We are excited to share the story of our investment in RelationEdge! We sold the company in May to Rackspace®, a company owned by Apollo Global Management, LLC, affiliates, and co-investors. It was the successful culmination of a fantastic journey supporting a company through an exit. With this sale, Tide Rock Service Fund investors have realized more than 3.7x return on investment (41% IRR), net of fees, in less than 4 years.
RelationEdge® is a full-service Salesforce Platinum Consulting Partner and digital agency that helps clients engage with their customers from lead to loyalty by improving business processes, leveraging technology, and integrating creative digital marketing.
With this sale, Tide Rock Service Fund investors have realized more than 3.7x return on investment (41% IRR), net of fees, in less than 4 years.
Tide Rock raised a syndicate fund to invest in RelationEdge in 2014. We recognized an untapped opportunity to redefine the technology implementation model within the Salesforce ecosystem. Matt Stoyka, founder and CEO of RelationEdge, worked with Tide Rock, to craft RelationEdge’s Process First, Technology Second® approach. This approach focused on providing business process engineering services to identify process improvements and then leveraging Salesforce’s platform to enable those enhancements through the organization. Salesforce named RelationEdge the #1 partner in the Americas two years in a row after this approach was implemented.
RelationEdge was founded in San Diego, California, and has opened offices in a dozen cities across the U.S. since Tide Rock’s investment. It is a growing and profitable business with 125 employees. It has made the Inc. 500 and San Diego Business Journal Fastest-Growing Private Companies lists and was recognized among the Business Journal’s Best Places to Work.
The financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed, but RelationEdge’s growth, business model, leadership, and customer base were driving factors in the valuation. About the transaction, Matt Stoyka said, “Tide Rock was a major reason for RelationEdge’s success. Working with Tide Rock on the business plan led to a collaborative and successful relationship that resulted in a successful exit to Rackspace. RelationEdge’s significant growth would not have been possible without the input, guidance, and commitment demonstrated by the Tide Rock team!”
A formal press release announcing the transaction was released by Rackspace. You can find it here.