The round — the amount of which was unspecified in Cardinality’s announcement — was led by Attain Capital Partners, a northern Virginia-based firm with just one other portfolio company listed on its website. The other is Safal Partners, a consultancy focused on government and nonprofits.
The move could indicate that Cardinality will pursue a more aggressive growth strategy; often, when a private equity firm invests in a gov tech firm, acquisitions and product expansion are soon to follow. That’s been the case with equity-backed gov tech firms such as Granicus, Versaterm and CivicPlus.
A spokesperson for Cardinality said Attain hasn't bought a majority stake in the company.
Cardinality’s new round comes after the firm announced the acquisition of claims and disbursement software vendor ClearCycle in December. Two of the company’s co-founders, Ganesh Venkatramani and Vijay Krishna, emphasized rapid growth in the press release.
“We are excited to usher in the next phase for the company, leveraging innovation and technology to challenge the status quo and bring rapid, modular modernization to government programs,” said the pair in a quote attributed to both of them.
Private equity firms have been increasingly dipping their toes into the gov tech space in the past year, and mergers and acquisitions have risen as well.
Greg Baroni, Attain’s founder and CEO, will take a seat on Cardinality’s board as part of the deal.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with more detail on Attain's stake in Cardinality.
