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For the second time in the past two months, Mastercard has agreed to acquire a portfolio company of Laura Sachar, a co-founder and managing partner with StarVest Partners, in an exit that she tells Women’s PE Briefs was “very successful.” Terms of Mastercard’s purchase of Transactis were not disclosed.Based in New York, Transactis has developed a platform that helps businesses deliver bills and receive payments through one, simple-to-navigate experience. The company raised some $67 million from a group that, in addition to StarVest, also included: Compound, ff Ventures, MacAndrews & Forbes, Capital One, Fifth Third, PNC, TD, Wells Fargo, and Safeguard Scientifics.Laura, a Transactis board member, brought StarVest into the company in 2010. She said that she was drawn to the company by “an experienced A+ CEO addressing a huge market need: the high number of physical checks being written as the world is becoming more digital.” Even today, in this digital environment, she said that 44 percent of the 15 billion bills in the United States are paid “with paper and cash.”The transaction comes just weeks after another company into which Laura led New York-based StarVest — Vyze — also agreed to be acquired by Mastercard. Based in Austin, Texas, Vyze developed a platform that provides financing solutions at the point of sale. Laura said that there was no connection between the two sales. “In both acquisitions, we went through a sales process and Mastercard was the most attractive buyer,” she said.Both Transactis and Vyze “bring unique solutions to add value to Mastercard’s payments strategy of broadening its payments platform,” she said. “We believe both Vyze and Transactis built companies that would not be easy to replicate.”She said that StarVest is taking advantage of a “tremendous opportunity,” namely that, “more than ever, major companies recognize the need and opportunity to incorporate the best and brightest through acquisition.” StarVest has now had three companies acquired in the past six months.In early January, Vector Capital closed its acquisition of Host Analytics, a provider of cloud-based enterprise performance management solutions. Terms were not released. Deborah Farrington, who is also a co-founder and managing partner with StarVest, was on Host’s board.Two years ago, Laura had another portfolio company, Veracode, a provider of application security solutions, acquired by CA Technologies for $614 million in cash. Maria Cirino, a managing director with .406 Ventures, was, like Laura, also on Veracode’s board. Laura is also on the boards of Persado, Inc., Ceros and RetailNext. -From Women in PE Brief’s Newsletter, May 10, 2019 |
Laura Sachar in Women in PE Brief’s “In The Spotlight”
