovations, redefining value propositions and driving operational efficiencies.

One fundamental theme, something that has been consistent across all of our research, remains the importance of the human touch. As the story unfolds, AI’s true power lies in its ability to complement and enhance human capabilities, accelerating progress and efficiency, and delivering higher quality end products and experiences. Firms are actively harnessing AI and related capabilities fueling a surge in M&A activity, as they strive to gain an edge in an increasingly digital economy.

With this in mind, we are excited to introduce AI-volution | The unfolding story – a series of articles designed to identify key themes arising from AI developments in select sub-sectors and their subsequent impact on businesses. This series will cover:

Over the coming weeks, we will unveil each of these sector pieces individually, and welcome you to engage in discussions and share your own AI experiences. These insights will culminate in a final report, available for download, encapsulating AI’s potential opportunities and threats and common themes across the selected sectors.

We look forward to continuing the conversation as the story unfolds. In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to have an in depth discussion on this topic or the broader market contact us

Power of 5: Events Reinvigorated

Power of 5: Events Reinvigorated An Industry on the Move

5 Leaders, 5 Questions, 5 Minutes

Events Reinvigorated – An Industry on the Move

Three years ago, Covid brought the world to a complete halt and the Events sector, be it exhibitions, conferences, networking or experiential, was one of the most affected sectors globally. Questions were even being raised about its long-term future in a virtual world. Fast forward to today, however, and it is clear that in-person engagement is more critical than ever and a rapidly growing component of the B2B Information & Marketing value chain.

In our latest Power of 5 series, we interview leaders from across the global B2B Information and Events landscape to hear how they are staying ahead in an increasingly competitive and buoyant market.

Full Interviews Below

Peter Jones, CEO of Nineteen Group speaks with San Datta
Paul Miller, CEO of Questex speaks with Kathleen Thomas
Simon Foster, Group CEO of Arc speaks with Kathleen Thomas
Lisa Hannant, CEO of Clarion speaks with Kathleen Thomas
Gareth Bowhill, CEO of CloserStill speaks with San Datta

There’s a temptation in our networked age to think that ideas can be developed by email and iChat. That’s crazy. Creativity comes from spontaneous meetings, from random discussions.

Steve Jobs

The Generative AI Media, Marketing & Creative Conference

The Generative AI Media Conference – Key takeaways

Daniel Hart, JEGI CLARITY Vice President, attended the Generative AI conference as part of the AI Summit in London, targeted at the media, marketing, and creative industries. With artificial intelligence (AI) on the top of every senior leader’s agenda, below are the seven key takeaways from the event of the impact, the opportunities and of course, the challenges of AI to businesses in this sector.

1. Importance of the Human Touch

The significance of the human touch in storytelling emerged as a central theme throughout the conference. The consensus was that human connection and emotional resonance remain highly valued by people, emphazising its continued importance in creative endeavors to capture emotions and engage audiences.

2. Efficiency rather than replacement

This phydigital concept suggests that rather than replacement of humans, AI will free up resources and allow for focused creativity. It was clear from both the speaker presentations and the discussions with delegates, that this is already happening with AI tools being incorporated into workflows, enabling efficient ideation, storyboarding, and empowering creative teams to explore new ways of delivery value – all resulting in increased efficiency and productivity.

3. Fact checking and factual accuracy

The importance of human intervention in AI created content to ensure accuracy and integrity was also highlighted with the overreliance on AI bringing with it an increased risk of misreporting or factual inaccuracies noted.

4. IP/confidentiality and plagiarism concerns

Attendees agreed that blockchain technology, particularly using smart contracts, could play a leading role in protecting original artists’ rights and ensuring appropriate compensation to counter concerns regarding copyright and plagiarism. Transparency was emphasized as a critical factor, allowing stakeholders to understand the extent to which AI was used in any given output.

5. Bias and discrimination

The potential for bias and stereotyping in generative AI tools was acknowledged, and an awareness of how essential using the appropriate prompts and actively monitoring the outputs are to ensure an adherence with EDI policies.

6. Hiring and emergence of new roles

Creation of prompt engineers, fact-checkers ensuring content accuracy, AI managers to maintain consistency, monitoring inputs and outputs and overseeing the reusable nature of AI tools were all mooted as possible new roles that the AI industry could generate.

7. New monetization possibilities or enhanced experiences

AI tools introduce exciting possibilities for monetization and enhanced experiences. The ability to offer personalized and interactive entertainment experiences, as well as the digitization of art collections and virtual tours, could create new revenue streams and enrich user experiences.

Conclusion

We know that AI is already disrupting the marketing, media, and creative industry landscape and with change will come challenges and opportunities in equal measure.

In our role bridging the relationship between investors and senior industry stakeholders, these are some of the key questions raised that resonate with us all:

  • What training and technology investment will be necessary to keep up/ stay ahead of the curve?
  • Will the cost efficiencies driven by AI boost margins?
  • Will the replacement of certain roles allow those employed to focus on innovation and creative excellence, increasing quality of output?
  • What new creative frontiers will we be able to enter leveraging the new tools available?
  • Will the technology lower barriers to entry, drive increased competition and lead to pricing pressure?
  • Will clients demand more for less? Ultimately, will AI add or devalue my businesses?

It is still early days for any of us to have any definitive answers, and no doubt the answer will be a balance of all the above, but listening and talking to both sides of the investment relationship will result in an understanding of how the market will play out, where investment might be needed and help businesses unlock new opportunities for this investment.

If you have any queries or would like to have an in depth discussion on this topic or the broader market contact us

Cannes Lions June 19 – 23, 2023

Cannes Lions
June 19 – 23, 2023

Location: Cannes, France

Cannes Lions celebrates, facilitates, and substantiates creativity in all its forms – helping to prove its effectiveness, shape its future, and connect the future leaders of the industry.

As longstanding advisors to this community, we continue to deliver numerous landmark transactions across the Global Advertising, Marketing and Communication sectors.

Contact Marcus Anselm or Jonathan Davis to arrange a meeting to discuss M&A in the sector as well as explore how we might be useful to you and your business. 

Global Digital Services Market: The Investment Opportunity

Global Digital Services Market
The Investment Opportunity

Overview

JEGI CLARITY has been a prominent player in the Marketing, Content and Digital Services sectors for over three decades. During this time, we have witnessed significant changes in the industry, none more so than what we are experiencing in the Global Customer Experience market today.

As our report indicates there are powerful tailwinds driving structural demand in the digital services ecosystem as companies and brands redefine and enhance their online propositions. The market is now estimated to be worth over $100 billion in the US and UK alone and showing strong growth despite broader market conditions. 

As a consequence, there has been a sharpened focus from the Private Equity community over recent years attracted by the high single-digit, low double-digit money multiple returns that  their peers have achieved. As the wider M&A market starts to warm up, we anticipate several PE-backed platforms will be in play over the next 12 to 24 months driving further investment into and consolidation of a highly fragmented industry.

Larger strategic players, such as Accenture Song, Wipro, and WPP, are also actively looking to add to their capabilities by consciously building integrated offerings on a global scale.

Whether you are a corporate looking to ramp up investment or a Private Equity firm seeking to participate in this market opportunity, we would be delighted to share our comprehensive report and provide you with a more detailed account of the sector. Contact us at globaldigitalmarket@jegiclarity-emea.com.

PE sets sights on Research, Insights and Analytics sector

PE sets sights on Research, Insights and Analytics sector

Author: San Datta, Partner, EMEA

The last week has seen both Qualtrics and Momentive, both large and global publicly-listed CX businesses in the research, insights and analytics sector, receive buyout offers from Silver Lake and Symphony Technology Group, respectively, to go private. Following on the heels of Advent International’s acquisition of NielsenIQ in 2021 and subsequent merger with GfK in 2022, and Bain Capital’s acquisition of Kantar back in December 2019 this firmly places many of the largest players in the sector in the hands of financial sponsors.

At one level, these two latest deals look opportunistic. Headline revenue multiples of 7.5x for Qualtrics (EV of $12.5Bn) and 3x for Momentive (EV of $1.5Bn) compare very favorably with the 14x revenue which Thomas Bravo paid for Medallia in a $6.4Bn transaction announced 2 years ago in a much more favorable SaaS valuation market. And even though both were at a significant premium to their share price just before acquisition (73% for Qualtrics and 46% for Momentive), the offers are at a material discount to where both businesses were trading just twelve months ago (as well as a material discount to Zendesk’s failed $4.1Bn acquisition of Momentive a year ago) and even further from their share price peaks.

To be fair, although underlying revenue growth at both businesses remains strong at 12-15% on a three year forward basis, both businesses have not been immune to the broader woes afflicting the tech sector. Both businesses have restructured and reduced their workforces by 5-10% through Q4 2022 and Q1 2023; both are facing higher customer acquisition costs; and both are seeing a near-term slow-down in revenue growth across several customer or solution segments.

With that in mind, why is this sector potentially at the vanguard of a technology and software M&A bounce-back? 

The answer is the market opportunity. However you define the market and its sub-segments, be it customer experience, experience management, consumer insights or simply ResTech, it is a huge and growing market. Customer and experience management alone is an addressable market of over $60Bn. The broader research, insights and analytics market is estimated at over $125Bn, and some of these markets are growing annually at double-digit percentage growth rates. Why? Simply put, there is a real and growing need for corporates and brands to have a rich, comprehensive and real-time understanding of what their consumers are thinking, how they’re behaving and how best to engage with them. Whether that is to drive sales, launch new products or enhance customer loyalty which are just some of the solutions offered by players in this space.

Even more interestingly, this market is being increasingly viewed as a key “tip-of-the-spear” entry point to unlock share of wallet for the broader digital marketing and transformation sectors. Ultimately, understanding consumer behavior and needs is critical to developing best-in-class front-end digital marketing services, whether that’s designing brand strategy, creative concepts, user experience or the customer journey. This broader market is over $500Bn and as private equity owners think about the eventual exit opportunities, there is a whole world of players such as Accenture, Cognizant or IBM for whom this capability is becoming an increasingly important part of their broader service offerings.

From an investment perspective, if you’re looking for exposure to this sector, there are a number of private platforms available like Qualtrics and Momentive, the parent company of Survey Monkey, with large enterprise clients such as Uber, P&G, Coca-Cola and Pfizer. The playing field is highly fragmented with many smaller tech vendors seeking to scale at an enterprise level with strong product offerings which are ripe for consolidation. There are also many mid-tier ResTech platforms like Suzy, Quantilope, Prodege and Zappi which are backed by private equity sponsors who will ultimately sell or combine in the coming years. This provides a large and real investment opportunity across this space which can accelerate the organic growth, embed client relationships, unlock new revenue streams, open new client opportunities, and deepen their competitive moat.

Will it all be smooth sailing for these companies? Almost certainly not. Many of the larger tech vendors are well placed to build out product offerings in this sector, leveraging existing customer relationships and data capabilities. Similarly, businesses with deep tech and advanced AI/ ML capabilities may disrupt on their front-end data aggregation and analytic capability. And there’s a real possibility that clients start to demand more and more of an advisory layer on top of these solutions, which may limit their ability to scale as quickly and could eat into their higher software margins.

However, from where we sit today, with the capital that the firms like Silver Lake bring to the party, they’ve got everything to play for, and we see the market as one of real opportunity in the year ahead. 

If you would like to receive copies of our Insights and Reports please click here