August Equity exits Wax Digital

Katharine Hidalgo
20 November 2019

Tweet
Facebook
LinkedIn
Google plus
Send to

August Equity has sold financial management software provider Wax Digital to Medius.

August Equity partner Mike Biddulph said: "Following lots of interest from trade buyers, we engaged with a number of strategic bidders, though we didn't conduct a full-blown auction process."

Wax Digital was an August Equity Partners III portfolio company. The fund closed on £200m in 2013 and was 100% deployed in March 2018. This is the sixth realisation from the fund, following the disposal of Vet Partners in August 2018 to BC Partners and the sale of Compass Community in 2017 to Graphite Capital.

During the holding period, the business transitioned to a software-as-a-service subscription model from a hybrid model, and expanded into the US and Europe through an indirect channel partnership strategy.

Medius, a cloud-based invoice automation software provider, is backed by Marlin Private Equity, which initially invested in 2017 using its Marlin Heritage Europe Fund.

Previous funding
In 2007, Nova Capital Management provided funding to the company.

August Equity initially invested in Wax in November 2015. Shortly after the initial investment, Silicon Valley Bank provided a senior debt package for the company.

Company
Wax is a cloud-based spending management software provider offering its clients an integrated source-to-pay software platform. Its software is deployed in more than 100 countries and has in excess of 250,000 users. Based in Hyde, Wax Digital was founded in 2001 and employs around 100 people. For 2018, the company generated £300,000 profit before tax and an adjusted EBITDA of £800,000 from revenue of £7.2m.

People
August Equity – Mike Biddulph (partner).
Medius – Per Åkerberg (CEO).
Wax Digital – Paul Ellis (CEO).

Advisers
Vendor – Torch Partners (corporate finance); Travers Smith (legal); EY (M&A).