Arbolus, the expert insights platform, has closed a $20m growth equity round, led by Composition Capital (“Composition”), acting as a sub-adviser to certain Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P. (“Kayne Anderson”) growth funds. With this new investment, Arbolus is primed to reinforce its position as the leading disruptor in the expert insights industry, with a mission of making human knowledge digital and widely accessible.
Most investors and consultants are familiar with traditional expert networks and understand their critical role in informing investment decisions. However, this $2.3bn market has seen little innovation and remains largely analog, marked by reactive service, inconsistent quality and legacy workflows. Arbolus is building a future where bespoke, attributable insights are instantly available to inform investment decisions. Growth continues to be driven by a multi-product approach, where clients engage with Arbolus’ experts using a variety of tools, depending on their use-case and stage in the deal cycle. In addition to traditional expert calls, clients can:
- Save time on customer research using Arbolus Canopy, the first-of-its-kind asynchronous video Q&A tool
- Discover and monitor potential investments using Arbolus Insights, a proprietary database of B2B customers
- Run surveys with previously hard to reach B2B audiences
Today’s $20m investment is the first to be made by Composition, a Los Angeles-based growth stage technology investor. As part of its recent launch, Composition entered into a sub-advisory arrangement with Kayne Anderson regarding certain of its growth capital funds, including its recent investment in Arbolus. In what has been an exceptional period of growth since Arbolus’s last round, the London-headquartered business has more than doubled revenue, increased the team size to 180 and has seen increased customer demand. Much of this growth is driven by the launch of Canopy, which continues to gain traction and transform how investors conduct research. This new capital will help Arbolus bolster US commercial operations, develop further products and continue its disruption of the expert network and broader information services industries.
Sam Glasswell, CEO and co-founder of Arbolus said: “Over the past two years, Arbolus has seen exceptional growth in a challenging deals market. This has been driven by a relentless focus on understanding our customers’ needs and developing innovative products to address them. Our video Q&A tool, Canopy, continues to grow in popularity and we’re excited to see this complemented by Arbolus Insights next year and beyond. We can’t wait to partner with the team at Composition to build the industry-leading expert insights platform.”
Leon Chen of Composition remarked: “We are thrilled to partner with Arbolus at this pivotal stage in their growth and at such an opportune moment in this industry. As long users of expert networks ourselves, Arbolus’s differentiated and disruptive approach to a critical – but legacy – industry, supported by consistent growth, validates the strength of their offering.”
Vlad Malugin of Composition added: “The investment research space has seen an uptick in high profile deals and we see this is a great leading indicator for Arbolus. This investment underscores our confidence in Arbolus’s vision, their exceptional team, and their ability to drive meaningful impact by making expert insights more accessible and actionable for companies worldwide.”
[FN 1] Composition Capital LP (“Composition”) acts as sub adviser to certain Kayne Anderson Capital funds including KAYNE PARTNERS FUND IV (“KPF IV”), L.P, KAYNE PARTNERS FUND V (“KPF V”), L.P, and KAYNE PARTNERS GROWTH CREDIT L.P. (“KPGC”), L.P . The Composition investment and support team are former employees of Kayne Anderson working in the same or similar capacity at Composition.
About Arbolus
https://www.arbolus.com/about-us
Arbolus’ mission is to make human knowledge digital. The Company was founded in 2018 by Sam Glasswell and Will Leeming, two entrepreneurs with previous experience of helping scale a $1bn company. Arbolus is headquartered in London, with offices in New York, Barcelona and Delhi.
About Composition Capital
Composition Capital is a Los Angeles, CA-based growth capital firm focused on technology and technology-enabled services businesses in the lower middle market. The firm focuses primarily on business process innovation, healthcare, financial technology, supply chain & logistics, and enterprise software. Composition Capital supplements its thematic approach to investing with its operational approach, leveraging its network of functional and vertical operating specialists to add value to its portfolio companies.
About Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P.
Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P., founded in 1984, is a leading alternative investment management firm focused on real estate, credit, infrastructure and energy. Kayne’s investment philosophy is to pursue niches, with an emphasis on cash flow, where our knowledge and sourcing advantages enable us to deliver above average, risk-adjusted investment returns. As responsible stewards of capital, Kayne’s philosophy extends to promoting responsible investment practices and sustainable business practices to create long-term value for our investors. Kayne manages nearly $35 billion in assets (as of 6/30/2024) for institutional investors, family offices, high net worth and retail clients and employs over 325 professionals in five core offices across the U.S.
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