Local Tech Wire 

Intersouth leads $5 million round in S.C. human resources services firm

Acadia

On The Web

• Intersouth
• Acadia
• FCC

Site Search

Get the latest news alerts: Follow LTW at Twitter.

Local Tech Wire

DURHAM, N.C. – Intersouth Partners is the lead investor in a venture capital round of $5 million for Acadia Human Capital Solutions, which has new owners and is relocating to Charleston, S.C.

Acadia focuses on providing human resources services and will deliver those through a software-as-a-service model. It targets small and mid-sized businesses.

PMW Technologies, a privately held company, acquired Acadia last week. Nate DaPore and John Smith, former executives at Benefitfocus, will run Acadia as chief executive officer and chief technology officer respectively. They utilized some of the capital to help buy Aacadia and also are invested in the new venture, according to Mitch Mumma of Intersouth. Mumma will take a seat on the Acadia board as part of the investment.

Founded in 2001, the company is currently located in Columbia, S.C. and will continue to use the Acadia name. The firm already has high-profile customers such as Aflac, Triple A, and Bose.

“For us, from an investment perspective, there is a lot of talent at Acadia and there is an experienced management team in Nate and John,” Mumma told Local Tech Wire and WRAL.com. “They will get a jump start rather than as a company with zero revenues. They already have class A customers.

“Having an existing business and existing customers helps mitigate that risk of starting from ground zero, especially in this economic climate,” he added.

While impressed with the backgrounds of the new owners, Mumma said he also liked the fact Acadia would make a software-as-a-service play and would approach “the small business market, which is vastly underserved.”

The 20 employees of Acadia have been offered the option to relocate to Charleston. Mitch Smith, Acadia’s founder, will stay with the company in some capacity, according to Mumma.

Also investing in Acadia is C&B Capital, which is located in Atlanta.

The new funding will be used to expand Acadia’s offerings in six areas:

• Onboarding, which includes finding new talent, promoting from within and training of new employees in company policies and procedures
• Learning management
• Performance management
• Communication
• Compensation
• Succession planning

Saying Intersouth “is in the business to know who is raising money,” Mumma explained that the venture firm and Acadia’s new owners “found each other.” After several months of due diligence, Mumma said he grew impressed with DaPore and Smith.

The two decided to launch their own venture then decided to buy Acadia, Mumma explained.
 

Editor’s Blog

The latest blog posts from our Local Tech Wire and WRAL editors. Read more articles…