Cassel Salpeter & Co. Facilitates Sale of MoviePass Assets to PreTechnology Inc.


Cassel Salpeter & Co., an independent investment banking firm that provides advice to middle market and emerging growth companies in the U.S. and worldwide, today announced it has successfully facilitated the sale of the assets of MoviePass, Inc. (“MoviePass”), a subscription-based movie ticketing service that allowed subscribers to see several movies for a fixed monthly fee, to PreTechnology Inc.

The deal sets the stage for a MoviePass relaunch in 2022.

“We were privileged to work with Alan Nisselson, the trustee for the Chapter 7 estates of Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc., to help find a home for the MoviePass assets. We are pleased to have been able to add additional value to the estate despite the challenging environment in the entertainment industry presented by the pandemic,” said Philip Cassel, a managing director at Cassel Salpeter & Co.

The assets were successfully sold in November with the purchaser being MoviePass co-founder Stacy Spikes.

Previously, in April 2020, Cassel Salpeter also assisted the Chapter 7 Trustee with the sale of MovieFone and other assets of the debtor.

About Cassel Salpeter & Co., LLC
Cassel Salpeter & Co. is an investment banking firm with professionals who have more than forty years of financial experience. They deliver smart, straightforward advisory services to middle-market companies across America. With a thorough understanding of their clients’ industries and a keen sense of the economy, the Cassel Salpeter team provides independent, timely advice so clients can capitalize on a rapidly changing global environment. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, Cassel Salpeter is led by James Cassel and Scott Salpeter. Member FINRA and SIPC.

Miami software firm EveryMundo sold to a Houston services provider

By Lauren Lamb

Week of Thursday December 21, 2021

Miami-based software company EveryMundo has been bought for $80 million in cash and $10 million based on future stock by PROS Holdings, a software service provider.

“There is a strong cultural fit between EveryMundo and PROS,” said the deal’s broker, Chairman and co-founder of Cassel Salpeter & Co. James Cassel. EveryMundo focuses on landing pages for airlines so they are not outdone by commercial vendors like PriceLine or Travelocity.

“With some businesses, you watch deals fall apart,” Mr. Cassel said. “Not because they’re right or wrong, but just because they have different cultures.”

Mr. Cassel’s son, Seth Cassel, is co-founder and president of EveryMundo. “Today is a monumental day for our team and a next step in our quest to disrupt industry paradigms hindering market growth and opportunity for airlines and B2B organizations,” Seth Cassel said in a press release.

“Airlines want people to engage through their websites instead of using online travel agencies (OTA). The airline gives information about what they are selling directly, for example a deal on a flight to Denver, that the consumer will miss using an OTA,” said James Cassel. The PROS platform includes assets like airline revenue management software, airline digital retail and group sales optimization.

EveryMundo and PROS are a good cultural fit because they spent the time to get to know one another according to James Cassel. “What was important to PROS and EveryMundo was getting to understand how they view technology business but also how they interact with their colleagues and how their business is managed.”

Seth Cassel visited PROS’ headquarters in Houston and members from PROS visited Miami before a deal was made. “The businesses spent time up front to discuss their common vision and common approach. The first goal is to go deeper within one another’s products and see what’s available,” said James Cassel. “The first thing to do in any business situation is look for the low-hanging fruit and be collaborative. They can introduce one another to people who aren’t overlapping and combine them.”

Over the past year, EveryMundo has almost doubled in size. Said James Cassel, “Airlines need more marketing and technology that PROS will help provide.”

 

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Cassel Salpeter & Co. Facilitates Sale of EveryMundo to PROS Holdings

 Cassel Salpeter & Co., an independent investment banking firm that provides advice to middle market and emerging growth companies in the U.S. and worldwide, today announced it has successfully represented EveryMundo, LLC, a digital offer marketing pioneer with headquarters in Miami, Fla., in the company’s sale to PROS Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRO), a provider of SaaS solutions optimizing shopping and selling experiences with headquarters in Houston, Texas. 

PROS paid $80 million in cash at closing, subject to certain customary adjustments, and will deliver approximately $10 million in stock in the future, subject to certain conditions.

Since its founding, EveryMundo has been focused on helping brands like American Airlines, Star Alliance, Tennis Australia, Greyhound, and Japan Airlines Vacations maximize their reach and engagement, enabling deeper direct relationships with their customers across multiple channels in the most flexible and profitable way possible. For example, with airlines, this means being able to quickly and effortlessly publish offers on direct or indirect channels that entice customers back to owned channels, avoiding the increasing fees charged per offer by global distribution systems that limit reach and erode margin. 

“We’re proud to have been able to work with the EveryMundo team and my son, Co-Founder and President Seth Cassel, to find the right buyer and partner in PROS,” said Cassel Salpeter Chairman and Co-founder James S. Cassel. “There is a strong cultural fit and shared vision between the companies. The combination of EveryMundo and PROS enables them to scale to the next level of growth, gain greater market penetration and increase digital consumer engagement.”

EveryMundo Co-Founder and President Seth Cassel added: “Today is a monumental day for our team and a next step in our quest to disrupt industry paradigms hindering market growth and opportunity for airlines and B2B organizations. The cultural fit and business model alignment with PROS is what makes this combination so powerful and what will enable us to transform the brand experiences for the businesses we serve.”

“It was incredibly rewarding working with Cassel Salpeter, said EveryMundo Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Anton Diego. “The firm’s knowledge and experience were invaluable throughout this process, and helped make the transaction seamless, without interrupting our business, and while working quickly and diligently to achieve the best outcome for our team.” 

The Cassel Salpeter team was led by Chairman and Co-founder James S. Cassel and Managing Director Philip Cassel, with the assistance of Associate Edward Kropf.

About Cassel Salpeter & Co., LLC
Cassel Salpeter & Co. is an investment banking firm with professionals who have more than forty years of financial experience. They deliver smart, straightforward advisory services to middle-market companies across America. With a thorough understanding of their clients’ industries and a keen sense of the economy, the Cassel Salpeter team provides independent, timely advice so clients can capitalize on a rapidly changing global environment. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, Cassel Salpeter is led by James Cassel and Scott Salpeter. Member FINRA and SIPC.

Homegrown EveryMundo acquired in $90M deal by publicly traded PROS

In so many ways, the fast-growing EveryMundo – even down to its name – reflects the #MiamiTech story

By Nancy Dahlberg
December 4th, 2021 

Homegrown #MiamiTech company EveryMundo, a pioneering leader in fare marketing technology for airlines, has been acquired by the publicly held PROS, a provider of SaaS solutions optimizing shopping and selling experiences.

PROS, based in Houston, will pay $80 million in cash at closing and deliver about $10 million in stock in the future, under terms of the transaction subject to customary conditions.

The good news for #MiamiTech: The EveryMundo team, including leadership, will continue to be based in Miami as part of PROS. EveryMundo plans to grow larger with airline customers, and already serves over 70 airlines globally including American, United, Japan Airlines and KLM. The deal will also help EveryMundo take its solution to other industries, as it started doing in recent months with Greyhound, Tennis Australia and others.

Since 2006, the fast-growing, bootstrapping EveryMundo, under co-founders Anton Diego and Seth Cassel, has helped brands maximize their digital reach and engagement with customers in any channel in the most flexible and profitable way – while creating a superior brand experience and brand loyalty. With its airline customers, this means being able to quickly publish offers on direct and indirect channels that can bring customers back to owned channels, avoiding the increasing fees charged per offer by Global Distribution Systems that limit reach and erode margin.

“Our company and technology were founded on this vision and dream to impact the market in truly innovative ways,” said Diego, EveryMundo’s CEO. “As part of the PROS family, our teams look forward to continuing this mission.”

What the deal brings to both sides

In an interview. PROS CEO Andres Reiner said digital fare marketing was a natural extension of PROS’ digital retail strategy. “For us the vision was always to bring together the marketing and the selling to give brands in our markets the right products to drive demand through their channels,”

Beyond great technology, “the quality of the people and the culture that [EveryMundo] built is really what attracted me the most,” Reiner continued. “They have similar value systems to what we have at PROS. It’s about caring about people and their growth opportunities and creating an environment where everyone can achieve their full potential.”

Cassel, EveryMundo’s president, explained that PROS is the world leader in revenue optimization for airlines, among other things, and that is enabling the airlines to identify the right price at the right moment. EveryMundo broadcasts that price out into the market, engaging the potential passenger with PROS technology for shopping. But PROS serves a wide range of industries outside of airlines where EveryMundo’s technologies could be key to driving more consumers to these brands, he said.

Brands have no choice but to be present everywhere their customer and prospects find themselves, regardless of channel, Reiner added. “With EveryMundo, our collective portfolio gives brands much greater control over direct and indirect channels they participate in to consistently deliver superior brand experiences.”

The EveryMundo co-founders were recently exploring raising private equity for the first time. Engaging in discussions with PROS led to the acquisition outcome that seemed far more compelling and transformational for both companies. “Particularly coming out of the challenges and difficulties that COVID thrust upon us, it just felt like an awesome opportunity to put the company on such a phenomenal acceleration track as part of a much bigger thing now,” Cassel said.

‘We are immigants’

In so many ways, EveryMundo – even down to its name – reflects the #MiamiTech story. CEO Diego was born in Moscow and raised in Havana and Spain before immigrating to the U.S. in high school. The majority of EveryMundo’s 75-member Miami team are immigrants. Powered by that grit and hustle mentality that is Miami, EveryMundo was able to bootstrap and be profitables nearly every year of its existence.

During the pandemic, the company mustered all of that grit and then some to survive, recover, and then thrive again, securing relief loans and quickly creating new products for airlines tailored to the pandemic realities.

It all paid off in a big way.

In 2021, EveryMundo’s worldwide team has grown from 100 to nearly 150 people now. 2021 has also been a banner year for the company’s new customer acquisition, as it added 30 more brands this year, up from 50 at the end of 2020. “We don’t see that trajectory letting up, and we predict 2022 revenue to essentially be a full return to our trajectory prior to COVID,” Cassel said.

The next chapter

When Cassel and Diego looked for financial advisors they considered their options but stayed all in the Miami family: Cassel Salpeter & Co. served as financial advisors to EveryMundo in the transaction, along with Baird, which specializes in the airline industry. Cassel’s father James is chairman and cofounder of Cassel Salpeter and brother Philip is the firm’s managing director. “Working with them was an absolute pleasure and was a nice byproduct of this process,” Seth Cassel said. “I would absolutely wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone who needs financial advisory services.”

Through the years, Cassel and Diego, both selected as global Endeavor Entrepreneurs in 2015, have expressed that they wanted to make EveryMundo a company that makes Miami proud. Mission accomplished, and their story continues with this new chapter. “We’re excited and we hope this is representative of more great things to come for homegrown Miami tech companies,” Cassel said.

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Miami digital marketing firm EveryMundo acquired in $90M deal

By Ashley Portero
November 30, 2021 

EveryMundo, a Miami company that develops marketing software for airlines, was acquired by Pros Holdings in a deal valued at $90 million.

The acquisition will enable EveryMundo to take the “next step” in its quest to elevate marketing and growth opportunities for airlines and other businessto-business organizations, said co-founder and president Seth Cassel.

“The cultural fit with PROS is what makes this combination so unique and compelling and why we will further transform the brand experiences all businesses deliver,” he added.

Under the terms of the transaction, Pros (NYSE: PRO), a software-as-a-service firm headquartered in Houston, paid $80 million in cash at closing and $10 million in future stock. Baird and Cassel Salpeter & Co. LLC served as financial advisers to EveryMundo in the transaction.

Founded in 2006, EveryMundo provides “fare marketing” technology to airlines – including American Airlines and Japan Airlines Vacations – designed to increase customer engagement and long-term brand loyalty. It also assists other travel-related and recreational brands like Greyhound and Tennis Australia, according to a news release. The company has more than 140 employees.

Pros uses artificial intelligence-powered SaaS to optimize online shopping interactions across several industries, including airlines, automative, consumer goods and health care. Its platform gathers data to understand buyer preferences and deliver personalized recommendations to buyers.

Pros CEO Andrew Reiner said acquiring EveryMundo will help all of its portfolio companies deliver superior online shopping experiences.

“Brands have no choice but to be present everywhere their customers and prospects find themselves,” he added. “But winning in today and tomorrow’s market will require brands to earn more direct engagement and deliver the experiences their customers value most.”

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Q3 2021 Healthcare Investment Banking Report

Rounding Out Veteran Team, Cassel Salpeter & Co. Welcomes New Analyst Francisco Belliard

Committed to providing world-class independent investment banking services to middle-market and emerging growth companies, Cassel Salpeter is pleased to announce the addition of up-and-coming financial professional Francisco Belliard, who joins the firm as an analyst. 

In this role, Francisco will bring his research, analytical, and critical thinking skills to assist the firm in its investment banking advisory services, including conducting valuations. 

“Delivering the best services to our clients requires a well-rounded team of veterans, as well as rising stars like Francisco who are capable of bringing financial industry acumen, impeccable analytical skills, and a fresh perspective to our work,” said President and Co-Founder Scott Salpeter. “Francisco already shows signs of being capable of bringing thoughtful analysis and new energy to our already proven and experienced team. We look forward to his contributions at Cassel Salpeter.”

FRANCISCO BELLIARD 

Prior to joining Cassel Salpeter, Francisco interned in the tax and legal division at KPMG Dominicana. Having graduated magna cum laude with a double major in international business and finance from Florida International University, he is a member of two academic honor societies: Beta Gamma Sigma and Tau Sigma. 

Click to learn more about Francisco

About Cassel Salpeter & Co., LLC
Cassel Salpeter & Co. is an investment banking firm with professionals who have more than forty years of financial experience. They deliver smart, straightforward advisory services to middle-market companies across America. With a thorough understanding of their clients’ industries and a keen sense of the economy, the Cassel Salpeter team provides independent, timely advice so clients can capitalize on a rapidly changing global environment. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, Cassel Salpeter is led by James Cassel and Scott Salpeter. Member FINRA and SIPC.

Why New White House Dashboard Could— Or Can’t—Help Address The Supply Chain Crisis

By Edward Segal

November 10, 2021

The White House’s new supply chain dashboard is a twice monthly collection of metrics that tracks the progress of delayed imported goods at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and in the economy at large. The true value of the dashboard remains to be seen, however, with the prospect that the measuring tool could have unintended consequences.

Thomas Goldsby is the Haslam Chair of Logistics at the University of Tennessee’s Master’s of Science in Supply Chain Management. He thought the new high-level metrics, “…are helpful first steps but they don’t do anything to save Santa in 2021. They will be helpful in 2024 and beyond but the actions needed now [to address the supply chain crisis] should’ve been taken years ago.”

Today at the Port of Baltimore, the White House said President Joe Biden will detail what his administration has already done to get supply chains moving to help lower prices, speed up deliveries and address shortages.

Improved Communication

Daniel Dreyfus is the global customs leader and executive director of consulting at Ernst & Young. He observed that, “The supply chain dashboard is a step in the right direction to improve communication between the public and private sector so they can work together more effectively to navigate ongoing supply chain challenges.

“Every supply chain is different, if not unique, and each movement is different for reasons that include the impacts of elements beyond anyone’s control, such as issues related to Covid-19 most recently, or something perennial like extreme weather,” he said.

“Having more transparency into the current state of broader supply chain issues may help global supply chain operators and logisticians plan for contingencies more effectively,” Dreyfus concluded.

Too Long Of A Lag Time

Ali Hasan Raza is the co-founder and CEO of ThroughPut Inc., an artificial intelligence supply chain platform. He noted that, “While having visibility from end-to-end may help identify problems, updating the dashboard every two weeks is too much of a lag to actually act on operations. In short, you won’t be able to manage any better, but at least you will be able to see what’s happening.

A Database For Consumers And Distributors

Carla Saunders, operations manager of Consumer’s Health Report, said the dashboard, “will ultimately serve as a database for the consumer and distributors so they can move accordingly and receive updates on major imports such as automobiles, electronics, and other supplies.

She speculated that other “platforms down the road could potentially provide the country with additional accurate data to avoid a country-wide financial crisis, considering that AI has shown promising results in analyzing, determining and preventing financial disasters- the same formula can be applied to other problems within the country.”

Not Much Useful Information

James Cassel, cofounder and chairman of Miami-based investment bank Cassel Salpeter & Co. He said the new White House supply chain dashboard “doesn’t yet provide much useful information to help address [the country’s] logistics bottleneck.

“The dashboard provides information about the problem, but it’s not information that can really help solve the problem. What needs to be provided is a way of addressing whether or not incoming shipments can be diverted to other ports, whether they have available capacity, and whether or not trucks can be diverted to more expeditiously bring in products and get them to their final destinations.”

Taking A Process View

Ravin Jesuthasan, global transformation leader at Mercer, noted that, “The dashboard is made up of three metrics that track the movement of product from when they get here, when they are unloaded and when they hit the stores. The dashboard is a great example of taking a process view of a problem and identifying indicators at the most critical pain points in the process.

“It would be too easy to focus on one metric (e.g., no. of ships at anchor) but that only tells you one part of the story. Organizations experiencing the pains of the widespread labor shortages would be advised to approach the problem with a similar set of process metrics so they can diagnose the key drivers of their specific workforce challenges.”

Will Not Solve Many Pressing Issues

Oren Zaslansky, CEO of Flock Freight, observed that, “While a dashboard will certainly shed some light on the ongoing supply chain challenges, it will not solve many of the more pressing issues that need to be addressed.

For example, trucks that are not utilizing all available space to move freight, thus increasing the need for additional trucks and drivers. If the government was more focused on filling trucks, without impacting dwell times and transit speed, there would be a more significant impact to supply chain management.”

Useful For Forecasting And Planning

Dwight Morgan is executive vice president of business development at M. Holland Company, an international thermoplastic resin distributor. He counseled that, “A central repository for supply chain statistical trends will be useful to help companies forecast and plan. However, it will be important that it not be a political exercise. It might be better for it to be sponsored by a nonpartisan entity rather than the White House.

“Given the dynamics of supply chain challenges and the likely duration, greater frequency [than every two weeks] for a longer period would be in order. In reality, there’s probably little the government can do to quickly alleviate many supply chain pressures, since they are driven by the pandemic and its asymmetrical impacts on the global economy.“

Provides Data That Companies Already Know

Abe Eshkenazi is the CEO at the Association for Supply Chain Management. He noted that, “While the new White House dashboard may provide good information, it’s likely data that companies already know.

“The necessary changes are at every step of the supply chain, data is just one critical aspect. There are simply not enough workers to manage the supply chain crisis, and until more people are hired and trained in supply chain roles, we cannot expect to see drastic improvements.”

A Weapon In Future Trade War Against China?

Michael Gravier is an expert in global supply chain management and a professor of marketing at Bryant University. He said, “the massive scale of evolution in our society and economy demand that we take action, or at least we study what’s happening.

“One fear is that the dashboard will also be used as a weapon in the cold war arsenal for a trade war against China. China will no doubt respond soon with a similar tool. Nobody has forgotten the importance of economics to the fall of the Soviet Union, and the bringing of China into the world trade order was a critical move in that long strategy,” he said.

“In the long run, the dashboard is a brilliant move. We are just at the beginning of understanding global supply chains and how they influence trade…this understanding will inform legislators and policy makers and guide the executive branch in its enforcement and oversight,” Gravier predicted.

What’s Needed Next

Supply chain engineer Barry Bradley noted that the White House dashboard shows the what—one source of truth for the scale of the problems in the U.S. supply chain. What’s needed now to fix the problems is a dashboard for the why—root causes of supply chain bottlenecks stopping goods from reaching their destinations. “With visibility into the why the action need is more clear and bottlenecks are more quickly removed, resulting in a safer, cheaper and more resilient supply chain,” he said.

 

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