Freedom Scientific, Inc.
Case Study
Case Study
Initial Business Overview
Provider of handheld and desktop assistive and adaptive technology for individuals who are blind, or have low vision or learning disabilities
Footprint | Clearwater, Florida, USA | ||
End‑markets | Education, Healthcare, Consumer Technology, domestic and international | ||
Products | Screen reading software for the blind, magnification software for those with low-vision, and other products for accessible scanning and reading, as well as Braille displays, notetakers, and the world’s leading accessible PDA for the blind |
Investment Thesis
- Recession-resistant revenue stream supported by government accessibility mandates
- Expansion of accessibility funding in developing economies
- Ability to leverage software cash flow to develop leading suite of hardware products
- Opportunity to develop products for unaddressed markets using optic technology intellectual property
Why Granite Bridge Partners?
- Size of Freedom Scientific was more suitable to GBP than prior private equity owner that was focused on larger investments
- GBP was willing to use less leverage than other groups, increasing free cash flow to support organic growth objectives
Compelling Situation
- Market leader
- Highly profitable with strong cash flow generation
- Poised to capitalize on adjacent growth opportunities
Value Creation
Throughout the investment period, the investment team worked with management to drive organic and acquisition-led growth. During this time, Freedom Scientific:
- Grew EBITDA from $7.4 million at acquisition to $10.8 million at exit
- Maintained software revenue while growing hardware revenue 112%
- Developed a recurring services segment as well as products for industrial inspection market
- Completed tuck-in acquisition of AbiSee
- Repaid $35 million of acquisition debt and generated an additional $11 million in free cash
Result
Freedom Scientific was sold to a private equity fund in September 2015
Company & Transaction Highlights
Sector
Accessibility Products
Headquarters
Clearwater, FL
Add-on Companies
AbiSee
Transaction Type
Control & Recapitalization
Acquisition Date
April 2007
Exit Date
September 2015
Disclaimer: The track record information relates to portfolios managed by the principals of Granite Bridge Partners LLC (“Granite Bridge”), who were primarily responsible for account performance results, while they were employed by Wafra, Inc. (“Wafra”). Granite Bridge intends to pursue substantially the same or similar strategy that was pursued while the principals were employed by Wafra. As an internal group at Wafra, the track record is related to proprietary portfolios, which maintained an expense structure materially different than the expenses to be charged by Granite Bridge. Any portfolio investments contained herein were selected based on objective non-performance-based criteria and are not meant to be indicative or reflective of the portfolio of any fund or account managed by Granite Bridge. Rather, such case studies are meant to exemplify Granite Bridge’s analysis and execution of its investment strategy. Obviously, not all investments are successful and profitable. As such, the examples contained herein should not be viewed as representative of all investments made by Granite Bridge, but simply as examples of the types of successful investing Granite Bridge strives for. There is no guarantee that any fund managed by Granite Bridge will find similar opportunities or that any similar investments will be included in any such fund’s portfolio.