M2 Venture Partner's have led a wide range of successful transactions for both public and private companies acting as both agent and principal, across all of its practice areas:
M&A Advisory
Endwave Corporation
M2 Venture Partners provided M&A strategy and execution assistance to Endwave Corporation (NASDAQ: ENWV), a $50 MM annual revenue, communications equipment manufacturer. Our work resulted in the successful acquisition of Signal Technologies' wireless products group.
M2 worked closely with Endwave's senior management team to develop a detailed acquisition strategy. The strategy segmented acquisition opportunities by complimentary product, market, and revenue size. We worked with client management to prioritize the target list and then qualified the top targets.
M2 initiated discussions with the target companies and led in the negotiation process. The result was a successful acquisition that allowed Endwave both to move its production offshore and drastically improve its manufacturing cost, resulting in an enhancement of its competitive position in its space. In addition, this process resulted in the creation of a strategic roadmap to facilitate Endwave's follow-on deals. Endwave's market valuation is up 700% since this strategy was implemented.
Ace Products Group
M2 Venture Partners assisted this privately held distributor of musical instruments accessories in its planned acquisition of Midwest Instrument Company. M2 's role was to help the client conduct negotiations, provide financial analysis in support of the deal, manage due diligence, and secure $6 million in asset-backed financing necessary to fund the transaction.
Corporate Restructuring, Spinouts and Joint Ventures
Accenture Joint Venture
M2 's principals negotiated a joint venture agreement between Lynx Internet Ventures Fund and Accenture to create JusticeLink, a provider of legal information services. M2 's principals negotiated equity arrangements, capital contributions, shareholder rights, software development services agreements, and marketing agreements to facilitate the creation of a standalone joint venture company with a mission to commercialize the JusticeLink technology. M2 maintained involvement at the Board level and continued to play an instrumental role in identifying and facilitating the merger of Courtlink and JusticeLink, the two players in the electronic filing of legal documents. In addition, M2 was responsible for bringing in the two largest investors. Ultimately, Courtlink was sold to Lexis-Nexis in December of 2001 for nearly $100MM.
Siemens spinout
M2 created financial projections and a corporate structure to facilitate the spinout of a high-end graphics rendering software business, Modern Visualization, Inc., from within a Siemens Corporation business incubator. M2 worked with Modern Visualization's CEO to create the business plan and financial projections required by both the third-party equity provider and Siemens corporate management.
Capital Raising
Paratek Microwave
M2 Venture Partners served as principal advisor on a $15 million capital raise into Paratek Microwave to support the growth of this Maryland-based developer of communications components for handsets and RFID applications. M2 developed appropriate presentation materials and aggressively pursued venture capital funding sources on behalf of Paratek's management and Board of Directors. M2 's efforts resulted in the successful completion of a $15 million round led by Polaris Venture Partners.
HealthAxis, Inc.
M2 's principals Ashker and Felder developed the business plan for Healthaxis, the first insurance company to sell health insurance over the internet. Ashker was CEO of Healthaxis from inception in 1998 through 2001 and Felder acted as EVP of Business Development and Corporate Strategy. During their management tenure, M2 principals raised over $75 million in equity capital into to the company and completed a $300 million dollar acquisition of a competitor. Investors in Healthaxis included America Online, Intel, FirstHealth Corporation and UICI. M2 's principals, Ashker and Felder we intimately involved in each and every aspect of taking Healthaxis from a mere business plan to becoming a fully operational publicly traded company.
Imerica Financial Corporation
In 2003, M2 Venture Partners formed Agility Insurance Enterprises and launched Imerica Financial Corporation. M2 principal Ashker lead in the development of the Imerica business model and acted as the CEO for the Company during its start-up phase. Ashker successfully closed on a $10 million dollar Series “A” round with Bain Capital Ventures.