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SuperSolutions Corporation (SSC) Industry: Software solutions for the consumer lending industry. Owner: Darshan Karki Milestone’s Involvement: In addition to the initial financing Milestone helped SSC with additional funding and access to legal counsel when the company was facing difficult times. Milestone also assisted in positioning the company as SSC began looking for a partner including introducing Karki to experienced, influential professionals in the financing services industry, attracting two national venture capital funds to make additional investments in SSC (Milestone secured $1.5 million) if needed, expanding Karki’s network, talking with angel investors, and showing its 100% support of the company when potential customers became concerned about SSC’s financial situation. Story: Darshan Karki started his SuperSolutions Corp. (SSC) in 1989 after he and three colleagues developed a revolutionary UNIX-based Oracle system for client/server computing. Such ingenuity led to SSC’s ability to deliver enterprise-wide software applications and the eventual creation of Daybreak. Early in 2000, SSC’s outlook was incredibly positive. Daybreak was a new product and SSC had a dozen new clients, a beefed-up sales force, two newly-hired professional executives, and sales of about $5 million. With the fast success, SSC wanted to attract significant amounts of venture capital to aggressively pursue the market. Karki turned to Milestone Growth Fund and its President/CEO, Esperanza Guerrero-Anderson for $1 million in financing. Impressed with Karki’s commitment, technical staff, and excellent clients, Milestone extended a $1 million long-term loan with warrants to SSC. Karki then became Chairman of the SSC Board and let his experienced executives run the company. With Milestone’s help, SSC attracted an impressive board of directors to help Karki attract the venture capital he sought. Unfortunately in 2001, 9/11 rocked the nation and SSC’s clients. Some went out of business. Sales declined and SSC faced huge losses. With the borrowed money nearly gone in 2002, Karki decided to save his company by reducing expenses, cutting staff, and assuming the role of CEO and sales person. By 2003 revenue had grown significantly—almost to $3 million—and Karki was ready to find a partner; a major IT firm in its industry. Enter i-flex and an acquisition that greatly enhances the growth prospects for SSC, which is now a 100%-owned subsidiary of i-flex. The existing SSC management team continues to run the business. Upon the sale of SSC to i-flex, Milestone received about 35% return on investment including its principal, interest and 1.3 times the principal. Summary of Success: 1983-Present:
Media Features: September 28, 2001, SuperSolutions pursuing investors,
$15M, CityBusiness (SuperSolutions Corp) |
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