HGGC Uses Due Diligence To Uncover Opportunity With Aceable
Aceable knew its proprietary EdTech platform, a learning management system for online driving and real estate courses, could do more — but how much? Private Equity firm HGGC partnered with PIP on an IT due diligence to find out. By pursuing a value-driven approach to IT due diligence, HGGC and Aceable identified opportunities to expand the company’s proprietary EdTech platform.
Industry: Technology
Service: IT Due Diligence
The Challenge
The Solution
The Results
“Technical due diligence requires smart people giving their honest opinion. PIP built immediate trust with their in-depth vertical expertise and delivered on every step of our IT due diligence process.”
Chris Schultze
Vice President | HGGC
Week Timeline For IT Due Diligence Project
Stakeholder Interviews Conducted In 9 Days
Key Strengths and Value Creation Opportunities Identified
The Question: How Far Will Aceable Scale?
Identifying red flags is central to IT due diligence, yet in the context of today’s digitally transformed world Private Equity firms and portfolio companies need to take due diligence a step further — to identify opportunities for technology-driven value creation. This was exactly the goal behind HGGC’s due diligence project. HGGC and Aceable both realized the platform, while already successful, held far greater potential. With the commitment to uncovering value, PIP was an obvious choice to perform the due diligence of Aceable’s online educational platform. It was this question — how far the platform could scale — that drove the value creation evaluation through due diligence by HGGC and Aceable.
“PIP gained trust with Aceable instantly, bringing in incredible vertical insights. The tech lead on our project had a background in the online education industry and spoke the language Aceable did. That combination of industry expertise and technical knowledge kick-started the project and delivered an IT diligence report we could trust.”
Chris Schultze
Vice President | HGGC
Defining A Customized Due Diligence Scope
Moving at the speed of Private Equity, PIP launched an IT due diligence to identify any potential red flags, and, more importantly, opportunities.
Core Diligence
Proprietary Application Discovery
Stakeholder Interviews
“PIP’s ability to synthesize all of the tech-based information they gathered and summarize it in a way that speaks the language of Private Equity was an asset. It helped us rapidly assess our next steps. The details, the data — it was there, and we were able to use the Due Diligence Executive Summary Presentation in our Investment Committee.”
Chris Schultze
Vice President | HGGC
Rapid Value Creation Revealed With Due Diligence Insights
In one brief, executive summary presentation, PIP laid out a clear assessment of Aceable’s platform — and how the organization’s creation of custom-written, proprietary systems and implementation of commercial applications differentiated both the product and Aceable’s growth potential. After examining the proprietary applications, business applications, IT organization, technical infrastructure, and security posture, PIP confirmed what both HGGC and Aceable hoped: Aceable was ready for scale.
Actionable Intelligence & Insights On Value Creation
Uncovering potential is key to building business momentum that drives value creation. That’s why PIP’s due diligences align the technology assessment to actionable next-steps: with the summary and recommendations in hand, HGGC and Aceable were ready to build a value creation roadmap. By providing real-cost estimates and defined recommendations, PIP makes it easy to make those decisions rapidly — and helps to implement those next steps at speed using the knowledge uncovered during discovery with Technology Implementation.
Additional Resources
A Transformed Approach to IT Due Diligence
Find out how PE firms are utilizing technical diligence to uncover value-creation opportunities, and the top five questions to ask when selecting your next diligence partner.
Assess Risk. Find Opportunity. Use Due Diligence To Drive Value Creation.
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