Calgary ‘Unicorn’ Benevity Sells Majority Stake for $1.1 Billion

Calgary-based software company Benevity has become the latest Canadian tech firm to achieve “unicorn” status, the result of a $1.1-billion deal that will see a British private capital firm assume majority control of the company.

The transaction, expected to close in January, will see British-based Hg Capital LLP purchase a majority stake in the privately held tech company, whose existing shareholders include current Benevity management and employees, as well as U.S.-based private equity firms JMI Equity and General Atlantic.

Benevity — which was founded in Calgary in 2008 by the company’s current CEO Bryan de Lottinville — specializes in corporate social responsibility software, giving companies and non-profits access to a range of employee engagement, workplace giving, and grants management products and programs.