The Carlyle Group sells NetMotion to Absolute Software

London, UK - Global investment firm The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) today announced that it has agreed to sell NetMotion Software (“NetMotion”), a leading provider of secure access and digital experience monitoring software solutions, to Absolute Software Corporation (“Absolute Software”, TSX: ABST and NASDAQ: ABST). The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close in June 2021.

Headquartered in Seattle, USA, with additional offices across Canada, Europe and Asia, NetMotion provides a unified Secure Access Service Edge (“SASE”) platform with best-in-class security, visibility and policy management capabilities to a blue-chip customer base of over 3,000 global enterprises. Clients consist of major organizations across a wide range of sectors, including legal, financial services, healthcare, logistics, as well as public safety agencies and governmental bodies. NetMotion’s solutions significantly improve the end-user experience for remote workers by providing a software-defined security platform to manage the entire mobile enterprise across a distributed workforce.

Carlyle invested in NetMotion in October 2016 through the Carlyle Europe Technology Partners III (“CETP III”) fund, which led the transaction, and the Carlyle U.S. Equity Opportunity Fund II L.P. (“CEOF II”), having seen the company was uniquely positioned to capitalize on the growing importance of delivering seamless mobile security and network access that does not compromise but enhances the end-user experience and thus employee productivity.

During Carlyle’s ownership, NetMotion has become an international software solutions provider with a highly differentiated offering in the emerging SASE market segment. Through streamlining its product suite and transitioning to a unified cloud-first platform, NetMotion has supported the dynamic secure access and experience monitoring needs of modern organizations, across different industry sectors. In addition, the company has moved to a subscription revenue model and driven international expansion through new partnerships with blue-chip telco carriers, replicating NetMotion’s successful US channel business. Management was strengthened in the period, including the appointment of a new CRO, CFO and CMO. The result of these actions has meant NetMotion has been able to significantly accelerate its Annual Recurring Revenue (“ARR”) growth.

Christopher Kenessey (“CK”), Chief Executive Officer of NetMotion, said: “Through our partnership with Carlyle, we have transformed NetMotion into a leading international software solutions provider. With investment into our unified SASE platform, the company has been able to diversify its blue-chip customer base, penetrate new growth markets, and secure partnerships with some of the world’s largest technology companies. We thank Carlyle for its expertise and support and are excited to enter the next chapter of our growth story with Absolute Software.”

CK was previously Chief Commercial Officer at The Foundry, another CETP portfolio company that was exited in 2015.

Michael Wand, Managing Director and Co-Head of the CETP advisory team who led the transaction together with Constantin Boye, Associate Director, said: “NetMotion is a great example of CETP’s ability to identify undermanaged technology assets, often at the beginning of a new technology adoption curve, and scale these companies through product investment, strategic repositioning, and a strengthened management team. We are honored to have worked again with CK and his first-class management team to support and invest in the NetMotion business, innovate its product suite, and expand into new geographies. We wish CK and the team all the best for the future.”

NetMotion represents the seventh exit for CETP III, following the sale of another infrastructure software business, Eggplant, a global digital test automation and monitoring software provider, in June 2020.

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Media Contacts:

The Carlyle Group
Andrew Kenny
Andrew.kenny@carlyle.com
+44 7816 176120

NetMotion Software
Mark Chisholm
mark.chisholm@netmotionsoftware.com
+1 425 301-3819

Anna Ruth Williams
annaruth@arpr.com
+1 404 825-6546

About The Carlyle Group

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global investment firm with deep industry expertise that deploys private capital across three business segments: Global Private Equity, Global Credit and Investment Solutions. With $260 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2021, Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, portfolio companies and the communities in which we live and invest. The Carlyle Group employs more than 1,800 people in 29 offices across five continents. Further information is available at www.carlyle.com. Follow The Carlyle Group on Twitter @OneCarlyle.

About NetMotion Software

NetMotion provides security solutions to over 3,000 global enterprises and millions of distributed workers, 85% of US public safety agencies and a variety of other major organizations from across the healthcare, logistics and legal sectors. Customers choose the NetMotion platform for its powerful zero trust network access (ZTNA), experience monitoring and enterprise VPN functionality. These solutions stand out for their cloud-first SASE architecture, and ability to actively improve the employee experience, validated by a satisfaction rating of 97% and an NPS of 93. NetMotion is headquartered in Seattle, with offices in Victoria, B.C., Chicago, London, Tokyo, Brisbane and Frankfurt. Further information is available at www.netmotionsoftware.com.

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