BigHand, a London, UK-based voice productivity software developer, has been acquired by Bridgepoint Development Capital along with management, for £49m.
Bridgepoint will acquire the company from LDC who will roll-over a portion of their proceeds to take a minority stake in the business along with a significant investment from management.
Debt for the transaction was provided by HSBC.
Founded in 1996 and led by CEO Jon Ardron, the company provides voice productivity software to the legal, healthcare and professional services market in the UK and has a growing international client base. It currently supports over 150,000 professionals globally, across 1,450 organizations and has offices in London, Chicago, Sydney and Toronto.
BigHand provides the workflow software, including integrated speech recognition technology, that makes the creation, distribution and processing of voice files more efficient and secure. Its software allows a user to dictate from any device (including the latest smartphone devices) and route that voice file to the required recipient for transcription and formatting. The company sells its software on an initial license basis followed by an annual maintenance contract but also has a Software as a Service offering for smaller customers.
FinSMEs
22/05/2012