Rye, NY, October 16, 2019 – SFW Capital Partners, a specialized private equity firm that invests in mid-sized companies providing software, analytical tools and workflow solutions, is pleased to announce the sale of DaySmart Software (“DaySmart”) to LLR Partners and Parthenon Capital. DaySmart, headquartered in Ann Arbor, MI, is a leading provider of business management software, including integrated payments functionality, for consumer-facing small-and-medium sized businesses (“SMBs”). DaySmart currently serves businesses in the salon, pet, spa, and tattoo verticals.
SFW, which partnered with DaySmart’s founders and acquired a controlling interest in the company in September 2016, was attracted to DaySmart’s strong value proposition, deep vertical expertise and significant untapped potential for growth and development. In a planned transition, SFW brought in Jeff Dickerson, an experienced software industry CEO, to lead DaySmart and supported Jeff and the DaySmart management team across a wide range of strategic growth initiatives during SFW’s ownership period. The company successfully re-architected its legacy software offering to a modern, single-instance, multi-tenant cloud platform and upgraded its legacy business systems to best-of-breed solutions. DaySmart also meaningfully expanded its product portfolio by launching high value offerings such as reputation management, text-based marketing, an integrated “All-in-One” hardware-software solution, as well as introducing a range of other product innovations.
To complement its product development efforts, DaySmart made significant investments in sales and marketing, doubling its sales team and establishing a best-in-class marketing function. DaySmart, supported by SFW, also completed the acquisition of PupKeep which expanded DaySmart’s already leading presence in the pet vertical. Collectively, these efforts resulted in significantly accelerated growth during SFW’s ownership period while the company maintained industry-leading operating metrics.
“We are incredibly proud of the transformational growth we’ve achieved at DaySmart in partnership with SFW,” said Jeff Dickerson, Chief Executive Officer of DaySmart. “SFW’s unique sector-focused experience and business building expertise proved to be incredibly valuable to DaySmart as we made substantial investments to pursue our strategy. We look forward to working with our new partners at LLR and Parthenon Capital to build upon our achievements and drive the next phase of growth for our employees, customers, and business partners.”
“We are very pleased with the growth and development of the business in the last three years,” said Christianna and Mark Jackson, co-founders of DaySmart. “Jeff and his team have done a tremendous job of expanding the product portfolio, executing the go-to-market strategy, and building strategic partnerships. We are grateful to have partnered with SFW. In addition to capital, SFW brought their network, expertise, and resources to propel the growth of DaySmart.”
“DaySmart’s deep vertical expertise and potential for organic growth represented a strong fit with SFW’s focus on supporting the growth and development of leading providers of high-value integrated software and information platforms,” said Omair Sarwar, a Partner at SFW. “We are grateful for the opportunity to have worked with Jeff and his team and to have supported DaySmart through a period of such rapid transformation and growth.”
Raymond James served as financial advisor and Kirkland and Ellis served as legal advisor to DaySmart in connection with this transaction.
About SFW Capital Partners
SFW Capital Partners is a specialized private equity firm that invests in leading Information, Software, Industrial and Healthcare Technology companies. Our principals’ 25+ years of investing in and experience with relevant business models, technologies, competitive dynamics and service requirements gives us confidence in our ability to support management teams in growing their companies and building value. SFW invests in companies that provide critical tools to help other businesses make better decisions and/or become more efficient. These companies, which include providers of hardware, software, data and information, critical outsourced services, and consumables, provide a high return on investment to their customers and can serve a wide variety of end-markets. For more information, visit www.sfwcap.com.
About DaySmart Software
Makers of the popular and award-winning Salon Iris, Orchid, 123Pet and Inkbook software, DaySmart is the leading provider of business management tools designed to make it easier for entrepreneurs to run and grow their businesses. DaySmart desktop and cloud apps are purpose-built for the salon, spa, pet and tattoo industries, and backed by a US-based support team that is dedicated to client success. Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, DaySmart has been a small business champion since 1999. The company has been recognized on the Inc. 5000 list for eight consecutive years.