Two weeks ago (1/12/17), one of Horizon’s clients, Calgary-based Robots and Pencils, received a majority private equity buyout and recapitalization from Next Sparc and merged with its portfolio company KINETiQ DIGITAL as part of the transaction.
Robots and Pencils is a mobile strategy and development firm known for its top-ranking consumer apps, transformative enterprise solutions and world-first education platforms. Started in 2009, the company has created more than 250 apps used by over 77 million people worldwide, and in 2014 was named the 34th fastest growing technology company in North America by Deloitte for a five year growth rate of 4,971 per cent.
KINETiQ DIGITAL was launched in 2014 by Len Pagon and Nathan Carmon, the principals who also founded and helped build Brulant/Rosetta into one of the top 10 privately held digital agencies in North America before selling to Publicis in 2011 for almost $600 million. The company is known for solving difficult business challenges by delivering high-value, integrated digital solutions.
Please let us know if you’d like to learn more about this transaction and the Horizon process. The transaction represents a great new future for the combined entity, which Robots and Pencils Co-founder and CEO Michael Sikorsky discussed in an open letter about the transaction.
You can read more about the transaction on Robots and Pencils’ website and in articles published by other media outlets like Yahoo Finance.