California investment firm takes majority stake in Sandy’s Arbiter
Accel-KKR, a technology-focused investment firm based in Menlo Park, California, has acquired a majority stake in Arbiter, a Sandy-based provider of athletic and school operations management software.
Serent Capital, an investor in Arbiter since 2017, will retain a minority equity position.
“This strategic investment positions Arbiter for its next chapter of growth, innovation and customer impact across the K-12 landscape,” Arbiter’s announcement said. “The transaction validates the strength of Arbiter’s platform and its potential to further scale in a market increasingly reliant on integrated, efficient and user-friendly administrative and operational solutions.”
Accel-KKR recently made a similar investment in LeagueApps, a New York City based youth sports organizational platform.
Founded in 1984, Arbiter serves more than 3.7 million families with sports and school activity scheduling, registration, payments and assignments. The firm recently acquired school and sports platforms rSchoolToday and BigTeams,
“Arbiter has built a strong brand over many years by delivering youth sports technology that serves the needs of schools, officials and athletic departments,” said Dean Jacobson, managing director at Accel-KKR. “We believe there is significant opportunity ahead to accelerate Arbiter’s impact and reach. Our investment will support continued product innovation, expanded services and the ability to meet the evolving needs of its customers.”
“With Accel-KKR’s support, we remain focused on advancing Arbiter’s mission: delivering essential software to the athletic directors, coaches, assigners, officials and state associations who make youth sports possible,” said Kyle Ford, Arbiter’s CEO. “In doing so, we’re proud to play a small part in supporting their work — instilling the values of sportsmanship, teamwork and leadership that are vital to the growth and development of our young people.”
Leadership at Arbiter will remain unchanged following the investment and the company’s headquarters will remain in Sandy, the release said.