Last week was moving week for Brentwood-based BluWave, in what has become a nearly annual tradition for the private equity resource firm — it was their fifth move in six years.
“My office manager will kill me if this [office] doesn’t last us at least 18 months,” BluWave founder and CEO Sean Mooney said. “We grew out of the last office. … We were bursting at the seams. Each time [we’ve moved], we’ve doubled the office [space] and fill it quite quickly.”
Lucky for BluWave’s office manager, this move was only across the office complex at 5005 Maryland Way instead of across town, but it’s a sign that despite private equity activity dipping in 2022, BluWave’s business is on the rise.
The company expects to double its headcount over the next 18 months, Mooney said, from 30 to 60 employees. That could mean another move is imminent, despite the new office being twice the size —12,000 square feet — than the old one.
BluWave works to connect private equity firms to the third-party experts they need to help grow companies in their portfolios using proprietary technology to asses needs, match resources and monitor the process. The firm counts more than 500 private equity firms as clients, including Chicago-based Shore Capital Partners, which has a second office in Nashville.
BluWave grew 3,157% from 2017 to 2020, landing it at No. 127 on the Inc. 5000 list in 2021. Despite the recent economic uncertainties, Mooney said the firm is on a “very high double-digit” growth trajectory for 2022, in terms of revenue.
That’s because when the economy begins to stumble, private equity firms look for new deals less, while turning their attention to growing their existing portfolio companies, Mooney said, increasing the need for BluWave’s services.
“What we’re seeing private equity firms do is take on all the problems head-on, because they can’t afford for their companies not to be successful in tough times. It can’t occur,” Mooney said. “Where as in venture capital, that’s part of they business model is to have certain companies not survive. Private equity’s business model is every one of them has to [survive] or they won’t make the returns.”
As a result, Mooney said he’s seeing that private equity firms are working to reduce costs, pass on price increases, improve supply chains, hire in “droves” and invest in technologies, such as automation, analytics and artificial intelligence.
Nashville’s private equity landscape has expanded quickly in recent years, with big city firms such as Shore, Starr Investment Holdings LLC and Atlanta-based MSouth Equity Partners all opening offices in the city. Last year, the team from Whistler Capital Partners LLC completed a spin out from Starr to form a new private equity firm in Music City.
BluWave is currently hiring for research and operations, finance and accounting and account management positions, said Mooney, and he is already finding ways to fit them into the new office.
“The place is great but it was configured to have a lot less people,” Mooney said. “We’ve repostured it in a way that will equip our growth.”
