Avvio sold to SHR backed by Serent Capital
Silverpeak ran a highly competitive, international process attracting strategic and financial investors
About our client
Avvio is a pioneer in hotel technology driving direct guest acquisition via its intelligent booking platform. Founded in 2002, the company comes with a longstanding reputation headquartered in Limerick, Ireland.
In 2017 Avvio launched the world’s first AI-powered booking engine, allora.ai. Today allora.ai provides technology to over 500 hotels around the world and powers over £400m in transactions every year.
Why they chose us
Silverpeak was appointed to run a comprehensive dual-track process to allow for an exit for the existing investor and partial cash out for the management team.
Management wanted to find a partner to accelerate international growth, particularly in the US and was attracted by Silverpeak’s strength of relationships with US investors.
How we added value
Silverpeak supported management on the refinement of their business plan and operating model, shaped the equity story, negotiated key transaction terms and skilfully navigated the shareholders through an increasingly complex and evolving economic backdrop.
Silverpeak mandated a full suite of vendor due diligence to support a PE-led process and managed the transaction end-to-end.
The successful outcome
The existing VC investor returned a 5.5x money-on-money to its LPs and management crystallised a partial cash-out plus participation into the new platform
Transaction Summary
Client
Avvio
Deal Type
Exit
Counterparties
Sector
Software
Amount
Undisclosed
Countries
UK / US
Silverpeak team
Silverpeak understood what we wanted and delivered a great buyer paying an attractive price. Throughout the process Silverpeak’s team were passionate about the Avvio business and sector whilst providing wise counsel, problem solving and strategic positioning. Our dedicated Silverpeak team were impressive from day-1 and quickly established a strong, collaborative relationship with us. I was impressed by their global reach to all the relevant strategic buyers and private equity bidders, and they designed a process that allowed me to continue as an investor in the business going forward.