Private equity investor Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS) last week announced it is becoming a major investor in Vault.com, an online career information service that focuses on more than 30 professional industries (such as investment banking, consulting, real estate, law, government and media). Vault was a 2004 InfoCommerce Group's Model of Excellence award winner.
Vault's founders and senior executives, Samer Hamadeh, Hussam Hamadeh and Mark Oldman, will remain prominent shareholders in the company and part of the management team led by veteran media executive Erik Sorenson, who will be named CEO of the company when the deal closes. Sorenson, of Ledgemont Capital Group, is one of the investors in the deal, which is being financed with funds drawn from VSS Communications Partners IV, L.P., a $1.3 billion private equity fund managed by VSS.
According to a press release announcing the deal, VSS plans to grow Vault.com's current slate of offerings that cater to a younger audience. Vault.com already had a strong brand name in the marketplace, but expect that name to become even more prominent with VSS resources behind it. VSS apparently feels Vault.com has a lot of potential to become an even stronger platform in the career development field and will do what it can to expand on Vault.com's already steady growth. Online career sites have certainly become extremely popular and valuable resources in recent years. It seems that most individuals looking for new job opportunities flock to niche portals such as Vault.com to locate the latest job postings as well as resources to help in the hunt. And Vault.com was already positioned to benefit from this trend.
In the press release, VSS also revealed that Vault.com's growth would be generated both internally and through add-on acquisitions. It will be interesting to see what deals VSS closes in the near future to further bolster Vault.com's profile.