Autonomy
Flash liked Lumine's decentralized operating model, allowing business owners to maintain the day-to-day operations, resulting in minimal impact on the relationship between the employees or end customers.
Flash Networks takes on global growth powered by the Lumine Ecosystem
Founded: 1996
Located: Herzilya, Israel
Portfolio: David Sharpley
Industry: Telecommunications
Acquired: 2020
Website: flashnetworks.com
Linkedin: 
Why Sell?
Flash was looking to expand the business with new customers and into new geographies.
Why Lumine?
Lumine has a vast and international customer and partner ecosystem to support Flash Network’s growth plans.
Background
Flash Networks is a provider of optimization solutions that enable telecommunications operators to improve Radio Access Network spectral efficiency, boost network speed, optimize video and web traffic, and generate over-the-top revenues from the mobile internet.
Founded in 1996, with a heritage in TCP/IP network performance, Flash launched in 2007 its Harmony platform designed to create a fast, safe, adaptive, and personalized user experience while harmonizing network infrastructure. Since then, Flash has accumulated customers globally across 5 continents.
Flash, with offices in Israel, USA, Singapore, and the Netherlands, had been interested in expanding into new geographies by building customer relationships across the world. However, the ability to expand on their own felt limited, and they started looking for acquirers who could help them achieve these growth plans.
From the Novabase perspective, the Collab business was not in their core market offering of technology staff augmentation services, an exit to an experienced acquirer of software businesses was the logical solution.
Why Sell?
The right acquirer would offer access to a diverse telecommunications ecosystem, specifically to tier 1 telecom companies, and provide the capital and guidance to help Flash achieve their goals. After speaking with Lumine, Flash recognized an opportunity that could help them to accelerate their growth, and perhaps most importantly, followed an acquisition philosophy that would keep the best interests of their customers and employees in mind.
3 Reasons Flash Networks Chose Lumine
A Safe, Stable Home
“Lumine is a stable company we can depend on for years,” says Tomer Itah, CEO of Flash Networks. With the financial backing of parent company Constellation Software Inc. (TSX:CSU), Flash was confident that Lumine would be a credible and reliable acquirer for the long term.
Buy & Hold Forever
As a buy-and-hold forever acquirer, Tomer believed Lumine would support decisions that enabled sustainable growth for the business. With this long-term outlook, the future of the business would not be at risk.
Continuity for Customers & Employees
Flash knew if they were to sell, the right acquirer would maintain their strong customer relationships. As part of this, having a reputable acquirer behind them would ease any customer concerns. “When an operator wants to implement new technology in the network, they’d like to see a stable company that can come in for the long term,” says Tomer. “They want stability.”
Lumine is a portfolio of Volaris Group, a subsidiary of Constellation Software Inc. (TSX:CSU). Constellation is known as a safe and stable home for software businesses to grow, having completed over 600 acquisitions in their 25-year history. Flash felt that with this reputation, their customers would feel secure with news of a sale. “The majority of our customers who heard we were acquired by Lumine felt comfortable,” says Tomer. “They knew we were going to keep our identity and our agency.”
“We spoke with a number of candidates, but it was clear Lumine was the right choice for us. With other acquirers, Flash was at risk of being merged and forgotten. We worried our brand would disappear and we would not have the autonomy or control to protect our employees and our customers as we would with Lumine.”
– Tomer Itah, Founder & CEO, Flash Networks
“Flash Will Not Disappear”
Tomer also found comfort in Lumine’s buy-and-hold forever acquisition philosophy. “The message to our customers is that Flash will not disappear. You are going to have a stable company for the long term. We are going to keep Flash forever but make it more efficient and improve our overall business.”
The buy-and-hold forever philosophy also resonated with the employees. “The whole team is excited by the best practices Lumine can offer us,” says Tomer. “We have the same goal of developing and sustaining the Flash business, and to keep it forever with long-term, sustainable growth.”
The Lumine ecosystem continuously grows with newly acquired companies, which in turn add their customers, channel partners, and business leaders to the growing group. Flash was intrigued by the potential to tap into this ecosystem and evaluate potential opportunities to contribute in three ways.
Opportunities within the Lumine Ecosystem
First, Flash will now have access to the growing list of tier 1 telecom customers within the portfolio to whom they could promote their solutions. Second, Flash sees opportunities for collaboration in the form of synergies within the Lumine Group businesses. Third, the team was excited by the ability for different departments and team leads to learn from one another and collaborate through knowledge-sharing events.
As the world continues to limit business travel and maintain social distancing practices, the post-acquisition integration is completed virtually. With remote integration underway, Flash’s growth plans are already in motion, exploring new opportunities the Lumine ecosystem has opened for Flash and leveraging their new learnings.
What’s Next for Flash
“I’ve already used the experience of Lumine in many areas,” says Tomer. “We’ve had discussions around how to best approach new customers, best practices on entering new geographies, and more.”
Let’s Talk
We are continuously looking for strategic opportunities with software companies. Think Lumine could be a fit for your business? Let’s discuss how Lumine can help your business achieve their unique objectives.