The Power of Story: Typhoon Data Acquired by Appriss
Don’t take shortcuts. By spending time getting to know the business and understanding its value, we wrote a story that appealed to potential buyers, while also ensuring an ideal outcome for the Typhoon Data team.
THE COMPANY
Typhoon Data (TD) is a compliance monitoring and background reporting software tool. The company’s healthcare platform provides data and services in healthcare compliance and professional credentialing to consumer reporting agencies (CRAs), credentials verification organizations (CVOs), and compliance companies in order to ensure quality care and mitigate compliance risk, thereby helping its clients to make informed hiring and HR decisions.
THE GOAL
With a strong reputation in the market and moderate growth, TD’s founder and CEO Questin Francis decided it was time to sell his business. TD had solid technology and a well-regarded team, and they also had a pretty strong sense of potential buyers, so initially Questin considered doing the deal without a banker. One possible buyer in particular emphasized a strong partnership and promised to pay a market price, but the board wasn’t convinced. They encouraged Questin to hire a banker, knowing that a competitive process would increase the likelihood of an optimal outcome. Questin interviewed a number of banks and ultimately selected PEAK.
OUR APPROACH
In partnership with Questin, we immersed ourselves in the business, building a story and marketing materials to highlight TD’s incredible reputation and strong technical foundation.
Next, we identified potential buyers who could take advantage of TD’s technology and the founder’s strong knowledge base. We wanted a buyer who saw value in TD on its own, and also in the potential to bring TD’s methodology and technology to their existing businesses. In order to emphasize the company’s message and value, we made sure that each interested buyer could spend quality time with Questin and his team.
Ultimately we received nine offers, all of which were attractive and based on market valuations, but one stood out. Appriss was the perfect partner, they were acquisitive, understood the space, and believed in the value of the company and potential of its technology and methods.
THE OUTCOME
We closed an all cash deal at a significantly higher valuation than Questin could have achieved on his own. Appriss’ admiration for Questin and his team was quite evident and they were thrilled to win the process and gain access to TD’s business and technology.
