PE Firm Acquires Stake in AvantGuard, Freeus Parent Company
Becklar CEO Josh Garner will retain a sizeable equity stake in the company following the transaction with BV Investment Partners.
Becklar, based in Ogden, Utah, was formed in 2017 by Josh Garner to unite wholesale monitoring provider AvantGuard with mPERS hardware provider Freeus.
BOSTON — BV Investment Partners on Monday announced an investment in Becklar, the parent company of independently operated sister companies AvantGuard Monitoring Centers and Freeus, in partnership with company founder and CEO Josh Garner.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Becklar, based in Ogden, Utah, was formed in 2017 by Garner to unite the complementary Freeus and AvantGuard businesses under one entity. Freeus provides mobile personal emergency response system (mPERS) solutions to life safety, security and technology businesses nationwide. Freeus’ full solution bundles mPERS devices, a proprietary device management software platform, cellular connectivity and event response monitoring services. AvantGuard is a wholesale monitoring provider that offers critical event response services to the security, fire, PERS and IoT industries in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada.
“For a number of years we have been working to execute on an investment thesis around wholesale monitoring and PERS,” states Justin Garrison, managing director of BV Investment Partners. “These industries provide critical life safety technology and services, and they benefit from a number of growth drivers including demographic tailwinds, the desire of seniors to have the freedom to age in place, IoT adoption, and the trend towards outsourcing commercial and residential monitoring to leading wholesale providers like AvantGuard.”
Garrison continues, “We have gotten to know Josh and the Becklar team over the last several years; they are a terrific group and have established a leading position in the wholesale monitoring and PERS industries through careful investment in technology, process and people. We’re looking forward to be working in partnership with them to execute on a compelling growth strategy.”
Garner comments Becklar has grown rapidly since its inception, driven by the quality and dedication of the Becklar team, investment in technology and positive market trends.
“Together with BV we’re pursuing a number of organic growth opportunities, including the overall growth in the mobile PERS market, developing new products and services, meeting emerging monitoring needs, and expanding our software development capabilities for a number of end markets,” Garner says. “We also plan to pursue sizeable M&A opportunities which had previously been out of our reach without a partner like BV. The BV team has a long history of working with founder-owned companies, has experience in our sectors, and we are excited to be working with them.”
BV Vice President Sam Axelrod states, “From our initial meeting we have been enormously impressed with the company, its team, and its service and product offerings. Freeus and AvantGuard are differentiated businesses that operate in two growing markets. Both companies are well-regarded in the industry and known for high quality solutions and service levels. We’re looking forward to being a key part of Becklar’s future as the Company continues to grow and provide the highest levels of service.”
In addition to Garrison and Axelrod, BV CEO and Managing Partner Vikrant Raina will be joining the company’s board of directors with Garner.
The Edmonds Group acted as exclusive financial advisor to Becklar for the transaction.
Since its founding in 1983, BV Investment Partners has invested $3.5 billion, actively targeting investments in the business services, software and IT services industries.
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