Houlihan Lokey Advises Waud Capital Partners
Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Waud Capital Partners (Waud Capital), a growth-oriented middle-market private equity firm specializing in the software and technology sector and the healthcare sector, has acquired Science Exchange, a leading provider of life sciences procurement and supplier management SaaS solutions. The transaction was announced on September 30, 2024. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Based in Chicago, Waud Capital has more than 30 years of investing experience helping management teams build market-leading companies, having completed over 460 investments, including platform companies and follow-on opportunities.
Science Exchange is the first procurement and supplier orchestration cloud software platform for life sciences companies. The platform digitizes and streamlines complex procurement workflows spanning the entire purchasing lifecycle, from vendor and product discovery through purchasing and payment. Many of the world’s top pharma and biotech organizations rely on Science Exchange to help accelerate their research, automate manual processes, and advance their programs faster.
This acquisition marks a significant milestone in Science Exchange’s journey and will compound the company’s impressive performance, growth trajectory, and software capabilities. Waud Capital’s partnership will enable the company to accelerate its mission to transform the purchasing and supplier orchestration landscape for life sciences organizations. Waud Capital’s strategic acquisition comes after a thorough evaluation of the life sciences procurement technology market, during which Science Exchange separated itself as a standout leader.
“With Waud Capital’s support, we are poised to further solidify our position as the premier SaaS supplier orchestration platform in the life sciences industry,” said Elizabeth Iorns, Ph.D., CEO and Co-Founder of Science Exchange.
“Waud Capital’s acquisition of Science Exchange is a testament to the strength of their technology and the leadership team’s vision,” said Matthew Clary, Partner at Waud Capital. Paul Sutphin, Principal at Waud Capital, added, “It’s rare to find procurement software that customers rave about, and that’s what impressed us the most. Forward-thinking procurement leaders are leveraging Science Exchange’s subscription model and extensible cloud platform into increasingly complex parts of their organizations, driving significant time and cost savings that they can re-invest into R&D and drug development.”
Houlihan Lokey acted as the financial advisor to Waud Capital. The transaction further enhances Houlihan Lokey’s extensive track record and deep expertise across procurement and supplier management software.
RELATED: Cybersecurity, Financial Sponsors Coverage