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Lateral Investment Management Adds Three Technology Industry Veterans as Operating Partners to Support Transformational Growth Across Key Technology Themes

Published a day ago via Business Wire

Bill Priemer, Dan Warmenhoven and Klaus Besier Bring Deep Sector Experience and Fresh Perspectives to Help Drive Value Creation at Lateral’s Portfolio Companies

Lateral Investment Management, LLC (“Lateral”), a lower middle market private equity firm focused on bootstrapped, founder-led technology and technology-enabled services businesses, today announced that it has added three technology industry veterans to its talented team of operating partners.

Lateral’s new operating partners are:

  • Bill Priemer – Mr. Priemer served as President and CEO of Hyland Software, the leader in enterprise content management and process management software, where he led its growth into a global market leader with 4,000 employees, 14,000 customers, and more than $1 billion in annual revenue. He currently serves as a director at Lateral portfolio company Morae Global, a technology-based legal solutions provider for large corporations and major law firms.
  • Dan Warmenhoven – Mr. Warmenhoven is the former Chairman and CEO of NetApp, a pioneer in cloud storage which he led through its IPO and transformed into a multi-billion dollar data infrastructure company providing unified data storage, integrated data services, and cloud operations solutions to enterprise customers. He is currently a director of Bechtel Group, and has previously served as a director of Cohesity, Palo Alto Networks, and Aruba Networks. He was previously the Chairman, President and CEO of Network Equipment Technologies and is a veteran of Hewlett-Packard Co. and IBM.
  • Klaus Besier – Mr. Besier has led and advised more than a dozen enterprise software businesses, collaborating with founders to build and pursue their vision. As President and CEO of SAP Americas & ANZ, Besier grew SAP’s footprint from $50 million to $1 billion in the early days of its presence in the United States.

Lateral’s operating partners are a critical element of the firm’s partnership and value creation approach to transforming and scaling established and profitable bootstrapped, founder-led companies. They work closely with the Lateral investment team throughout the entire deal life cycle – from diligence through exit – providing highly specialized sector expertise and hands-on support to drive strategic and tactical value creation initiatives at Lateral’s portfolio companies.

Richard de Silva, Founder and Managing Partner of Lateral, said, “Lateral only invests in founder-led businesses where we have an edge and can bring our expertise and capabilities to accelerate growth. We are thrilled to bring on like-minded senior executives in Bill, Dan and Klaus to our team. Each of these operators has a track record of success and is passionate about working with high-conviction founders in transforming their companies into market leaders.”

Lateral’s sub-sector focus areas within technology and technology-enabled services include Vertical Enterprise Resource Planning (VERP), Supply Chain Resilience, Vertical Marketplaces, Manufacturing Intelligence, K-12 Education, Office of the CFO, Decarbonization, Risk and Compliance Technology, AI-driven Customer Experience and Mid-market Cybersecurity Solutions.

Mr. de Silva added, “Our investment strategy is grounded in sub-sectors we know well where we bring a combination of institutional capital, growth knowhow, and specialized functional skills. We rely on our operating partners to build on and update our deep sub-sector capabilities which can be deployed in advancing and accelerating the growth of our portfolio companies.”

About Lateral Investment Management, LLC

Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Lateral is a growth-oriented private equity firm that invests in bootstrapped, founder-led technology and technology-enabled services businesses. The firm focuses on profitable, U.S. middle market companies with no prior institutional financing and makes $15 million to $75 million investments to accelerate their growth. By pursuing sub-sector focused proprietary deal origination, founder-aligned partnerships, and a systematic and proactive approach to value creation, Lateral helps to transform its portfolio companies into category leaders. For more information, visit: https://lateralim.com/

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