Harbortouch Partners With Searchlight Capital to Support Its Next Phase of Growth
Searchlight Capital Partners, L.P. (“Searchlight”) today announced that funds managed by it have made a significant investment in Harbortouch Payments, LLC (“Harbortouch” or the “Company”) in partnership with the Company’s founder and CEO, Jared Isaacman, to support Harbortouch’s next phase of growth. Isaacman will remain the CEO of the Company, which he has led since 1999. Under Jared’s leadership, Harbortouch has become one of the fastest growing providers of integrated payment processing and point of sale (“POS”) system solutions. Throughout the Company’s 17-year history, Harbortouch has served over 250,000 small and medium businesses (“SMBs”) across the United States and presently processes more than $10 billion in annual bankcard volume.
“We are excited about what this investment means for the future of Harbortouch,” said Isaacman. “Before selecting a partner we had extensive interactions with the Searchlight team and were impressed by how well they understood the industry and appreciated the differentiation of our disruptive POS-as-a-service business model. Not only do they have relevant experience and financial resources to draw upon, but they are also committed to our strategic growth plans to make Harbortouch a leading SMB POS platform.”
“Harbortouch is an innovative leader in providing integrated payments and POS solutions to SMBs throughout the United States, a market segment that is growing rapidly as SMBs continue to adopt POS technology. The Company’s POS-as-a-service offering, which includes hardware, software and customer service for a low monthly fee, has resonated well in the SMB market where comparable products are materially more expensive than Harbortouch’s solutions,” said Eric Zinterhofer, co-founder of Searchlight. “We look forward to working with Jared and the Harbortouch team as they continue to innovate, enter new markets, and enhance the customer experience for both merchants and distribution partners.”
About Searchlight Capital Partners, L.P.
Searchlight is a global private investment firm with offices in New York, London and Toronto. Searchlight seeks to invest in businesses where its long term capital and strategic support accelerate value creation for all stakeholders.
About Harbortouch
Founded in 1999, Harbortouch is one of the fastest growing providers of integrated payment processing and point of sale system solutions in the United States. Throughout the Company’s 17-year history, Harbortouch has served over 250,000 small and medium businesses across the United States and presently processes more than $10 billion in annual bankcard volume.
Advisors
Advisors to Searchlight Capital Partners in the transaction included Financial Technology Partners (exclusive financial advisor), Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (legal counsel), Ernst & Young (financial accounting, tax, IT), Lockton Companies (insurance), and First Annapolis Consulting (commercial due diligence). Advisors to Harbortouch in the transaction included Goldman, Sachs & Co. (exclusive financial advisor) and Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC (legal counsel). Citizens Bank and Guggenheim are joint lead arrangers on the debt financing with Webster Bank acting as syndication agent.