A second private equity firm has been added to ownership of Bloomerang, with Warburg Pincus joining JMI Equity as majority owners of the donor, volunteer and fundraising management software platform. The pairing potentially makes available millions of dollars for organic growth and acquisition.
Andrew Park, Sam Lipsick and Peter Kimmey of Warburg Pincus are joining three members from JMI on a nine-person Bloomerang board. JMI Equity and Warburg Pincus are equal owners and combined have a majority position in the company.
All employees are also shareholders in Indianapolis, Indiana-based Bloomerang.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. “I can’t share the exact figures, but I can tell you that this investment will drive ongoing growth and success to help Bloomerang deliver the sector’s first all-in-one giving platform so we can help nonprofits maximize their impact,” Bloomerang CEO Dennis Fois told The NonProfit Times.
According to Fois, “The investment will help us deliver new product capabilities faster as well as scale the creation of the research, education and resources we provide that help nonprofits raise more and deliver the great experiences that customers love.”
Fois said he is confident an equal number of seats between the investment firms would not cause a conflict on decision-making. “Our investors have common and aligned philosophies on business growth and a customer first mindset. As such, we feel confident that alignment and resolution will be an underpinning of our new relationship,” according to Fois.
The announcement comes after the firm’s recent strategic acquisition of Qgiv, which was announced last month but finalized in December 2023. Bloomerang earlier acquired InitLive, a provider of volunteer management software. Bloomerang now has 23,000 nonprofit customers and processes $1 billion in donations.
“This is an exciting investment. We now have two top growth investors supporting Bloomerang’s mission to deliver the sector’s first fully-integrated giving platform,” said Fois. “Bloomerang has been on an intentional growth path since 2020, and we’ve seen 3x growth in the number of nonprofits we serve, employees, and revenue.”
Adding Warburg Pincus was a management-led initiative, Fois explained. “We approached a very small number of firms and managed the conversations directly. This was important to us as it allowed us to select the right partner with the same values and ambitions as we have,” he said.
Warburg Pincus LLC is a global growth investor. The firm has more than $83 billion in assets under management. The firm’s active portfolio of more than 260 companies is diversified by stage, sector and geography, according to the firm.
JMI has invested in more than 180 software businesses in North America and Europe and completed in excess of 115 investment exits. The firm’s portfolio of cloud software companies represents $8 billion in combined revenue, $65 billion in aggregate enterprise value and more than 34,000 jobs, according to information from the firm.
JMI Equity has either had, or has, investments in firms in the nonprofit space, including Blackbaud, Benevity, Classy and higher logic.
