Advent International Acquires Majority Stake in Encora, a Leading Provider of Digital Engineering Services

BOSTON and SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Dec. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Encora, a global digital engineering services company specializing in software product development services for fast-growing enterprises and digitally-native companies and Advent International (“Advent”), a leading global private equity firm, today announced that Advent has acquired a majority stake in Encora’s business. As part of the agreement, Warburg Pincus, the existing majority shareholder of Encora, retains a minority stake.

“We are thrilled to enter into this partnership with Advent as we continue to scale our differentiated software engineering service offerings,” said Venu Raghavan, chief executive officer, Encora. “Advent’s deep business and technology services sector expertise, along with its global footprint, complements Encora’s strengths and creates opportunities to grow our business in key markets around the world. Warburg Pincus has been a great partner to us over the last two and a half years, accelerating our rapid growth to a valuation of approximately $1.5B. We look forward to continuing to work alongside them in this next phase of growth.”

Encora is an established leader in outsourced software product development services, using deep technical expertise in machine learning, AI, data science, cloud services and other next-generation digital engineering disciplines to accelerate strategic innovation for tech-enabled companies whose market position and growth are driven by proprietary software products. Since rebranding as Encora in 2020, the Company has expanded its focus within the Consumer Tech and Enterprise Tech sectors, and grown its global talent pool to over 6,300 associates across 40 global offices across LatAm, India, APAC and the U.S.

“We have seen tremendous growth in the digital technology services sector over the past few years, as the need for strong technology products has escalated across industries,” said Shweta Jalan, managing director at Advent. Jan Janshen, managing partner at Advent, also said, “we believe Encora is well positioned to capitalize on the growing digital services market, and we are excited to partner with Venu, Encora’s talented management team, and Warburg Pincus to support the company’s growth in key markets across North America, Europe, India, Asia Pacific and Latin America, where Advent has a strong presence and domain expertise.”

This new partnership enables Encora to accelerate its global growth, both organically and through targeted M&A opportunities, expand its differentiated delivery model and advance its customer-facing digital services. Encora continues to focus on serving the software and digital engineering needs of enterprise SaaS companies, midmarket technology companies, and large enterprises.

“Encora has built an industry leading position, driven by its sharp customer focus and ability to attract high quality technology talent across the globe,” said Steven Glenn, managing director, chief financial officer and chief operating officer, Warburg Pincus. “Advent is a great addition to the team and we look forward to continuing to support Encora’s bright future.” 

Advent, with $81 billion in assets as of June 30, 2021, has invested in over 380 companies across 42 countries, throughout North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. It has significant investment experience in both the business and technology services sectors and in the key markets where Encora operates.

J.P. Morgan acted as exclusive financial advisor to Encora in connection with the transaction and Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati LLP served as legal advisor. Credit Suisse acted as financial advisor and Weil, Gotshtal & Manges LLP served as legal advisor to Advent.