Hannah Inclán, VP of investments at Unity Partners, and Bobby Schneider, a Propel team lead at Unity Partners. [Photos: Unity]

Dallas-based private equity firm Unity Partners has completed a strategic investment in Utah-based Amplēo, a fractional finance, marketing, and HR managed professional services provider.

Amplēo management and Brooks Growth Partners, led by Amplēo board member Jeremiah Jewkes, partnered with Unity in the investment.

Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.

“Amplēo is an outstanding business that checks the boxes we look for: a talented and ambitious management team with a focus on ownership culture, and essential service needs in a fragmented market,” Hannah Inclán, investment team vice president at Unity Partners, said in a statement. “We see significant M&A and organic opportunity to further solidify Amplēo as a leading managed professional service provider.”

Bobby Schneider, a Propel Team lead at Unity Partners, added: “We’re confident that the support we will provide—including implementing new technology and processes, expansion of complementary services, and adding new talent as the company grows—will result in significant value acceleration.”

Amplēo was founded in 1996 and is based in Salt Lake City, Utah. It began as a provider of part-time CFO and outsourced controller services to small and mid-sized businesses.

Since its founding, Amplēo said it has applied its effective model to add world-class fractional marketing and HR services through seasoned CMOs and HR leaders.

Over the past 12 months, Amplēo has expanded its services further with the acquisitions of Stage Marketing, The Sales Tax People, and Peak Business Valuation.

Amplēo said its veteran experts give businesses the strategic insights and day-to-day guidance they need to become market leaders, at a fraction of the cost of hiring full-time resources.

Strategic partners

“As we searched for a strategic partner who possessed strong operational and M&A experience, we quickly realized that Unity was the perfect fit to help us achieve our growth goals,” Amplēo CEO Lincoln Howell said. “We’re thrilled to have Unity on board as this partnership will extend the reach of our finance, marketing, and HR services to better support businesses nationwide and provide our clients with the expertise needed to grow their companies through a single trusted partner.”

The company said it’s benefitting from attractive market dynamics including 23% year-over-year increase in demand for fractional leaders at all levels, and a 170% increase since 2022.

Unity Partners said that employee ownership is built into each of its platform investments, and Amplēo will be launching its own Employee Purpose Plan that allows the company’s employees to share in the firm’s financial success.

“With demand for managed professional services continuing to grow, we’re excited to partner with Unity and leverage their expertise and exceptional team as we look to capitalize on our momentum and extend our market leadership through organic partner hires and strategic acquisitions,” Amplēo President Jon Allen said in a statement.

Bennett Tueller Johnson & Deere LLC was legal advisor to Amplēo on the transaction. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor to Unity Partners.

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