BOSTON & PITTSBURGH — TA Associates, a leading global growth private equity firm, today announced that it has completed a strategic growth investment to join Basil Technology Partners (“Basil”) as an investor in Accion Labs (“Accion”), a digital-focused software product engineering company specializing in emerging technologies. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in Pittsburgh, PA in 2011, Accion is a leader in helping technology companies and enterprises leverage the power of emerging technologies. Accion’s expertise ranges across advanced UX, artificial intelligence and machine learning, big-data/analytics, migration to cloud/SaaS and re-engineering of legacy platforms, process automation, mobility, augmented reality and IOT. The company’s clients include software product companies, e-SaaS firms, e-business organizations and enterprises undergoing a digital transformation across a range of industries such as healthcare, financial services, technology and fintech. Accion has more than 2,600 engineers across 14 offices within the U.S., Canada, the UK and Asia-Pacific.
“We are very pleased to welcome TA Associates as an investor in Accion,” said Kinesh Doshi, Founder & CEO of Accion Labs. “In choosing to partner with TA, Accion and the Basil team were particularly attracted by the firm’s global presence, long history of investing in the technology sector and experience in growing portfolio companies through M&A. We believe that TA will prove to be a valuable partner as we seek to further grow Accion organically and through acquisitions, with a particular focus on the U.S. and European markets.”
“TA is delighted to invest in Accion, an innovative leader in the growing digital engineering space,” said Aditya Sharma, Principal at TA Associates Advisory Private Limited. “We are excited by Accion’s rapid growth, strong global leadership team, expertise in emerging technologies, proprietary accelerators and IP, and deeply integrated customer relationships. We look forward to a close collaboration with the Accion management and Basil teams in the company’s next phase of growth.”
Management and strategy consulting firm Zinnov estimated the annual spend on digital engineering across all industries at $160 billion in 2018, with approximately 60% of that expenditure in the U.S., followed by Western Europe and Asia-Pacific. The firm predicted a compound annual growth rate for the sector of 19% to $380 billion through 2023.
“Spending in the digital engineering market is being driven by technology and business model innovations, growth in technology companies, including start-ups, and the emergence of a global digital ecosystem,” said Dhiraj Poddar, Managing Director at TA Associates Advisory Private Limited. “With its innovative and solutions-driven approach, we believe that Accion is well-positioned to continue capitalizing on these trends and further grow its market share in this vibrant industry.”
“As a niche technology provider that we believe is disrupting the IT services space, Accion has been an ideal fit for Basil,” said Rajeev Srivastava, Executive Chairman & Managing Partner, Basil Technology Partners. “It has been truly gratifying to be involved with Accion since inception, helping to drive strategy and growth at this leading-edge business.”
“We welcome the opportunity to work with TA, leveraging their deep U.S. market experience to help scale Accion organically and through M&A,” added Sameer Kanwar, CEO & Partner, Basil Technology Partners.
Mr. Sharma and Mr. Poddar will join the Board of Directors of Accion Labs.
K&L Gates LLP served as U.S. counsel, Lexygen India served as Indian counsel, KPMG served as tax advisor and Avendus Capital served as investment banker to Accion Labs and Basil Technology Partners. Goodwin Procter LLP served as legal counsel and Ernst & Young served as tax advisor to TA Associates. TA Associates Advisory Private Limited also advised on the transaction.
About Accion Labs
Accion Labs, founded in 2011, is a Pittsburgh-headquartered global technology firm specializing in working with technology firms and IT organizations in the emerging technologies such as Rich Internet Applications, Service-Oriented Architecture, SaaS, Cloud, Open-Source, BI/DW, Mobility, Automation, DevOps and Big Data. Spread over 12 global offices, Accion has an engineering headcount of more than 2,250 employees. Accion clients include software product firms, e-SaaS firms, e-commerce organizations and e-business organizations. Accion engages with its clients in a range of collaborative, white-box engagement models that include extended teams, turn-key project and professional staffing. Accion specializes in building new products and re-engineering legacy products to leverage emerging technologies and best practices. Led by an entrepreneurial management team that believes in execution, outcome and continuous learning, Accion Labs has been recognized as one of Pittsburgh’s fastest growing companies by the Pittsburgh Business Times and one of America’s fastest growing companies by Inc. magazine. For more information, please visit www.accionlabs.com.
About Basil Technology Partners Pte. Ltd.
Basil Technology Partners Pte. Ltd. is a licensed fund manager in Singapore and is the advisor to Basil Technology Fund. Basil is a specialist technology investor that identifies and invests in niche technologies that are disrupting the IT services space. Basil has a hands-on approach to investing that leans heavily on identifying niche technology services companies, acquiring significant stakes and being involved as an active operating partner in each of the portfolio companies to drive strategy, growth – both organic and inorganic – and exits. Basil has developed a reputation within the technology community in SE Asia, India and the U.S. for funding, growing and successfully exiting technology and tech-related businesses. Since 2008, the Basil team members have invested in and actively operated around 14 technology investments, with six successful exits, mostly within 3 – 5 years of investment. In August, 2018 Basil completed a successful third-party fund-raising round from marquee international Limited Partners (LPs) to recapitalize and consolidate their position as an investor in several leading-edge niche technology companies. For more information, please visit www.basilpartners.com.
About TA Associates
TA Associates is a leading global growth private equity firm. Focused on targeted sectors within five industries – technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer and business services – TA invests in profitable, growing companies with opportunities for sustained growth, and has invested in more than 500 companies around the world. Investing as either a majority or minority investor, TA employs a long-term approach, utilizing its strategic resources to help management teams build lasting value in high quality growth companies. TA has raised $33.5 billion in capital since its founding in 1968 and is committing to new investments at the pace of over $2 billion per year. The firm’s more than 85 investment professionals are based in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong. More information about TA Associates can be found at www.ta.com.
NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Tesla soared Wednesday as investors bet that the electric vehicle maker and its CEO Elon Musk will benefit from Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors. Trump’s plans for extensive tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.
“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, in a note to investors. “This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players.”
Tesla shares jumped 14.8% Wednesday while shares of rival electric vehicle makers tumbled. Nio, based in Shanghai, fell 5.3%. Shares of electric truck maker Rivian dropped 8.3% and Lucid Group fell 5.3%.
Tesla dominates sales of electric vehicles in the U.S, with 48.9% in market share through the middle of 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Subsidies for clean energy are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It included tax credits for manufacturing, along with tax credits for consumers of electric vehicles.
Musk was one of Trump’s biggest donors, spending at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee. He also pledged to give away $1 million a day to voters signing a petition for his political action committee.
In some ways, it has been a rocky year for Tesla, with sales and profit declining through the first half of the year. Profit did rise 17.3% in the third quarter.
The U.S. opened an investigation into the company’s “Full Self-Driving” system after reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.
And investors sent company shares tumbling last month after Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, seeing not much progress at Tesla on autonomous vehicles while other companies have been making notable progress.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.
The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.
The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.
