Serent-Backed FranConnect Acquires Rizepoint, a Leading Provider of Quality Management Systems for Multi-Location Businesses

Serent-Backed FranConnect Acquires Rizepoint, a Leading Provider of Quality Management Systems for Multi-Location Businesses

February 27, 2024

FranConnect, a market-leading provider of sales, operations, and marketing solutions to franchises and multi-location businesses, announced today it has acquired RizePoint, a leading provider of quality management systems (QMS) serving global restaurant, retail, and hospitality brands. This is FranConnect’s third acquisition over a four-year period and marks another significant milestone for FranConnect in extending its reach beyond franchise brands to serve the operational needs of the broader ecosystem of multi-unit owners, locations, front-line employees, and suppliers.

Adding RizePoint to the FranConnect platform brings deep quality management capabilities to FranConnect’s already comprehensive franchise management platform. Designed to help organizations effectively manage compliance, maintain quality standards, and streamline operations, RizePoint is known for its industry-leading mobile auditing and inspection platform, which is used for location audits, health and safety checks, and supplier management. Three of the top five global restaurant brands use RizePoint, along with Ecolab, Wendy’s, Focus Brands, Dine Brands, L Brands, and Sodexo. More than 2 million audits are conducted annually using RizePoint, with over one million users across 120 countries and translated in over 39 languages.

“The challenge of running a multi-location business gets increasingly complex with expansion and growth, regardless of whether franchised or owned. Brands need to ensure that operators are complying with brand standards, but also adhering to health and safety initiatives and following daily tasks and checklists. As well, the growing challenges to our global supply chain means that auditing suppliers is equally important to compliance against those standards,” said Gabby Wong, CEO of FranConnect. “Along with FranConnect’s market-leading operational platform, our combined solution will enable us to monitor the performance of a brand, end-to-end, from the brand to the operator, location, front-line employees, and even the supplier community.”

Backed by Baltimore-based Access Holdings, RizePoint is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, with employees across North America and the UK. Rizepoint’s offices and employee base will now be a part of FranConnect’s global footprint. With RizePoint’s customers, FranConnect’s reach will now span over one million locations worldwide.

“The acquisition of RizePoint by FranConnect will greatly benefit our customers and the industry. By uniting forces, we are in a unique position to offer a more robust and comprehensive suite of solutions that will further empower our customers to effectively manage compliance, elevate quality standards, and drive operational excellence. This acquisition will accelerate our ability to innovate, develop, and deploy meaningful advancements to our products and solutions,” said Kari Hensien, CEO of RizePoint.

“We are thrilled to welcome RizePoint customers and employees into the FranConnect community,” said Wong. “Kari and her team bring deep expertise in QMS that our customers want and need from FranConnect. Further, with this acquisition, we continue to demonstrate that we intend to look across the broader market to provide the best tools and solutions to solve the unique challenges facing multi-location businesses.”

Canaccord Genuity LLC acted as the exclusive financial advisor to RizePoint for this transaction.

About FranConnect

FranConnect is a leading enterprise software provider for franchise and multi-location businesses. For over 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 1500 brands and over one million locations worldwide. These brands rely on FranConnect to expand locations, streamline unit operations, enhance collaboration across the network of locations, and improve profitability. FranConnect’s customers are some of the most iconic and recognized brands in the industry, including SPARC/Authentic Brands (Forever 21), Tropical Smoothie Café, Authority Brands, and Papa John’s. Backed by private equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global offices in Australia, India, Colombia, and Canada. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

Serent Capital invests in growing businesses that have developed compelling solutions that address their customers' needs. As those businesses grow and evolve, the opportunities and challenges that they face change with them. Principals at Serent Capital have firsthand experience at capturing those opportunities and navigating these difficulties through their experiences as CEOs, strategic advisors, and board members to successful growing businesses. By bringing its expertise and capital to bear, Serent seeks to help growing businesses thrive. Learn more about our portfolio companies.

Disclaimer:

This publication is for informational purposes only, and nothing contained herein constitutes an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any interest in any investment vehicle managed by Serent Capital or any company in which Serent Capital or its affiliates have invested. An offer or solicitation will be made only through a final private placement memorandum, subscription agreement and other related documents with respect to a particular investment opportunity and will be subject to the terms and conditions contained in such documents, including the qualifications necessary to become an investor. Serent Capital does not utilize its website to provide investment or other advice, and nothing contained herein constitutes a comprehensive or complete statement of the matters discussed or the law relating thereto. Information provided reflects Serent Capital’s views as of a particular time and are subject to change without notice. You should obtain relevant and specific professional advice before making any investment decision.
Executive endorsements of Serent Capital are for illustrative purposes, designed to attract business development contacts, and should not be construed as a client or investor testimonial of Serent Capital's investment advisory services. All such endorsements are from current or former portfolio company leadership about Serent Capital’s ability to provide services to their companies. Certain executives are also investors in Serent Capital’s investment vehicle(s), and as such, there is an inherent conflict in that those executives have an incentive to provide favorable reviews of Serent Capital’s business practices for the benefit of the investment vehicles that they hold a personal ownership interest in. Serent Capital has not, directly or indirectly, paid any compensation to such individuals for their endorsements.
Certain information on this Website may contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties and speak only as of the date on which they are made. The words “believe”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “optimistic”, “intend”, “aim”, “will” or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Serent Capital undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. Past performance is not indicative of future results; no representation is being made that any investment or transaction will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those achieved in the past, or that significant losses will be avoided.