Accounting firm platform Sainvus launched and made its first acquisition in Schulman Lobel.
Sainvus is backed by long-term investors, including family offices and endowments, and aims to help accounting firms better serve their clients by taking care of the day-to-day operations. The platform provides its firms with services such as human resources, offshoring, tech tools and centralized administrative support. It was founded by former KKR private equity partner Jonathan Smidt and chartered accountant and former Optifino founder Hilliard Milner.
"When you do a deeper dive into the industry, you start to realize that, unfortunately, CPAs are so bogged down with running their firms, they don't have the time or the infrastructure to be more of a holistic solution or provider to their client," Milner told Accounting Today. "We identified that there was a massive opportunity to go out and build a centralized infrastructure to allow for these CPAs to service their clients more holistically and really cater to all of their needs."
"We have family offices and endowments, long-term investors that have invested in Sainvus, in addition to which a large portion of the capital is my capital," Smidt added. "We're not a private equity firm. You're not dealing with someone who works in a private equity firm as part of a fund. We're the actual owners and investors at Sainvus itself, and we have a much longer, more patient approach to building out the business."
Sainvus is targeting firms with high-net-worth and small business clients across the United States. Platform firms will retain their own name and brand upon joining.
"The firms that we're acquiring, in many instances, have been around for a long time," Smidt said. "They're known for the value and the service that they provide to their clients, and we don't want to detract from that."
Schulman Lobel has $23 million in revenue and offices in New York City, Los Angeles, and Princeton, New Jersey.
"We chose to partner with Sainvus because of the platform's innovative approach, unparalleled expertise and commitment to excellence. Its values and vision align with ours, and we are confident that our alliance will drive significant growth for both organizations," Norman Schulman, managing partner of Schulman Lobel, said in a statement.
Sainvus is looking to add more firms at the size and scale of Schulman Lobel, as well as smaller firms to roll into Schulman Lobel itself.
Smidt said, "We view ourselves as partners to these firms to help them solve the pain points that they're experiencing today within the industry that will allow them to free up the time and resources to increase the focus on serving their clients and adding value to their clients."
