06/28/2011
BOSTON, MA — June 28, 2011 –– Eliza Corporation (Eliza), a leading provider of integrated healthcare communication strategies, analytics, and business intelligence for leading healthcare organizations, announced today it has completed a growth investment from Parthenon Capital Partners (Parthenon), a growth oriented private equity firm with offices in Boston and San Francisco. The Parthenon investment marks the first time Eliza has taken on institutional capital—having been independently profitable since 2002. Proceeds from the transaction were used to provide partial liquidity to certain shareholders and capital to the company to pursue future growth initiatives. Eliza will continue to be led by its current management team, headed by co-founders Alexandra Drane and Lucas Merrow. Following the transaction, Eliza’s founders and senior management team will continue to own a majority of the company alongside Parthenon.
Eliza Corporation blends technology, communication expertise, and data analytics to drive healthy behavior change. The company’s intelligent, tailored interactions—including automated calls—make health and healthcare information more accessible, more actionable, and more engaging. Each program is powered by Eliza’s patented speech recognition technology, rich web and multi-modal delivery platform, population profile analysis, and Continuity of Care Record (CCR) capabilities. These programs consistently yield the best outcomes in the industry in terms of improved engagement, health and wellness measures, and financial savings. Eliza’s customers include the nation’s leading health plans, disease management firms, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacy benefit managers and employers.
“As fierce entrepreneurs, we are thrilled to have selected Parthenon as our growth partner. This relationship enables us to continue to provide the excellent service and capabilities that our customers and partners have come to expect from us, while also allowing us to accelerate our investment in new technology so we can continue to push the envelope” said Lucas Merrow, CEO and co-founder of Eliza Corporation. President and co-founder Alexandra Drane added “The founding team recognized that now is the time to focus on leveraging Eliza’s unique assets and position in the market to supercharge growth. We are in the middle of a perfect storm; the nation needs better health outcomes at a lower cost and consumers won’t be happy with anything less than great service. Eliza’s platform is in the sweet spot of this unique opportunity, and now is the time to do even more for the people we serve. We are very excited to partner with a firm that shares our passion for this goal and can help us accelerate steps towards achieving it.”
David Ament, a Managing Partner at Parthenon Capital Partners, said “We believe Eliza is a very special company with a unique combination of technology, people and corporate mission. They are at the epicenter of a number of interesting trends and we are proud to be part of the company going forward.” Brad Sloan, a Principal at the firm, remarked “We have known the Eliza team for several years and have been impressed with their commitment to and track record of delivering superior outcomes in terms of improved member engagement, clinical measures, and client savings. We look forward to assisting the company enhance its industry leadership position and exciting growth trajectory with our investment.”
Jefferies & Company acted as financial advisor to Eliza in the transaction.
ABOUT ELIZA CORPORATION
Eliza Corporation blends technology, communication expertise, and data analytics to drive healthy behavior change. The company’s intelligent, tailored interactions—including automated calls—make health and healthcare information more accessible, more actionable, and more engaging. Each program is powered by Eliza’s patented speech recognition technology, rich web and multi-modal delivery platform, population profile analysis, and Continuity of Care Record (CCR) capabilities. These programs consistently yield the best outcomes in the industry in terms of improved engagement, health and wellness measures, and financial savings. Eliza’s customers include the nation’s leading health plans, disease management firms, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacy benefit managers and employers. The results of Eliza’s programs have been recognized by organizations including the Centers for Prevention and Disease Control, the BlueCross BlueShield Association, URAC, Entrepreneur magazine, The Consumer Directed Health Care Congress and Harvard Medical School. For more information, please visitwww.elizacorporation.com.
ABOUT PARTHENON CAPITAL PARTNERS
Parthenon Capital Partners is a leading mid-market private equity firm based in Boston and San Francisco. Parthenon utilizes niche industry expertise and a deep execution team to invest in growth companies in service industries. Parthenon seeks to be an active and aligned partner to management, either through recapitalization transactions or by backing new executives. Parthenon has particular expertise in business services, financial and insurance services and healthcare, but seeks any service, technology or delivery business with a strong value proposition and proprietary know-how. Parthenon’s investment team has deep experience in corporate strategy, capital markets and operations, enabling the firm to pursue complex, multi-faceted value creation opportunities. For more information, visit www.parthenoncapital.com.