Francisco Partners to acquire legal tech solutions provider Elite from TPG
Francisco Partners to acquire legal tech solutions provider Elite from TPG
Francisco Partners, a leading global investment firm that specializes in partnering with technology businesses, today announced it will acquire Elite, a pioneer in mission-critical software and integrated payment solutions for the legal industry, from TPG Capital, the U.S. and European private equity platform of global alternative asset management firm TPG, and Thomson Reuters (TSX/Nasdaq: TRI). The acquisition will provide Elite with a new financial partner to help the company capitalize on its current momentum and continue to drive product innovation and growth. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Since partnering with TPG in 2023, Elite has furthered its leadership in the legal tech sector —modernizing operations, launching a cloud-native platform, expanding its cloud subscriber base, rolling out embedded AI capabilities, and integrating a native payments application. Elite has grown its leading cloud-based financial management product 3E to solve billing, payments, and accounting complexity industry-wide due to increased demand for these services over recent years. Across its solutions, Elite currently serves about 2,000 law firms, including 75% of the Am Law 100 and 72% of the Global 100. The business also expanded its native payments capabilities through its acquisition of B2B payments and invoice management platform Tranch, enhancing customers’ ability to seamlessly manage invoicing and payment processes.
“With Francisco Partners’ financial support and extensive legal software and payments expertise, we are confident they are the right partner to help us continue to deliver our transformative products to the legal industry. Building on the success we achieved with TPG, this next phase positions Elite to scale faster, deepen our cloud and AI capabilities, and help law firms operate with greater speed, insight, and efficiency,” said Mark Dorman, CEO of Elite.
“Elite’s powerful, cloud-based platform for large law firms positions it perfectly for long-term growth,” said Peter Christodoulo, Partner at Francisco Partners. “We are excited to partner with CEO Mark Dorman and the entire Elite team as they continue to drive innovation in the legal technology sector,” continued Evan Daar, Partner at Francisco Partners.
“We’re proud to have partnered with Mark and the team over the past two years to transform Elite from an innovative solution within a corporation into an independent, cloud-first legal tech provider central to law firms’ operations,” said Tim Millikin, Partner at TPG. “Elite is playing a critical role in the digital transformation of the legal industry, and we’re confident they will continue to succeed in partnership with Francisco Partners,” continued Akash Pradhan, Business Unit Partner at TPG.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions.
Evercore served as exclusive financial advisor and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP served as legal advisor to Elite and TPG. Centerview Partners served as financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor to Francisco Partners.
