Press Release: Mountaingate Capital Completes Investment in HS2
Denver (November 29, 2016) - Mountaingate Capital (Mountaingate) announced that it has completed an investment in HS2 Solutions, Inc. (HS2), a full service digital transformation agency offering a broad range of strategy, experience design, development, analytics, and marketing execution services to help clients address their digital priorities. The investment in HS2 marks the second platform investment for Mountaingate in its debut fund.
Founded in 2003 by Phil Hollyer and Keith Schwartz, HS2 has enjoyed outstanding growth since inception and has earned a reputation for exceptional client service delivery across the full spectrum of marketing technology platforms and through custom development for eCommerce, web, and mobile applications. With headquarters in Chicago and over 120 talented employees consisting of strategists, designers, engineers, analysts, and project managers, HS2 is partnering with Mountaingate to accelerate its growth both organically and through selective strategic acquisitions.
“We are thrilled that Phil and Keith have selected Mountaingate to be their partner; the market opportunity for digital transformation agencies such as HS2 with a value proposition centered on customer experience is very compelling,” said Colton King, Managing Director of Mountaingate. “HS2 boasts a diverse client roster of blue chip and emerging brands, outstanding senior leadership, a deep and tenured bench of design and development talent, and an exceptional track record and culture of performance.”
“We are very excited to partner with Mountaingate as we embark on our next phase of growth, which will be focused on meeting the expanding customer experience, technology, analytics, and digital marketing needs of our clients,” said Phil Hollyer, CEO and Co-Founder. “Mountaingate brings a unique market perspective stemming from their extensive digital agency services investment experience that will be invaluable as we look to prioritize strategic investments to accelerate our growth and better serve our clients.”
“Mountaingate shares our client-centric philosophy and embraces our commitment to provide rewarding career experiences for all of our team members. Their investment in HS2 is an affirmation of what we have achieved to date in partnership with our clients and team members. In addition, it provides us with capital to deepen our capabilities. The future has never been brighter for HS2,” said Keith Schwartz, President and Co-Founder.
Equiteq, a leading provider of strategic and M&A advisory services to knowledge-intensive services firms, acted as exclusive financial advisor to HS2.
Mountaingate Capital, based in Denver, is a leading buy-and-build lower middle market private equity firm formed by a group of partners at KRG Capital. Mountaingate invests in industry leading middle market companies that demonstrate strong growth potential and are led by management teams committed to a strategic vision to realize that growth. Mountaingate supports management in prioritizing, funding, and executing on growth opportunities, including strategic add-on acquisitions. The principals of Mountaingate have extensive experience investing in marketing and communications agencies (in addition to other sectors), including KRG Capital’s investments in OLSON, a Minneapolis-based digital agency that grew to become one of the top five independent digital agencies in the U.S.; Ansira, a St. Louis and Dallas-based leading data-driven results marketing agency; and Aspen Marketing, a Chicago-based leader in direct and digital marketing. Additionally, earlier in 2016, Mountaingate completed its first platform investment in W2O Group, a San Francisco-based marketing and communications firm serving healthcare and technology clients with industry leading proprietary analytics and insights. In addition to marketing services opportunities, Mountaingate focuses on investments in specialty distribution, specialty manufacturing and business services. Mountaingate targets investments in new platform companies with $5 million to $25 million of EBITDA. More information on Mountaingate can be found at www.mountaingatecap.com.
HS2 Solutions, based in Chicago, is a full service digital transformation agency. HS2 offers a broad range of services focused on helping clients transform their eCommerce and digital marketing strategies to improve customer experience and drive meaningful business results. HS2 has capabilities within four primary service lines including eCommerce, web, and mobile development; experience design; interactive marketing; and analytics and insights. HS2 prides itself on forming problem-solving partnerships with their clients to envision, design, and build their digital vision.
