InCloudCounsel, an AI-powered platform for legal operations, recently announced that it has secured a $200 million Series B investment from Blackstone Growth (BXG). This investment fueled the company’s rebranding to Ontra, with an ambition to bring the legal industry into the digital future.
This article examines the deal between Blackstone Growth and Ontra and its implications.
Overview of Blackstone Growth
Blackstone Growth is a private equity firm founded by Jonathan Aboff, Ryan Williams and Ruben Kooker with expertise in the technology, consumer and media industries. The firm seeks to drive growth of portfolio companies through strategic guidance, finance and operational insight.
The team comprises experienced professionals with a long track record of successfully investing in businesses worldwide. This includes evaluating hundreds of companies, including public markets investments and private investments in venture capital funds and direct investments. In addition, Blackstone Growth invests globally to identify developing trends across technologies and markets, seeking excellent opportunities for its investors.
Blackstone Growth provides portfolio companies access to an extensive financial network from established players such as Goldman Sachs to new innovators such as Intuitiveimpetus. Experienced advisors come from a broad pool ranging from C-Level Executives, Venture Capital Firm Founders, Investment Bankers, Lawyers, Government Officials, Coach CEOs/Leaders, and former Global Optimised Business Incubator Advisors. The team primes businesses towards rapid growth while solidifying their footing within their respective industries. In addition, Blackstone Growth leverages its commercial networks and relationships in sectors such as energy, healthcare, telecoms, media & entertainment to open up new pathways for further growth.
With the strategic vision necessary for successful investments enabled by the combined experience of its founding partners and its ability to provide ongoing resources for portfolio companies, Blackstone Growth is well-positioned to be a helping hand for businesses looking to maximise their magnate potential on the international stage.
Overview of Ontra
Blackstone Growth recently announced its investment in Ontra, a leading global provider of cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) in the hospitality industry. With this investment, Blackstone Growth will be able to accelerate Ontra’s mission of helping hoteliers, restaurants and other points of sale benefit from superior technology and service delivery.
Ontra has developed a portfolio of services that enable businesses to enhance guest experiences and manage their operations more efficiently through using amenities, retaining customers, bettering guest stays and via loyalty programs. In addition, Ontra allows its clients access to enterprise level software without the hassle associated with it all being on site.
Designed as an integrated package for both hoteliers and guests alike, Ontra provides tools and services concerning staff management, workflow acceleration, cost savings from supply chain management and reporting analytics. Their Software as a Service (SaaS) model includes “Control Panel” for operations management; “Guest Portal” for guest engagement; “Analytics Module” for comprehensive insights; and ancillary mobile applications such as “MobileCheckin” and “Reservation Portal” which further optimise the customer experience at physical points of sale.
InCloudCounsel Announces $200 Million Series B Funding from Blackstone Growth (BXG), Rebrands as Ontra
InCloudCounsel has announced a $200 million Series B investment from Blackstone Growth (BXG) to support the transformation of its legal services platform, now rebranded as Ontra. The massive funding round puts the enterprise value at approximately $2.3 billion, signalling confidence in the future of the company’s products.
In this article, we will discuss the specifics of the investment, such as the strategic and financial benefits of the deal.
Amount of investment
On August 22, Blackstone Growth announced it has invested an undisclosed amount in Ontra, one of the leading hospitality companies in San Francisco. Founded in 2017 by Oren Kilimnik and Eric Leung, Ontra has quickly become a major player in the travel and hospitality industry.
Blackstone Growth’s investment in Ontra will help the company accelerate its expansion strategy and take advantage of technological advances that have opened up new opportunities for customer engagement. Through this partnership, Blackstone can leverage its market know-how to unlock value throughout One’s entire guest journey from pre-booking to post-stay.
The exact details of the investment have not been disclosed but it is rumoured that Blackstone Growth has invested at least $50 million into the company. The combination of technology coupled with Blackstone’s expertise and experience in providing growth capital for small and medium-sized businesses sets this up for success.
Purpose of investment
Blackstone Growth announced an investment of up to $200 million in Ontra Inc on April 14, 2021. This equity and debt round is the largest capital commitment made by Blackstone Growth, the private equity giant Blackstone’s growth equity and venture debt arm. The proceeds will accelerate Ontra’s global expansion, bolster its financial flexibility, and unlock further growth opportunities.
Ontra is a cloud-native platform offering businesses with leading corporate services automation solutions designed to simplify administrative tasks so companies can focus on their core business operations. Founded in 2008 by three entrepreneurs of technology and finance background (Dan Ioschpe, Arthur Ioschpe and Alvaro Abella), Ontra currently operates in over 40 countries across Europe, North America and South America.
The purpose of this investment is for Blackstone Growth to become one of the largest shareholders in Ontra as it supports it towards becoming the leading enterprise services automation platform globally which will help thousands of companies improve their efficiency with fewer manual processes and systematic ways of managing critical operations. Going forward, investors anticipate that Ontra will use the influx of funds to rapidly scale globally while sustaining its recent period of double-digit revenue growth rate every year.
Impact of Investment
The announcement of Blackstone Growth’s (BXG) investment of $200 million into InCloudCounsel, a legal tech company, has far-reaching implications. This injection of capital is set to positively impact the company’s operations and expansion efforts. InCloudCounsel has even rebranded itself as Ontra following the announcement.
Let’s dive into how this investment could change the company’s future.
Expansion of Ontra’s capabilities
The successful completion of Blackstone Growth’s investment in Ontra marks a new milestone for the company as it looks to expand its capabilities and reach wider consumers. This capital injection will enable Ontra to grow into new strategic markets, pave the way for further research and development on its product range, and onboard new talent to drive growth.
Ontra believes Blackstone’s deep expertise in venture capital, investment banking, private equity and real estate will be invaluable in advising expansion across industries. As well as providing access to resources that are vital for fast-paced growth such as talent acquisition, technology centre set-ups, market intelligence and financial advisory services.
In addition to support from Blackstone Growth’s professionals, Ontra has also tapped experts from key industries such as health & wellness, retail & navigation, finance & technology and engineering services. By further expanding operational capabilities through this network of advisors and industry professionals they hope to deliver quality solutions faster to meet growing consumer demands efficiently.
Ontra is working towards becoming one of the most innovative information hub solutions providers globally by leveraging existing expertise and investments made by Blackstone Growth so far.
Increased visibility for Blackstone Growth
The announcement in May 2018 that Blackstone Growth had acquired a majority stake in Ontra triggered speculation in the financial markets and increased the visibility of Blackstone Growth’s investments. Leveraging its deep understanding of global financial markets, Blackstone Growth developed a strategy to accelerate Ontra’s growth and benefit Blackstone through attractive returns on its investment.
Since then, the company has begun building a presence across new geographies, backed by funding from Blackstone Growth and further cemented its reputation within the venture capital space. Now, investors are looking to Blackstone for new opportunities, helping the firm build its platform and make investments across sectors including medical-tech and biotechnology.
With access to cutting-edge technologies available through these investments, Blackstone believes that it can now provide customers with more efficient and cost-effective services. The company is also looking at emerging startups for potential acquisitions or strategic partnerships as part of its long-term plans for growth. In addition to obtaining a financial return on their investments in Ontra, the acquisition provides valuable insights into new markets, renewing investor confidence in Blackstone’s ability to identify lucrative opportunities.
Rebranding Details
After announcing its $200 million series B funding from Blackstone Growth (BXG), InCloudCounsel is undergoing a rebranding that will see the company change its name to Ontra.
This rebranding aligns with the company’s mission to develop innovative products and services to accelerate law practice.
In this article, we’ll look at the details and impact of this rebranding.
Reasons for rebranding
Blackstone Growth’s recent investment in Ontra makes them better suited to the evolving business climate. Rebranding allows a business to reposition itself, update its image and messaging, and give a new sense of identity to reach new audiences and keep up with changing trends.
Rebranding benefits Blackstone Growth and Ontra by allowing them to build a more cohesive brand message that conveys the company’s mission while resonating with their current target market. Additionally, rebranding can help companies remain competitive in the long run by evolving with their customer base instead of relying on dated tactics. For example, Ontra can now strategically align their strategy with industry developments and customer needs using updated terminology and visuals representing their current philosophy and values.
Furthermore, rebranding can positively impact investments such as improving public perception, increasing confidence among clients/partners, alleviating brand fatigue, identifying gaps in competitive products/services, etc. The refreshed identity of Ontra following the acquisition has also been met with enthusiasm by Blackstone Growth’s partners. They utilise resources from key stakeholders, including branding professionals from within the organisation and outside agencies that work together to develop an effective strategy for the newly formed entity.
Benefits of rebranding
Rebranding is a great way to help your company grow, refresh its image and stay competitive. In the case of Blackstone Growth’s investment in Ontra, rebranding could bring a wide range of benefits.
First, rebranding can create greater brand awareness and recognition, which could help Ontra stand out from the competition. A strong recognizable brand identity will ensure that customers, prospects and partners easily remember and identify your business. In addition, the professional look and feel of rebranding can bolster customer trust and loyalty as customers associate Ontra with quality service.
Additionally, a successful rebranding strategy could result in an improved overall customer experience through creating a welcoming image, reinforcing values, creating emotion around the brand or providing user-friendly experiences when interacting with products or services offered by the business. As well as providing a creative opportunity to energise employees for greater productivity and collaboration.
Additionally, rebranding can position an existing product or business differently from others in their category or industry by offering something different regarding design, messaging or positioning. This helps companies move away from standardisation to offer more attractive solutions for potential customers for their products or services tailored to meet specific needs. This provides businesses valuable opportunities to capture new markets and create additional value for their existing customers.
