Lumine Group | Lifecycle Software Acquisition Case Study

Background

Lifecycle Software Ltd. is a specialist software company with more than 20 years’ experience creating and delivering industry-leading billing solutions, CRM software, and reporting tools. The company’s software helps real-time usage and subscription-based businesses succeed in all areas of their business.

Founded in 1995 by Kim Craven, Lifecycle was formed to address the needs of fixed communications providers and ISP resellers in the UK. In 2008, Lifecycle evolved to focus on the emerging needs of virtual mobile operators, providing them with turnkey solutions for subscriber management and billing.

Today, Lifecycle’s award-winning software supports the entire customer journey from sales and provisioning through invoicing, customer care, payment collection, debt management, reporting, and beyond. Lifecycle caters to MNOs, MVNOs, MVNAs, MVNEs, and IoT Providers across the globe.

Founder and CEO, Kim Craven, founded Lifecycle in 1995 and has been running the business ever since. By 2019, he was nearing retirement and began thinking about how he could ensure the longevity of his company. It was important for Craven to find a home for his business that would keep his employees and customers feeling secure and empowered.

Why Sell?

Lifecycle was in the middle of a sustained period of growth, and Craven didn’t want to risk the company’s growth slowing down. Craven’s ideal acquirer would provide financial stability and operational expertise so that the business would continue to build upon its strengths and grow.

3 Reasons Lifecycle Chose Lumine

Buy-and-Hold Forever

Craven was looking for an acquirer that would keep the company intact. As a buy-and-hold forever acquirer, he believed Lumine would support decisions that enabled sustainable growth for the business. With this long-term outlook, the legacy of the business would not be at risk.

Access to a Network of Likeminded Leaders

As part of Lumine Group, Craven would unlock access to a network of likeminded peers and customers. Within the portfolio, there are frequent knowledge sharing opportunities, and discovery sessions to uncover potential synergies between businesses.

Access to Capital

Lifecycle was enjoying a period of sustained growth. Craven’s ideal acquirer would provide access to capital and had sound financial support to drive further growth. With the financial backing of parent company Constellation Software Inc. (TSX:CSU), Craven was confident that Lumine would be a credible and reliable investor.

If what you want to do is commercially sustainable, Lumine can help you achieve that. But if what you want to do is pie-in-the-sky, they can help you see that. They act as a sounding boarding, checking the validity of your plans and help you work towards achieving your goals!

—Kim Craven, Founder, Lifecycle Software

Life Post-Acquisition

Six weeks post-acquisition, Lifecycle has begun to embrace new best practices. There have been functional seminars for Finance, ecosystem customer awareness, Professional Services, R&D Commercialization, and Sales.

Lifecycle is spending time with other Lumine portfolio businesses to learn more about operational best practices, meet industry peers, and assess natural synergies and complementary product offerings. These connections will be invaluable to achieving business goals and accelerating growth.

Apart from that, it’s business as usual at Lifecycle.

Lifecycle will continue to collaborate with all the businesses within the portfolio in order to truly embrace the value of the immense customer footprint and repository of lessons learned, tools and templates Lumine has provided. To date, Lifecycle is tracking new opportunities globally from the Lumine Portfolio, Customer Applications, and VAS Group!

—Tony Garcia, Group Leader, Lumine Group

Lifecycle Software starts new chapter with Lumine Group