Certus Pest Control to Accelerate Growth and Acquisitions with New Capital Investment
Strategic growth investment from Liberty Mutual Investments and Imperial Capital to continue building scale and density in core markets and strategically pursue new markets.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tampa, FL, May 20, 2024 – Certus Pest Control (“Certus”) has announced today that it received a significant growth investment from Liberty Mutual Investments (“LMI”) together with a follow-on investment from Imperial Capital (“Imperial”). The new capital will be used to accelerate the pace of acquisition in existing markets as well as support entry into new markets. With the investment LMI will join Imperial Capital as a strategic and capital partner to Certus. LMI is the investment arm of Liberty Mutual Insurance Group.
“Our partnership with Imperial Capital over the past 5 years has built a truly differentiated pest control platform that is fully integrated and delivering industry-leading customer service. I am excited that LMI is joining Imperial as a partner to support the tremendous growth opportunity ahead,” said Dave Bradford, CEO of Certus. “After a two-year focus on integration and platform building, our team is now market-leading on all operational metrics and is energized to grow. We are prepared to make a bigger impact on the pest control industry by expanding our business, bringing on new teammates, and taking our business processes and systems into new markets. I am very proud of this team and excited for this next chapter in the Certus story.”
Gene Shkolnik, Partner at Imperial, added, “We are excited to continue partnering with Dave and his team who are exceptional at what they do and, with additional support from LMI, we believe that Certus has an exceptional future.”
Certus operates 21 branches nationwide, spanning 8 states across the US, including Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Through the platform’s disciplined market leadership and density building strategy, Certus continues to increase the value proposition for its customers, supported by a market-leading NPS score of 73 and an industry-high customer retention rate. Certus is focused on growing the pipeline of acquisitions and anticipates a significant number of new acquisitions throughout 2024 and onwards.
William Blair acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Certus in connection with its new growth capital investment.
For further details or inquiries, please reach out to:
Morgan Turner | 386-343-9598 | morgan.turner@certuspest.com
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About Certus
Certus was founded in 2019 by Imperial Capital with a vision for a new pest control platform centered on building a fully integrated platform through acquisition, regional brands, and applying the best-in-class software and systems in order to manage the business and deliver a great service and teammate experience. The Certus team has decades of pest control industry experience and brought a new way of thinking to the category; simply put, the team believes there is always a better way through the application of technology, data, and in driving a performance-oriented culture. Certus operates across 21 branches across the U.S. in Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
About Imperial Capital
Imperial Capital is a leading mid-market private equity firm focused on North American opportunities to build or acquire growth-oriented platform investments in targeted industry niches within healthcare, business services and consumer services industries. Based in Toronto, Imperial Capital combines its deep industry focus, active portfolio management and strong partnerships with experienced industry executives to offer a differentiated approach to investing. With assets under management of over US$3.5 billion, Imperial is currently investing from its US$800 million Fund VIII. For more information, visit www.imperialcap.com
