LONDON, England - February 2024
Screendragon Ltd., a technology leader in SaaS-based workflow automation, announced today that Kennet Partners and Federated Hermes Private Equity, have invested €25m in the software company to drive the continued expansion of the business.
Screendragon is a highly awarded platform serving the agency and marketing sectors. Their platform is designed to automate complex workflows, connect distributed teams and provide visibility and agility at scale. Powering many of the most well-known brands and agencies, it helps teams plan, innovate, create and deliver content to market efficiently and effectively. In a margin-compressed, P&L-constrained environment, where teams are asked to take on increasingly heavier workloads, Screendragon eliminates unnecessary work and compresses cycle time enabling teams to be more efficient while focusing on the work they were hired to do versus managing workflow processes.
The €25 million investment aims to facilitate a commitment to invest in the company’s Irish operation, doubling Screendragon’s workforce in Cork and underpinning the further expansion of the company into the US market. The company’s executive leadership team, and founders, John Briggs, Jan Quant and Fergus Ashe will continue to lead the company with Executive Chairman, Clive Sirkin assuming the role of Chairman of a newly constituted Board of Directors.
Kennet is leading the round alongside Federated Hermes Private Equity, who have over two decades of experience investing alongside private equity firms with $6.3bn of assets under management.
In addition to Clive Sirkin, Cillian Hilliard, Director and Michael Elias, Managing Director of Kennet and Fidel Manolopoulos, Partner & Co-Head of EMEA Investment at Federated Hermes Private Equity will also join Screendragon’s board of directors. An independent board member will be named shortly.
“We were impressed with Screendragon’s bootstrapped growth story. The team has outcompeted software giants to win some of the world's largest brands as customers without raising any institutional capital. Our investment demonstrates the confidence we have in Screendragon’s differentiated technology, the existing team and its blue-chip customer base. With additional resources to strengthen the team in Cork and the US, and scaling of the existing leadership talent, we are confident we can transform the business into a global leader”, said Cillian Hilliard, Director of Kennet.
“Jan, Fergus, Clive and I vetted several investment firms over many months for possible investment,” said John Briggs co-CEO and founder of Screendragon. “Kennet Partners has a proven track record of growing successful businesses. We are looking forward to using this investment and adding resources to accelerate sales, product roadmap, and growth objectives while continuing to deliver the innovative technology and support our existing clients have come to expect.”
About Screendragon
Screendragon is a work automation platform that powers many of the most well-known brand and agency organizations. Over 20+ years, they have developed an industry-leading technology that has been recognized as best in class and highly differentiated. Their software helps brand and agency teams plan, innovate, create and deliver content to market efficiently and effectively. Screendragon’s unique no-code workflow technology enables the company to provide solutions to customers that are both agile and intuitive to use from the get-go.
About Federated Hermes Private Equity
Federated Hermes Private Equity is an active and long-time investor in global private equity. For over 30 years, the firm has specialized in investing in what Federated Hermes considers to be the best and most relevant investment opportunities in global private equity. The objective is to create sustainable returns for investors, no matter what is happening on the global stage via pooled funds and bespoke client solutions. Focus on fund investments and co-investments in buyouts and growth businesses with $6.3bn of assets under management, as of 30 September 2023.