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Success Stories

Synchronoss Technologies:

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  • Ascent participated in the first and only institutional financing of Synchronoss, the market leader for on-demand transaction management solutions.
  • Synchronoss was referred to Ascent by Hugh Kelly, a member of Ascent’s Venture Partner Program.
  • Synchronoss completed IPO in June 2006 with current market capitalization exceeding $1B.

In the late 1990s, following the success of Concord Communications and Net2Net, Ascent proactively targeted investments in the network management and telecom OSS (operations support systems) companies. In 2000, Hugh Kelly, a former executive at Net2Net and current member of Ascent’s Venture Partner Program, introduced Ascent to Steve Waldis, Synchronoss’ CEO. At the time, Synchronoss had recently spun-off from Vertek, a provider of telecom consulting services. Steve was in the process building an investor group to support Synchronoss’ early efforts to build a hosted order management system for Tier 1 carriers. The Company enjoyed early success and supported the order management of major data carriers, including AT&T and WorldCom. With the severe telecom crisis in 2001-2002, Steve Waldis and the Synchronoss executive team recognized the need to change strategy. During this challenging period, Ascent provided feedback on various strategic alternatives and demonstrated strong support to Synchronoss’ management in their efforts to reposition the Company.

Ultimately, the Synchronoss team refocused on the market for managing wireless and VOIP (Voice over IP) transactions. This strategy was highly successful, culminating in Synchronoss’ IPO in June 2006. Ascent’s involvement with Synchronoss led to both a very profitable investment and a highly valued relationship with Synchronoss’ management.