Assent ‘a year or two away’ from ‘owning’ compliance software market: CEO

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Assent’s recent acquisition of a European company moves it one step closer to “owning” the global compliance software market, the Ottawa firm’s CEO says. Earlier this month, Assent announced it had closed a deal to acquire iPoint, a firm headquartered in Reutlingen, Germany that specializes in product compliance and sustainability software for the automotive industry. “It’s great to be a leading Canadian company, it’s even better to be a leading worldwide company, and I think this acquisition reflects the complexity and the worldwide nature of manufacturing,” Michael Southworth, who took over as Assent’s chief executive last year, told OBJ in a recent interview. More than 1,000 industrial companies around the world — including household names such as Honeywell International, General Electric, Boeing, Toshiba and Johnson & Johnson — use Assent’s cloud-based software to ensure their supply chains comply with a growing list of ethical and regulatory standards. The company cracked the $100-million mark in annual revenue in 2024 and has since been expanding at an impressive clip, posting revenue growth percentages in the mid-teens. While Assent has made inroads in several industrial verticals and has some of the world’s biggest companies as customers, the iPoint deal strengthens the firm in a couple of key areas, Southworth explained. Currently, less than 20 per cent of the company’s revenue comes from Europe, he noted. Bringing the German firm under its roof immediately gives Assent a much stronger foothold on the other side of the Atlantic. Meanwhile, Assent is also trying to make its presence felt in the automotive sector, an industry that is “a little bit of its own animal,” in Southworth’s words. About one-fifth of all manufacturing worldwide is connected to auto production in one way or another, he said, adding iPoint has “carved out a niche in that area” and has built strong relationships with carmakers and the equipment manufacturers that serve them in Germany and other parts of Europe. Now at about 120 employees, iPoint also has significant expertise in tracking products to ensure they remain compliant with ethical and regulatory standards throughout their life cycle, Southworth said. That’s becoming increasingly important as the web of regulations manufacturers must adhere to continues to expand, he added. “Companies want to do the right thing. But it’s not always easy now for them to do that, and we assist them in the process,” Southworth said. “We’re excited. We see the opportunity for us to really own this market. To do that, you certainly have to have a presence on the automotive side. This solves some of that.”

First acquisition

Assent’s first acquisition comes just over a year after U.S. investment firms Vista Equity Partners Management and Blackstone Inc. bought out the Ottawa firm’s other venture-capital investors for about US$400 million. The brainchild of Ottawa boxers and entrepreneurs Matt Whitteker, Rob Imbeault and Jonathan Hughes, Assent was founded in 2010. Originally funded out of the founders’ own pockets, the company then known as Assent Compliance really began to take off when Andrew Waitman — a former managing partner of Ottawa VC firm Celtic House Venture Partners — joined the firm in 2014 after a stint as CEO of IT services provider Pythian. Waitman, who had met Whitteker while training for a celebrity boxing match, needed an office and decided to work out of Assent’s headquarters. But he quickly sensed the fledgling firm’s potential and agreed to take the reins. He put $1 million of his own money into the young enterprise, which then had 25 employees and annual revenues of about US$1 million. Southworth, who previously served as CEO of AI analytics platform Babel Street, took over as chief executive last year when Waitman transitioned to the role of executive chairman. Waitman said the shift would allow him to focus on long-term strategy and AI adoption. In addition to the National Capital Region, where it employs several hundred people, Assent has offices in Malaysia, India, the Netherlands and now Germany. Southworth told OBJ he believes the firm is still “a year or two away” from really gaining a stranglehold on the regulatory compliance space. As it pushes toward that goal, Assent will continue to seek opportunities to acquire IP from other firms in addition to developing its own, he added. “It’s building up capabilities, and some of that is going to be through acquisitions,” he said. “Hitting that scale, that first $25 million or so, is hard enough. But that next inflection point, north of $100 million — and we’re well past that at this point — is also very difficult. We have an incredible sales channel that's been fully built out. “To the extent that there are opportunities that would drive value for our customers and leverage the assets that we have … I’m excited about where the market is. Valuations are reasonable on that side as well, which also plays into it.” Southworth, who lives just outside Washington, D.C., said he is embracing his status as the head of an Ottawa-based company. He travels to the National Capital Region “quite a bit,” he noted, mentioning cycling in Gatineau Park and skating on the Rideau Canal as some of the activities he enjoys. Assent has a “great profile” in Ottawa, he said, and “that part won’t change.” “My hope is that (Assent is) a place where … we can hire (people), and then ultimately they can retire here.”

Assent ‘a year or two away’ from ‘owning’ compliance software market: CEO

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