Clubessential Holdings Announces Strategic Growth Investment From Silver Lake 

CINCINNATI, OH, September 7, 2021 – Membership-management software company Clubessential Holdings announced that Silver Lake, the global leader in technology investing, has agreed to make a significant growth investment in the company. Silver Lake will partner with existing majority shareholder Battery Ventures, which also will make a follow-on investment in the company as part of the transaction. 

The funds are intended to help drive Clubessential Holdings’ continued growth, including new acquisitions, and accelerate the development of innovative and frictionless payments solutions across the company’s software portfolio and customer base. 

Clubessential Holdings

Clubessential Holdings was established in 2016 with a vision to acquire and grow category-leading, membership-management software companies; unlock the power of a shared, integrated payment platform; and fully digitize their customers’ and members’ experiences. The company provides a full suite of membership and club-management software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to private clubs, public golf courses, health-and-fitness clubs, military organizations, municipalities, and college athletic programs across six global brands. Clubessential Holdings technology helps both private and community-based organizations digitize and streamline their operations, allowing them to attract, engage, and retain members, patrons, and fans. The company currently has more than 10,000 customers serving over 15 million members. 

Randy Eckels, Clubessential Holdings’ CEO, said: “We are extremely excited to partner with Silver Lake to leverage the firm’s insights, resources, and extensive global technology network to further improve our company and increase our access to capital for continued innovation and growth. As we pursue this next phase of growth, we feel so fortunate to have two preeminent technology investors, in Silver Lake and Battery Ventures, in our corner—and know our customers will benefit from these partnerships as well.” 

“Under Randy’s leadership and Battery’s stewardship, Clubessential has blossomed into a true software leader for membership-management organizations,” said Silver Lake Managing Director and Managing Partner Joe Osnoss, who will join the company’s board along with Silver Lake Director Chip Schroeder. “Technology adoption in this segment is only accelerating in the current environment, as is the value to clients of superior software with integrated payments, and we look forward to helping the company extend its leadership position.” 

Battery, a global, technology-focused investment firm, first invested in Clubessential Holdings in 2016. “Our partnership to date with Randy and the rest of the Club team has been incredibly rewarding as we worked together to build out a prominent position in this sector,” said Battery General Partner Morad Elhafed. “We are very enthusiastic about continuing to support the company going forward in partnership with the management team and Silver Lake.”