IT Staffing Report: Jan. 7, 2016

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Private equity firm invests in ALKU

Staffing firm ALKU secured a minority equity investment from WestView Capital Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm focused on middle-market growth companies. Terms of the transaction were not announced.

ALKU ranked No. 4 on Staffing Industry Analysts list of fastest-growing US staffing firms, and appeared on last year’s list of Best Staffing Firms to Work For.

“Since the beginning ALKU has been focused on growth because it creates more opportunity for our candidates, clients and internal employees,” said Mark Eldridge, CEO of ALKU. “It’s that opportunity that keeps people excited about working with and for us. WestView emerged as the perfect partner because they immediately understood our culture and supported our goals for continued growth and opportunity creation.” 

No changes are being made to ALKU’s management team. Eldridge had been the only investor in the company prior to WestView, and there are no other outside investors.

Founded in 2008 and formerly known as the Start Group, Andover, Mass.-based ALKU is comprised of three divisions: ALKU Technologies, ALKU Quality and ALKU Government Solutions.

ALKU maintains a historical compound annual growth rate of more than 55% and earned more than $80 million in revenue in its seventh year in operations.

 “We are pleased to announce our partnership with ALKU,” said Jonathan Hunnicutt, a general partner at WestView. “Given ALKU’s impressive growth and performance, we are very excited to support the ALKU management team and help build upon their strong position in the industry.”

Founded in 2004, WestView has raised three funds totaling approximately $1 billion and has invested in more than 25 companies. It partners with existing management teams to sponsor majority and minority recapitalizations, growth, and consolidation transactions in industries such as business services, software and IT services, consumer, healthcare technology and outsourcing and growth industrial. WestView invests in companies with operating profits between $3 million and $20 million with investment sizes ranging from $10 million to $50 million.