Groundskeeeper Willy’s job just got a bit of a boost with Warburg Pincus‘ $100 million commitment to Dude Solutions Inc. a software company for maintenance management at schools, hospitals, and government offices.
The $100 million commitment is at the low end of Warburg’s investment range – the firm typically invests between $50 million and $500 million in technology companies.
For Warburg, the investment in Cary, N.C.-based Dude Solutions was an opportunity to tap in to a growing market for software that manages the work orders, logistics and maintenance at large institutions where dozens of maintenance workers are tasked with cleanups and repairs every day.
Spending on facilities management software is in the billions, according to Warburg’s Alex Berzofsky, a managing director in the firm’s New York technology, media and telecommunications practice.
Founded in 1999, Dude Solutions was one of the first software providers to adopt a software as a service billing model and also one of the only software platforms that’s selling its maintenance management software as a hosted, online offering.
While it’s not as exciting a market as social networking, these software companies can save taxpayers billions in wasted funds, according to Berzofsky.
In the past eleven years, Dude Solutions estimates it has saved its customers more than $1 billion and 55 million wasted man-hours, Berzofsky said. And the company has set a goal of saving another $10 billion in costs for clients over the next five years.
This isn’t the first investment Berzofsky has made in logistics and facilities management. His portfolio also includes The Gordian Group, which provides job order contracting software and services, and Facility Source, a warehouse and industrial facilities management service provider.
With the new money, Dude Solutions can both build and buy its way into new businesses, Berzofsky said. The company anticipates supporting its growth initiative by hiring sales, marketing and technology professionals, according to a statement from Dude Solutions.
For all of the investments that Warburg has made in sectors of the tech industry that don’t typically grab front page headlines, the firm has committed what should be a headline-grabbing $15 billion to technology, media, and telecommunications companies since the firm was founded in 1971. That’s more than double the assets under management at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which was launched a year later.
Photo via Flickr user Ikhlasul Amal.
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