Former Continuum CEO Michael George is assisting private equity firm Summit Partners with portfolio company VeriShip's business acceleration. The move comes a few weeks after ConnectWise acquired Continuum as part of an expansion play in the MSP software and business automation market.
A report from Kansas City says George is running VeriShip. But I suspect some context is needed. If I had to guess, George is likely helping Summit Partners to fine tune and further accelerate that business in the near-term, before contemplating his own long-term next move in the business market.
George and Summit Partners have a strong relationship that stretches back to 2011, and the successful build-out of Continuum.
VeriShip develops a SaaS-based shipping expense optimization platform for small and midsize business customers (SMBs). The company recently acquired Valence, a software and managed service company that tracks Amazon’s operational errors for sellers in its Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program.
The M&A deal blends a software company with managed services -- empowering SMBs with shipping and fulfillment insights across such networks as Amazon, DHS, FedEx and UPS systems, VeriShip says.
Describing the overall solution, VeriShip says:
"Valence’s technology taps into Amazon’s Marketplace Web Service API to identify Amazon’s operational errors in handling a seller’s FBA inventory. Then, Valence associates negotiate reimbursements owed. Similarly, VeriShip combines its industry-leading technology – a cloud-based parcel analytics platform that aggregates and audits data on 70 million packages shipped annually through DHL, FedEx and UPS – with expert data scientists to recover refunds for small and mid-sized businesses. Its data scientists further analyze and compare data to optimize the shipping environment and prevent future overcharges and inaccuracies through carrier contract engineering and predictive analytics."
Summit Partners and Michael George
VeriShip is backed by Summit Partners, a private equity firm that partnered closely with George to build Continuum from 2011 through 2017. Thoma Bravo acquired Continuum in 2017 and ConnectWise in February 2019. Then, ConnectWise acquired Continuum in October 2019, essentially consolidating two Thoma Bravo portfolio companies into an MSP technology giant.
Under George's leadership, Continuum emerged as the leading provider of outsourced helpdesk, NOC (network operations center) and business automation services for MSPs. Clearly, Summit Partners respected George's work and leadership at Continuum -- now tapping him to help accelerate VeriShip's business.
