Pritzker
Group Venture Capital, formerly New World Ventures, today announced
it invested $45 million in Chicago-based SMS
Assist, the advanced mobile and cloud-based facilities maintenance
technology company. This brings the Pritzkers’ total investment to $62
million.
“SMS Assist has disruptive technology that is significantly reducing
facilities maintenance expenses for some of the nation’s largest
companies. Validating the company’s growth trajectory is a series of
high-value contracts, including one of the largest in retail facilities
maintenance history. We are helping to build a great company that is
fundamentally changing its industry,” said J.B. Pritzker, Pritzker
Group’s managing partner.
SMS Assist offers advanced mobile and cloud-based technology capable of
managing millions of daily facilities maintenance service orders. Its
28,000 affiliated providers currently service more than 50,000 U.S.
locations for a client base primarily comprised of Fortune 500
companies. SMS’s proprietary technology platform turns cost centers into
expense reduction centers by identifying innovative ways to reduce
expenses and gain operational efficiencies while improving service
quality. Customers also benefit from real-time visibility into work
orders and spend by store, service type and geography, data that is
unique to SMS Assist.
SMS
Assist recently announced it won a major multi-year contract
expansion with a major retailer, consolidating services at nearly 8,000
U.S. locations. The company currently provides services to 50,000
locations for national companies including Office
Depot (NYSE: ODP), Best
Buy (NYSE: BBY), CBRE
(NYSE: CBG), Diamond
Resorts International (NYSE: DRII) and Jones
Lang LaSalle (NYSE: JLL).
SMS Assist is now Pritzker Group’s largest venture investment,
surpassing its $50 million investment in IO,
the leading provider of next-generation modular data center technology
and services. It is the most recent late stage investment for Pritzker
Group Venture Capital, which recently announced the expansion of its
investments to include large, later-stage funding of companies with
disruptive technology that are nearing IPO or revolutionizing industries.
“The backing of Pritzker Group means SMS Assist will have the growth
capital it needs to continue providing the highest quality service to
our customers, no matter how much business we add. They are committed to
helping us make SMS Assist the world leader in its industry, and we are
extremely proud that they have chosen to partner with us,” said Michael
Rothman, SMS Assist chief executive officer.
About Pritzker Group Venture Capital
Pritzker
Group Venture Capital, formerly New World Ventures, helps
entrepreneurs build market-leading technology companies at every stage
of their growth. Since its founding in 1996, the firm has worked
side-by-side with entrepreneurs at more than 100 companies, building
partnerships based on trust and integrity. The firm's proprietary
capital structure allows for tremendous flexibility, and its experienced
team of investment professionals and entrepreneurs offers companies a
vast network of strategic relationships and guidance. Successful exits
in recent years include Fleetmatics (NYSE: FLTX), SinglePlatform
(acquired by Constant Contact), Zinch (acquired by Chegg), Playdom
(acquired by Disney), LeftHand Networks (acquired by Hewlett-Packard),
and TicketsNow (acquired by Ticketmaster).
About SMS Assist
Chicago-based SMS
Assist is an advanced technology company whose mobile and
cloud-based facilities maintenance platform manages over 28,000
affiliated providers to service a nationwide roster of Fortune 500
clients representing over 50,000 locations. SMS's proprietary technology
provides vendor management, logistics planning, real-time order
tracking, predictive modeling and electronic invoicing to deliver
on-time, best-in-class service to every location, every time. A leader
in facilities management, SMS and its affiliated providers execute
millions of services annually while delivering significant cost savings
to their clients.
Copyright Business Wire 2013