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Aeris Partners Serves as the Exclusive Financial Advisor to Finalsite

Aeris Press Release / September 2016

BOSTON, MA (September 8, 2016) – Aeris Partners is pleased to announce Finalsite, a leading provider of SaaS-based learning and communications solutions to more than 1,500 independent and public K-12 schools and higher education institutions worldwide, has been acquired by Bridge Growth Partners (“Bridge Growth”), a leading growth-oriented private equity firm. Aeris Partners served as the exclusive M&A adviser to Finalsite and its majority owner Spectrum Equity. The transaction closed on August 31, 2016.

Finalsite, based in Glastonbury, CT, serves leading independent K-12 schools, public school districts, higher education institutions, and not-for-profit organizations in 70 countries worldwide. Finalsite’s central web hub improves communication, collaboration, operations and workflow by seamlessly connecting administrators, parents, students, teachers and alumni through an integrated suite of desktop and mobile applications. Finalsite delivers a suite of best-in-class content management (CMS), admissions and enrollment, learning management (LMS), and data and analytics solutions in support of the entire student lifecycle.

“Finalsite’s commitment to technology innovation and superior client service underpins a longstanding track record of growth and success. It was a privilege to advise Spectrum Equity, Finalsite’s CEO Jon Moser, and the Finalsite management team on the transaction and we’re confident the Company has found an outstanding new partner in Bridge Growth,” said David Joncas, Managing Director with Aeris Partners.

“The EdTech market continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Schools face increasing pressure to attract and retain students, improve communications, and respond to changing technology demands. Finalsite’s solutions enable schools to efficiently engage students and parents and improve collaboration among faculty and administrators. The Finalsite solution suite is truly best-in-class,” said Rahul Swani, Principal with Aeris Partners.

About Finalsite

Finalsite’s online learning and communications platform is utilized by over 1,500 schools and educational organizations across 70 countries and as many as 1 million unique users per day around the world. The platform manages all aspects of a school’s web presence and facilitates the distribution of digital content across school communities and in classrooms via a proprietary, SaaS-based software suite accessed through desktops and mobile devices. In addition, Finalsite’s software enables customers to engage dynamically with a wide range of third party data providers including student information systems, learning systems and social media applications. Finalsite is based in Glastonbury, CT. For more information, please visit: finalsite.com.

About Spectrum Equity

Spectrum Equity is a leading growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support to innovative companies in the information economy.  For more than 20 years, the firm has partnered with exceptional entrepreneurs and management teams to build long-term value in market-leading internet, software and information services companies.  Representative investments include Ancestry.com, Bats GlobalMarkets, Grubhub, lynda.com, GoodRx, SurveyMonkey, TeachersPayTeachers and Verafin.  For more information, please visit: spectrumequity.com.

About Bridge Growth Partners

Bridge Growth Partners, LLC is a uniquely-structured, growth-oriented private equity firm that focuses on investments in the technology and technology-enabled financial services sectors. Bridge Growth was founded with the goal of bringing together significant investment, financial, operating, and strategic business building expertise and talent. For more information about Bridge Growth Partners, please visit: bridgegrowthpartners.com.

About Aeris Partners

Aeris Partners provides premium strategic M&A advisory services to best-in-class software and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies, private equity investors and venture capital firms spanning a range of high-growth vertical markets including healthcare (HCIT), financial technology (FinTech), architecture, engineering and construction (AEC), energy & power (EnergyTech), education (EdTech), analytics, transportation and logistics, and the public sector, among others. Aeris leverages extensive technology domain expertise and an unparalleled commitment to delivering superior M&A outcomes on every transaction. The firm’s senior leadership team has successfully completed more than $18 billion of M&A advisory assignments to date. For more information, please visit: aerispartners.com.

Aeris Partners LLC is a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC.