Access to capital can be a challenge for Hawaiʻi-based companies. But one local business has found success by looking outside the islands.
When Ben Godsey, president and CEO of ProService Hawaii, needed a new outside investor, he worked with his investment bankers to look beyond Hawaiʻi.
This attracted interest from global technology investment firm Silver Lake. ProService announced this week that Silver Lake has officially come aboard as an outside investor for an undisclosed sum.
Godsey said this is an example of what Hawaiʻi-based businesses could do for themselves by casting a wider net.
Silver Lake might appear to be too remote, and too big, to take an interest in a smaller company in the islands. The private equity firm has more than $95 billion in combined assets under management and committed capital, and often does deals in the hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars.
It’s been an investor in such businesses as Airbnb, GoDaddy, Twitter and more.
What caught Silver Lake’s eye, however, was ProServices’ intention to roll its investment into technology advancements to better serve clients.
ProService operates in a complex business environment, offering bundled HR solutions such as payroll, benefits and insurance to more than 3,000 employers across Hawaiʻi, as well as in Las Vegas and Denver.
Godsey believes there’s a competitive advantage in upgrading the systems it uses to keep all that straight.
