Houston private equity firm Clovis Point Capital bought a majority stake in Irvine-based business software maker Cirrus Insight.
Financial details of the transaction were undisclosed; Clovis Point typically invests $2 million to $10 million per equity deal, according to its website.
“This is a big step for us. We’ve been bootstrapped for our entire history,” said Ryan Huff, who co-founded Cirrus Insight in 2011 with fellow University of California-Santa Barbara alum Brandon Bruce. “It signals a big change that we’re making in terms of our commitment to growth and to scale long term.”
Cirrus makes customer-relationship management software that helps salespeople manage Gmail and Outlook inboxes and calendars. It now serves more than 4,500 customers who use Salesforce.com, the customer relationship management software giant (NYSE: CRM).
Cirrus plans to use the proceeds to boost technology, product development, and sales and marketing. Huff said it aims to double local engineering staff to about 25 in the next few months.
Cirrus employs 56 split between OC and Knoxville, Tenn.
The business has evolved over the years from serving small and medium-size businesses to larger enterprise customers in various industries.
“We see a big opportunity for organic growth within our existing platform and what we can do with it,” said Huff, adding that the funding could also be used for strategic buys.
Cirrus ranked No. 1,175 this year on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growers with a three-year sales percentage increase of 255%. Revenue hit $12.8 million last year.
Clovis, a Houston-based private equity fund founded in 2014, targets middle-market companies with recurring revenue streams, low fixed costs, and annual adjusted earnings of $500,000 to $3 million.
Managing partners are Robert Shuford, who was a managing director at investment firm Main Street Capital Corp. (NYSE: MAIN), and Chris Joseph, who was a senior associate at the same firm and previously an analyst at JPMorgan.
“With its deep integration and focus on the customer experience, Cirrus Insight has been able to separate itself” from the competition, Shuford said in a statement about the investment.
Diablo in Hollywood?
It appears Netlfix (Nasdaq: NFLX) is working on a new animated series based on the Diablo franchise developed by Irvine-based Blizzard Entertainment Inc.
A recent tweet, since deleted, by Boom Studios founder Andrew Cosby saying he was in “final talks” to write and run the series, awoke a legion of Diablo fans across the world.
Boom is a Los Angeles-based publisher of comic books and graphic novels. Last year, it received an investment valued at $10 million from the film division of 20th Century Fox, which is developing several Boom titles.
“It’s very exciting and I hope to the High Heavens it all works out,” Cosby tweeted.
High Heavens, in Diablo circles, is the realm of angels.
If true, the series would come at an opportune time.
The “Diablo III Eternal Collection,” which includes the original Diablo III expansion, “Reaper of Souls” expansion, and the “Rise of the Necromancer” pack, will be released on Nov. 2 on Nintendo Switch, a first for the local publisher.
Diablo has been a big seller in its own right.
In 2012, Diablo III broke the record for the fastest-selling PC game of all time, burning through 3.5 million copies the day it went on sale, and 5.1 million units in its first seven days.
The previous record was held by another Blizzard title, “World of Warcraft: Cataclysm,” the game’s third expansion set. Cataclysm sold 3.3 million copies in the first 24 hours after it went on sale in 2010.
In Diablo III, players adopt a role, such as barbarian, witch doctor, wizard, monk or demon hunter, and fight evil forces in a labyrinth of supernatural encounters and settings.
If a Netflix confirmation doesn’t surface in the next few weeks, Diablo fans should circle Nov. 2 on the calendar, which happens to be the kickoff of annual Blizzard fan fest Blizzcon at the Anaheim Convention Center, where the company has made big gaming and related entertainment announcements.
Costly Hurricane
Irvine-based analytics and real estate data provider CoreLogic Inc. estimated property losses resulting from Hurricane Florence at $19 billion to $28.5 billion.
If the numbers bear out, Florence could rank between the seventh and 10th most damaging hurricanes in U.S. history. The costliest hurricane was 2005’s Katrina, which caused $125 billion in damages, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The damages in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, include residential and commercial buildings, storm surge, inland flooding and wind losses.
The deadly storm, which made landfall on Sept. 14 as a Category 1 hurricane, has killed at least 47 people in several states, according to news reports.
CoreLogic estimated losses covered by the National Flood Insurance Program are $2 billion to $5 billion. Losses covered by private insurers are less than $5 billion. Uninsured losses are estimated at $13 billion to $18.5 billion.
CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX) said it relied in part on comprehensive flood and hurricane models, and public and proprietary records.
