On Monday, 5 August 2024, Board Intelligence announced the start of an exciting new chapter: a strategic investment from K1 Investment Management that will help us drive the next phase of our growth. Many thanks to everyone who has supported our journey so far, and especially our clients, colleagues, and investors past and present. We look forward to working with K1 to enhance the effectiveness of many more boards and leadership teams worldwide.
Manhattan Beach, California, and London, UK, 5 August 2024 — K1 Investment Management (“K1”), one of the largest investors in small-cap enterprise software companies, today announced a strategic growth investment in Board Intelligence, a leading board management software platform. This will allow Board Intelligence to strengthen its category-leading position through organic growth, product and geographic expansion, and strategic acquisitions.
Board Intelligence, headquartered in the United Kingdom, is trusted by over 75,000 leaders across 3,000 organizations worldwide. Its clients include global organizations such as Generali, Schroders, Nationwide, Zurich Insurance Group, Aston Martin, and Sage, as well as leading public sector organizations like the National Health Service (NHS).
Established by founders Jennifer Sundberg and Pippa Begg in 2010, Board Intelligence offers software and services designed to drive better board performance and decision-making. Board Intelligence serves as a trusted advisor to Fortune 500 and Global 2000 chairs and CEOs, helping optimize board performance. The Board Intelligence board portal is a highly secure system used by board members worldwide to access and collaborate on their board documents. The AI-powered report-writing platform, Lucia, helps management teams prepare more concise reports for their boards.
“We are thrilled to partner with Jennifer and Pippa to build on Board Intelligence’s strong market position,” said Brian Beard of K1. “We have followed their journey for over five years and their dedication to improving boardroom decision-making with innovative AI tools and strategic insights is remarkable. Our investment is a reflection of their category leadership and our confidence in extending that leadership position across corporate clients and public sector organizations globally.”
Jennifer Sundberg, co-founder and co-CEO of Board Intelligence, said: “Our mission is to transform the effectiveness of every board in the world. K1’s vision for the future of Board Intelligence and their proven expertise in building category leaders will be instrumental in expanding the value we deliver to our clients.”
Pippa Begg, co-founder and co-CEO of Board Intelligence added: “While we have been profitable and did not need capital, we partnered with K1 because of their operational expertise in scaling companies globally through organic and inorganic growth, and their increasing investment in AI. K1 has a history of building category leaders, and we are excited to leverage their experience to strengthen our product offering.”
K1 will assume the position of the only institutional shareholder in Board Intelligence, with both Jennifer Sundberg and Pippa Begg continuing as minority shareholders. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Board Intelligence is K1’s latest transaction following the recent sale of GoCanvas to Nemetschek Group (FRA: NEM). The GoCanvas sale contributed to K1’s recent period of successful realizations, culminating in $1.7B of liquidity since December 2023.
Fieldfisher LLP and Cooley LLP served as legal advisors to Board Intelligence. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor to K1.
Notes to Editors
About Board Intelligence
Board Intelligence, the largest board technology and advisory firm in the UK, is trusted to drive high-impact decision-making and governance by over 75,000 leaders and 3,000 organizations from Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 corporates. For more information, visit boardintelligence.com and follow on LinkedIn.
About K1
K1 is one of the largest investors in small-cap enterprise software companies. Headquartered in Manhattan Beach, California, K1 works in partnership with strong management teams of high-growth software businesses, using operationally focused growth strategies to help scale portfolio companies rapidly. Since its inception, K1 has collaborated with over 240 enterprise software companies and remains dedicated to transforming industries and driving productivity.
K1’s exclusive focus, driven by its single team, single office, and single fund strategy, has resulted in realisations for many of its portfolio companies. Examples include Apttus (sold to Thoma Bravo), Buildium (sold to RealPage, NASDAQ: RP), Certent (sold to insightsoftware), Checkmarx (sold to Insight Partners and Hellman & Friedman), Clarizen (sold to Planview), FMG Suite (sold to Aurora Capital Partners), GoCanvas (sold to Nemetschek Group, FRA: NEM), Granicus (sold to Vista Equity Partners and Harvest Partners), Inthinc (sold to Orbcomm, NASDAQ: ORBC), Litera (sold to Hg Capital), Rave Mobile Safety (sold to TCV; now owned by Motorola Solutions, NYSE: MSI), TeamDynamix (sold to Level Equity), Unified (now owned by iHeartMedia), WorkForce Software (now owned by Insight Partners and Elliott Investment Management), and Zapproved (sold to Exterro).
For more information, visit k1.com and follow K1 Investment Management on LinkedIn.
Media Contacts
Julia Wright, Edelman Smithfield
julia.wright@edelmansmithfield.com
+44 (0) 7900 227672
Alfie Tisdall, Edelman Smithfield
alfie.tisdall@edelmansmithfield.com
+44 (0) 7 581 025 104
Leah Mosteller, K1
lmosteller@k1.com
+1 (424) 634-1038