News

Frontier Capital has made an investment in Irvine, California-based PriceSpider, a consumer conversion intelligence and brand optimization software to some of the world’s largest brand manufacturers. No financial terms were disclosed. Houlihan Lokey provided financial advice to PriceSpider on the transaction.

PRESS RELEASE

CHARLOTTE, NC | IRVINE, Calif. – (Oct. 9, 2018) – Frontier Capital (“Frontier”), a Charlotte-based growth equity firm focused exclusively on software and tech-enabled business services companies, today announced a strategic partnership and significant growth investment in PriceSpider (“PriceSpider” or the “Company”), an advanced retail data and technology company that provides consumer conversion intelligence and brand optimization software to some of the world’s largest brand manufacturers.

The partnership combines PriceSpider’s market-leading technology platform with Frontier’s track record of helping Software as a Service (“SaaS”) companies optimize growth. The new investment from Frontier will seek to provide PriceSpider with strategic expertise, resources and growth capital to enhance the Company’s innovative technology offerings, maintain client satisfaction and position the Company for rapid market expansion and growth acceleration.

Founded in 2004 and based in Irvine, Calif., PriceSpider serves hundreds of global brands across leading consumer verticals such as electronics and appliances, computers and office products, health and beauty, home furnishings, food, games, toys, sporting goods, and others. PriceSpider’s SaaS platform gives brand manufacturers a unified view of consumer purchasing behavior throughout the online retail journey. The Company’s real-time data connects the dots between brands, retailers and shoppers providing brand manufacturers visibility into their distribution channels and rich consumer conversion intelligence. With actionable insights and practical recommendations, PriceSpider helps brands optimize the consumer’s path to purchase to increase sales.

PriceSpider’s leadership – headed by CEO Anthony Ferry and President Jon Pfortmiller, both co-founders of the business – sought a partner with deep industry and B2B SaaS expertise to help shepherd the company through its next phase of growth.

“Over the past 14 years, PriceSpider has sought to grow capital efficiently to become a market leader by focusing on delivering superior technology and service to its global client base of leading brand manufacturers,” Ferry said. “Our company has reached an exciting inflection point in its evolution and we believe now is an ideal time to partner with a growth equity investor to help take our company to the next level. We’re excited to leverage Frontier’s experience with businesses of our size and in our space to accelerate growth, and we look forward to a successful partnership.”

“Since inception, we’ve been very deliberate about growing the PriceSpider team and we took the same approach in selecting the right investment firm with which to partner,” Pfortmiller said. “Like PriceSpider, Frontier shares our values of innovation, team collaboration and customer success. We look forward to partnering with Frontier to leverage our collective alignment and build upon our success in an effort to deliver even greater value to brand manufacturers and retailers across the globe.”

“We’re excited to partner with Anthony, Jon, and the rest of the PriceSpider team as we seek to help the Company accelerate its market leadership position and reach its full potential,” Frontier Partner Scott Hoch said. “From assisting brand manufacturers in maintaining their brand integrity across online channels to giving shoppers access to authorized retailers where a product is sold, PriceSpider provides the ultimate integrated technology platform to help brand manufacturers optimize conversions.”

Hoch and Frontier Vice President Dave Pandullo will serve on PriceSpider’s board of directors.

“As omni-channel commerce and consumer purchasing behavior continue to evolve, we believe PriceSpider is well positioned to empower brands to optimize their digital marketing strategies while enhancing the consumer shopping experience,” Pandullo said. “Anthony, Jon, and the PriceSpider team have built an impressive culture of product innovation and customer success, and we look forward to helping them accelerate innovation and enhance customer value through our partnership.”
Frontier’s investment in PriceSpider comes from the firm’s $700 million Frontier Fund V, which closed in 2017.

Houlihan Lokey served as exclusive financial advisor to PriceSpider in connection with this transaction.