CRF Health Announces Investment by Vitruvian Partners to Support Growth

HELSINKI, January 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

CRF Health, the leading global provider of eCOA solutions for the life sciences industry, today announced a significant investment of funds managed and advised by Vitruvian Partners ("Vitruvian"), subject only to customary regulatory approvals. The transaction establishes Vitruvian as majority shareholder of CRF Health, while previous majority investor Verdane Capital VII and other shareholders will exit the company.

The new ownership will enable CRF Health to continue to invest in its people, processes and industry-leading technology in order to build upon its premier position in a rapidly growing market.

Rachael Wyllie, Chief Executive Officer of CRF Health, commented:

"The use of electronic Clinical Outcome Assessments, or eCOA, has clearly come of age. We expect growth across all aspects of the business as pharmaceutical sponsors recognize the quality gains in clinical trial data provided by the use of such technologies. Under Verdane funds' majority ownership, we have managed to grow revenues by an average of 35% per year, grow our customer base and continue to improve quality. As we seek to continue to strengthen the services we offer our client base, the investment from Vitruvian allows us to accelerate our plans and further enhance our technology and service offerings in the space."

Philip Russmeyer, a Partner at Vitruvian, added:

"Vitruvian is pleased to invest in CRF Health at a time of continued rapid market growth for eCOA. This investment will allow the company the flexibility to accelerate growth both organically and inorganically by further leveraging its market-leading technological proposition. We are therefore delighted to partner with CRF Health's outstanding management team and look forward to jointly driving the next phase of the company's global development."

For further information on CRF Health, please visit http://www.crfhealth.com

About CRF Health 

CRF Health is a leading provider of electronic Clinical Outcome Assessment (eCOA) solutions for global clinical trials. With experience in about 550 trials, over 100 languages and across 74 countries, CRF Health's TrialMax eCOA solutions consistently demonstrate the industry's highest data accuracy, patient and site compliance, and patient retention.

CRF Health's TrialMax eCOA solutions improve trial engagement by fitting into the lives of patients and seamlessly integrating into sites to maximize protocol compliance. The company's eCOA solutions include PROs (Patient Reported Outcomes), ObsROs (Observer Reported Outcomes) and ClinROs (Clinician or Rater Reported Outcomes).

About Vitruvian Partners 

Vitruvian is an independent private equity firm which specialises in middle‐market buyouts, growth buyouts and growth capital investments. Vitruvian focuses on investing in 'dynamic situations' in industries characterised by rapid growth and change, such as information technology, healthcare, media, telecoms, financial services, business services, and leisure. Vitruvian is currently investing VIP II, its recently raised fund of £1 billion. The firm's previous investments in the technology and healthcare sectors include Just Eat, Snow Software, Callcredit Information Group and Healthcare at Home.

About Verdane Capital Advisors 

Verdane Capital Advisors is the Nordic market's leading manager of secondary direct funds. Verdane funds have €700m in committed capital and focus on investing in companies with strong growth potential, active in the IT, energy and advanced industrial sectors. What sets Verdane funds apart is the flexibility to buy either a complete portfolio, parts of a portfolio or a single shareholding amongst a group of unlisted assets. Since 2003, the funds advised by Verdane Capital Advisors have acquired 23 portfolios with stakes in over 250 companies. Verdane funds have invested in companies such as EasyPark, Mathem, Resman and RoyalDesign. Former holdings include Caretech, Chipcon, Nacre, Reslink, Reslab, Tradedoubler and WhiteAway. For more information, visit http://www.verdanecapital.com.

SOURCE CRF Health