TZP Group Acquires Awareness Technologies

NEW YORK, Dec. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- TZP Group ("TZP"), a multi-strategy private equity firm, announced today the acquisition of Awareness Technologies, Inc. ("ATI" or the "Company") a provider of security, monitoring, productivity and analytics software solutions for businesses and consumers. In conjunction with the acquisition, ATI announced the appointment of Elizabeth Harz as the Company's new CEO. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. This represents the first investment for TZP Small Cap Partners, II L.P.

Founded in 2002, ATI provides end-point monitoring solutions across four distinct software offerings: InterGuard provides employee productivity analytics, web filtering, data loss prevention and laptop data recovery for business users; Veriato offers remote employee monitoring, user and entity behavioral analytics, insider threat detection, data loss prevention and investigations for enterprise customers; WebWatcher provides parents with software to understand their children's web browsing, text messages, and GPS history to help prevent against online predators, cyber-bullying and inappropriate behavior; and ScreenTime provides parents management controls over their children's devices, including setting time limits, establishing homework and tasks, approving apps, location tracking and geo fencing.   

"Awareness Technologies sits at the intersection of two strong trends that we have been tracking," said Dan Gaspar, Partner at TZP. "We believe that trends toward increased remote work and work-from-home will continue even after the Pandemic resolves and that businesses will seek solutions to help monitor productivity and ensure security amongst a remote workforce. On the consumer front, as the number of devices in the home continues to rise, ATI's products offer a one-stop solution for parents to monitor their kids across multiple platforms." 

Former CEO, Brad Miller, will remain a shareholder and will serve as Executive Chairman of ATI. "We've seen tremendous growth in demand for our products," said Miller, "and I'm excited for the partnership with TZP to help bring the Company to the next level." Also joining the Board of Directors is Scott Carter, former CEO of ID Analytics, who brings over 25 years of experience in SaaS, artificial intelligence, and data analytics.

ATI has appointed Elizabeth Harz as the company's new CEO. Harz brings decades of experience building and leading high-performing organizations through accelerated growth. She has deep roots in sales and marketing as well as product and technology. Most recently, she was CEO of Sittercity overseeing its transformation to a modern digital marketplace and led its sale to Bright Horizons. Prior to Sittercity, Harz held senior leadership roles at Chegg, Electronic Arts and Yahoo!

"Elizabeth's experience leading both consumer and enterprise businesses globally was key to our decision to recruit her for this opportunity," said Mr. Gaspar. "She has a proven track record taking strong assets like Sittercity, Chegg and EA and accelerating their growth through product optimization, disciplined management and new monetization opportunities."

"I'm thrilled to be joining Awareness Technologies.  The team has built great products for consumers, small and medium businesses as well as large, global enterprises," said Harz. "Today's parents need help managing their family's screen time in more contexts and across more devices than ever before. Simultaneously, we are watching the future of work evolve before our eyes and businesses of all sizes need transparent solutions to help keep their networks and employees safe."

Dan Gaspar led the transaction for TZP along with Michael Morgan, Nick Vega, and Kyle Bonalle.  Kirkland & Ellis and Robinson+Cole provided legal counsel to TZP and the sellers, respectively.    

About TZP Group
TZP Group, a private equity firm with $1.7 billion raised since inception across its family of funds including TZP Capital Partners, TZP Small Cap Partners and TZP Strategies, is focused on control, growth equity and structured capital investments in business services and consumer companies. Founded in 2007, TZP targets companies with solid historical performance and sustainable value propositions and aims to be a "Partner of Choice" for business owners and management teams. TZP seeks to invest primarily in closely-held, private companies in which the owners desire to retain a significant stake and partner with an investor with complementary operating and financial skills to accelerate company growth, increase profitability, and maximize the value of their retained stake. TZP leverages its investment professionals' operating and investment experience to provide strategic and operational guidance and is dedicated to long-term value creation. For more information, please visit www.tzpgroup.com.

About Awareness Technologies
Founded in 2002, Awareness Technologies provides security, monitoring, forensic, data loss prevention, productivity and analytics solutions for home, office, and enterprise. The company operates four distinct award-winning brands, InterGuard, ScreenTime, WebWatcher and Veriato that are trusted by businesses and consumers globally. Awareness Technologies' global headquarters are in Westport, CT. For more information, visit https://awarenesstechnologies.com

For more media inquiries please contact:
Dan Gaspar, Partner | [email protected]

SOURCE TZP Group

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