Clearent has acquired a controlling interest in Service Autopilot, a popular system used by lawn care companies. Niche software companies serving green industry businesses have been popular investment targets with Real Green and Aspire receiving private equity investments. Clearent is a portfolio company of Advent International.
Here is the complete press release announcing Clearent’s investment in Service Autopilot:
Payments solutions provider, Clearent, has acquired controlling interest in Service Autopilot, a field-service-management, software-as-a-service (SaaS) business serving green-industry (lawncare, snow-removal and cleaning-industry) customers. Clearent Software Holdings (CSH), a wholly owned subsidiary of St. Louis-based Clearent, announced the move as the latest example of its effort toward broadening its stable of high-quality, affordable and user-friendly solutions to customers in the field-services industry.
Service Autopilot will continue to operate business as usual out of its Richardson, Texas, headquarters. Its founders, CEO Jonathan Pototschnik and CTO John Caldwell, will stay on as shareholders and continue to lead the company in their current roles. Additionally, all 90 Service Autopilot employees will stay on following the completion of the acquisition.
Service Autopilot’s cloud-based SaaS platform provides customers with a full suite of services designed to save time and money while growing revenue and enhancing profitability. Service Autopilot’s end-to-end solution allows customers to schedule, route and dispatch employees; job-cost, invoice and bill customers; and generate, capture and nurture leads, among other features. Launched in 2009 as a scheduling system for green-industry companies, Service Autopilot has grown to become the single system customers use to run their business. Service enhancements include the addition of mobile functionality, a client portal, two-way QuickBooks sync and marketing and business automation.
“We’re excited to welcome Service Autopilot to Clearent’s portfolio of leading field-service-management solutions. Our ‘invest-to-grow’ strategy has been successfully applied to current portfolio businesses, including FieldEdge and Coolfront, and we are confident it will provide Service Autopilot with the incremental resources needed to grow by meeting the needs of existing customers, the green industry as a whole and other future markets,” said Connie Certusi, president of Clearent Field Services Management Solutions. “We look forward to partnering with Jonathan and John, along with the entire Service Autopilot team, to increase Clearent’s footprint in this rapidly growing market.”
This latest purchase broadens Clearent Software Holdings’ portfolio of independent software vendors in the field-services industry to reach green-industry customers that include lawncare, pool-cleaning and snow-removal companies. Service Autopilot will operate alongside FieldEdge, which traditionally supports mechanical contractors such as HVAC, electrical, plumbing and equipment repair companies. FieldEdge and Service Autopilot will collectively benefit by sharing best practices and centers of excellence – pooling/sharing services and common infrastructure where appropriate, while continuing to operate as independent companies.
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