Marlin makes majority growth investment in Baxter Planning

LOS ANGELES AND AUSTIN, May 21, 2024 – Marlin Equity Partners (“Marlin”) is pleased to announce that it has completed a majority growth investment in Baxter Planning (“Baxter” or the “Company”), a leading provider of predictive service supply chain solutions. The Company’s comprehensive BaxterPredict SaaS platform integrates service parts planning, parts order execution and escalation management into a single solution, enabling global customers to have control and visibility across their entire service parts lifecycle. Baxter has continued to invest in innovation, including investments in artificial intelligence (“AI”), as the Company pursues its goal of achieving an autonomous end-to-end planning solution. Polaris Partners, the Company’s majority shareholder since 2017, will retain a significant minority stake, including a new equity investment from the Polaris Growth Fund (“PGF”).

“We are incredibly proud of Baxter’s strong trajectory over the past several years. With a focus on innovation, customer service and expanding the product set, we have been able to rapidly scale our enterprise client base and build a global footprint,” said Chuck Moeling, CEO of Baxter. “Marlin’s investment enables Baxter to further expand its leadership position in the market and comes at an exciting time, as we recently launched the BaxterPredict platform with new products including LynX, Snapshot and Prophet.ai. It recognizes our momentum and the strength of the organization, while positioning Baxter to further improve its market position. We look forward to partnering with Marlin in this next chapter of our growth.”

“Baxter is well-regarded in the market for its many years of demonstrated planning expertise. As global supply chains evolve, multi-national enterprise clients face many challenges ensuring that parts are in the right place at the right time and at an optimal balance of cost versus service. Baxter’s solution delivers a clear return on investment in the face of these evolving complexities,” said Peter Chung, a managing director at Marlin.

“Aftermarket service is an increasingly strategic differentiator for OEMs, which is driving a need in the market for specialized solutions like Baxter. We are excited to support the management team at Baxter through Marlin’s deep bench of operating resources and industry expertise to further scale operations, expand the customer base and deliver continued innovation to the product suite through product investments and acquisitions,” added Grant Schachter, a principal at Marlin.

“We are excited to continue our partnership with Baxter and work closely with management and Marlin to drive additional growth in the business,” said Bryce Youngren, a managing partner at Polaris Partners and PGF. “We started this journey with Baxter in 2017 and have watched the business transform into a mission-critical, multi-product platform. We’re excited for this next chapter as the company has multiple growth levers to pursue.”

Guggenheim Securities, LLC acted as the financial advisor to Baxter and Polaris Partners, with Morris, Manning & Martin serving as the legal advisor. Piper Sandler acted as the financial advisor and Goodwin Proctor served as the legal advisor to Marlin. The financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

About Marlin Equity Partners

Marlin Equity Partners is a global investment firm with approximately $9 billion in capital commitments. The firm is focused on providing corporate parents, shareholders and other stakeholders with tailored solutions that meet their business and liquidity needs. Marlin invests in businesses across multiple industries where its capital base, industry relationships and extensive network of operational resources significantly strengthen a company’s outlook and enhance value. Since its inception, Marlin, through its group of funds and related companies, has successfully completed nearly 250 acquisitions. The firm is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, with an additional office in London. For more information, please visit www.marlinequity.com.

About Baxter

Baxter is a leading provider of service supply chain software. The company’s software as a service (SaaS) platform gives organizations control and visibility into aftermarket service supply chains to ensure the right part is at the right place at the right time. Baxter’s solutions, under its BaxterPredict Platform, ensure that its customers can meet Service Level Agreements while simultaneously minimizing inventory costs. Baxter’s flagship solution, Prophet, allows companies to optimize inventory and execute supply and repair orders for each spare part across the service supply chain. Newly released solutions, including Lynx, Snapshot and Prophet.ai help address additional service parts challenges spanning order execution, customer escalation management and last time buy/new product introduction optimization. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Baxter is used by some of the largest global high technology, healthcare and commercial and industrial OEM businesses. For more information, please visit www.baxterplanning.com.

About Polaris Partners

Polaris Partners has a 25-plus-year history of partnering with repeat entrepreneurs and world-class innovators who are improving the way we live and work. The multibillion-dollar firm manages specialty and diversified funds in healthcare and healthcare-adjacent technology with investments across all stages. Polaris Growth Fund (PGF) is a software-focused, specialized affiliate fund of Polaris Partners. PGF works collaboratively with management teams, provides access to its proprietary network of growth and industry experts, encourages interaction with Polaris’ broad portfolio of investments, and supports add-on acquisitions with firm resources and incremental capital. Polaris has offices in Boston, San Francisco, New York, and Singapore. For more information, visit www.polarispartners.com and www.polarisgrowthfund.com.

Contacts:

Gasthalter & Co.

marlinequity@gasthalter.com

Lindsey Rose

lrose@baxterplanning.com