ECI Partners, the leading growth-focused mid-market private equity firm, announces its investment in CMap, a market leading provider of professional services automation (PSA) software.

The investment provides a full realisation for NorthEdge which first invested in CMap in 2019. Manchester headquartered CMap has grown rapidly due to the fast-growing global demand for PSA software and its highly verticalised strategy. CMap specialises in the AEC and consulting sectors, helping companies increase project profitability, manage staff utilisation, and forecast with confidence. 

ECI will support CMap to invest in its team, deepen its presence within the AEC and consulting markets, continue its international growth, and accelerate its product roadmap to further improve its customer offering.

“ECI understood our key values and ambitions for the business, and we’re incredibly excited to be partnering with them for this next stage of growth. CMap has a fantastic opportunity to accelerate our growth, and this partnership will allow us to further invest in our product and create more opportunities for people within CMap to grow with the business as we scale in the UK and the US. We’d like to thank the NorthEdge team for their support over the last 5 years  during a key stage of our growth.”

Dave Graham, CEO of CMap

 “We have tracked CMap for a long time and have been hugely impressed by the team, product and market opportunity that the business faces into. The company is well-placed to continue its rapid growth trajectory in the AEC and consulting sectors, both in the UK and globally. We’re ambitious about the future together and are looking forward to working with Dave and the wider team to deliver on that opportunity.”   

Stephen Roberts, Partner at ECI

Advisors to ECI: PwC (Corporate Finance), Squire Patton Boggs (legal advice); EY Parthenon and Graph (Commercial DD), EY (FDD and Tax)

Advisors to CMap and Northedge: Houlihan Lokey (M&A), DWF (legal advice), PwC (financial DD, commercial DD and tax structuring), Crosslake (Tech DD), Liberty (management advice), DSA (management tax advice)

About CMap

CMap is dedicated to helping professional services companies become more operationally and commercially successful. CMap’s user-friendly, industry-specific software streamlines processes for consulting and AEC firms by replacing disparate systems, spreadsheets, and servers. Trusted by over 600 clients globally, CMap enables its clients to save time, increase profit, and reduce risks.

About ECI

ECI is a leading private equity investor, focused on offering collaborative support to management teams. ECI prides itself on being straightforward to deal with, helping where it believes it can add value, and working in absolute alignment with management teams. This is how it has delivered such exceptional results for over 45 years.

ECI manages funds of over £2bn and invests in growth businesses valued up to £300m, investing as either a majority or a minority investor. Its growth focus is integral to how it has built its team. ECI has created the capability to support management teams on anything, from sourcing and executing acquisitions, developing market entry strategies, understanding and improving employee engagement, or ensuring tech platforms can scale as quickly as the companies they back, and much more.

ECI closed its latest fund, ECI 12, at a hard cap of £1bn, marking a 40% increase on its predecessor.