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Transactions

August 2019
Chicago, IL
has received a majority equity investment from
Los Angeles, CA


Background

InRule Technology, Inc. (“InRule”) is a leading provider of a Decision Automation Platform that enables enterprises to understand and automate decisions with unparalleled speed, agility, accuracy and transparency. IT and business personnel rely on InRule’s Decision Platform and Business Rules Management System (BRMS) to increase productivity, grow revenues and enhance customer service.

Founded in 2002, InRule started transitioning to a cloud offering over the last few years and had been growing recurring revenue by 30%+ YoY. Additionally, the management has been broadening its capabilities to evolve into a comprehensive Decision Automation Platform. In the mean time, the company continued to receive inbound interest from a number of financial sponsors and strategic players.

InRule’s shareholders and management team were aware of M&A’s expertise advising founder-led companies in the workflow automation space as well as with other emerging technologies. InRule hired M&A to help them find a partner who can provide liquidity to certain shareholders as well as infuse additional capital to support its growth strategy.



Overview

M&A organized a dedicated team to work closely with management to develop materials that would clearly communicate InRule’s strengths, strategy and growth potential. M&A then worked with the company to identify and communicate with many potential financial partners. With M&A’s guidance, the company’s management vetted these potential partners, met with representatives from several select firms, and after a careful review of their options, management agreed to do a majority recapitalization transaction with OpenGate Capital, a Los Angeles, CA-based private equity firm. As part of this transaction, OpenGate also invested additional capital to support InRule’s growth strategy.

M&A Role

M&A served as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to InRule and its shareholders. M&A leveraged its deep domain expertise in workflow automation & related technologies space to conduct a methodical and disciplined competitive process involving multiple potential investors simultaneously.

M&A led the preparation of detailed transaction marketing materials, conducted a thorough review of financial and client cohort analysis, identified and conducted discussions with potentially interested parties, facilitated information exchange, advised the company on the negotiation and evaluation of alternative offers, managed preliminary and confirmatory due diligence reviews, and eventually helped the company close a transaction with OpenGate Capital.

 

Press

Marlin & Associates Advises InRule Technology on its Sale to OpenGate Capital

August 20, 2019

OpenGate Capital Announces Acquisition of Majority Interest in InRule Technology, Inc.

Decision Platform is the Fifth Investment by OpenGate in 2019

LOS ANGELES & PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OpenGate Capital, a global private equity firm, announced today that it has acquired InRule Technology, Inc. (“InRule”), a market-leading decision management platform and business rules management system (BRMS). OpenGate is pleased to partner with the co-founders of InRule to continue innovation and leadership in the decision management market. This transaction marks the fifth investment completed in 2019 through OpenGate Capital’s second institutional fund. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“We are pleased to partner with OpenGate, a global private equity firm that shares our goal to be the global leader in the decision management market”

InRule software powers mission-critical decisions for enterprise and government customers. InRule provides an end-to-end, fully auditable platform that acts as a “single source of truth” for enterprises processing complex business rules and decision workflows. Its decision platform drives significant and quantifiable business value across a variety of use cases, including insurance eligibility, mortgage qualification, risk rating and fraud reduction, regulatory compliance, healthcare claims processing and CPQ calculations. InRule has diverse, global and long-standing relationships with more than 400 customers across a variety of industries, including financial services, public sector, IT and business services, healthcare and insurance. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and founded in 2002, InRule will continue to be led by Co-Founder and CEO Rik Chomko; Co-Founder and CTO Loren Goodman; and a team of industry veterans.

“We are pleased to partner with OpenGate, a global private equity firm that shares our goal to be the global leader in the decision management market,” said Rik Chomko, InRule Co-Founder and CEO. "InRule remains deeply committed to the markets we serve, and we now have greater flexibility to invest in our customers, technology, people and future. I am proud of our employees, and all that we have accomplished together; we are transforming the way complex decisions are managed by the enterprise. InRule has never been better positioned for success.”

Andrew Nikou, OpenGate Capital’s founder and CEO, commented, “InRule is an exciting investment for OpenGate when we consider the vital nature of decision automation in today’s increasingly complex world. InRule’s unique ability to process complex logic and vast amounts of data is critical at a time when governance, compliance and digital transformation are vital to any organization’s success. OpenGate’s investment in InRule is a tremendous point of pride and we welcome the business into our portfolio.”

OpenGate Capital sourced InRule through its global origination team led by Joshua Adams, Managing Director – Business Development; and Rafael Baron, Vice President – Business Development. From the firm’s Los Angeles office, the following team members are responsible for negotiating and overseeing the investment: Robert Young, Principal – M&A; and Paul Bridwell, Managing Director – Operations.

The acquisition of InRule follows the recently completed acquisitions of Duraco from Essentra, Sargent and Greenleaf from Stanley Black & Decker, SMAC from Colas Group, and Fiven from Saint-Gobain.

About OpenGate Capital

Founded in 2005, OpenGate Capital is a global private equity firm that strives to acquire and optimize lower middle market businesses throughout North America and Europe with a strategic focus on operational improvement, innovation and growth. OpenGate is headquartered in Los Angeles and Paris and has a seasoned in-house team of professionals overseeing the entire lifecycle of each investment. To learn more about OpenGate, please visit www.opengatecapital.com.

About InRule Technology, Inc.

InRule Technology® enables enterprises to understand and automate decisions with unparalleled speed, agility, accuracy and transparency. IT and business personnel rely on InRule’s Decision Platform and Business Rules Management System (BRMS) to increase productivity, grow revenue and enhance customer service. With its ‘author first’ approach, InRule empowers both technical and business rule authors to write and manage rules. From on-premises, to the cloud and via mobile, InRule allows organizations to run rules anywhere for extreme flexibility and scalability. More than 400 InRule User Community members depend on InRule to reduce development and change cycles by 90 percent for their mission critical systems and customer-facing applications. InRule has been delivering measurable business and IT results in high-performance environments since 2002. For more information visit www.inrule.com.

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