The Information Services (IS) sector is not exactly a well-known sector in the technology industry as it is often lumped together with the IT Services sector. The two sectors are very similar, but it could be argued that the IT sector encompasses more of the following types of services companies than the IS.

In this post we will focus on highlighting two rounds of financing that have taken place in the IS sector; the first one, carried out on the last round in the sector, which went to the Japanese company Hajimariand the second on the one with the highest value, carried out by Global Eagle Entertainment.

IS: Most recent round of funding

Hajimari collected 2 billion yen, which is equivalent to just over 9 million dollars. Hajimari is a Japanese company dedicated to labour IS, i.e. it provides information and guidance on labour relations in general and information on conciliation acts prior to legal proceedings, in claims for dismissal, amounts or penalties, for example.

The investor in charge of this round was en-Japan. En-Japan is an investment firm with 20 years of experience in the sector. It focuses on technology companies, dedicated to AI, en-world Japan for example, or Big Data, Insight Tech. In this case, the funding provided by en-Japan is the first funding ever received by the Japanese company Hajimari.

Higher value funding round: Global Eagle Entertainment

Secondly, as mentioned above, it is worth noting the largest round ever in the IS sector. This round was conducted by Global Eagle Entertainment, a US company based in California. It was founded in 2004 and since then has been dedicated to being a content distribution platform providing in-flight video footage and information services to the aviation industry.

As for the details of the operation, we can highlight that it is the only round that the company has received and also highlight the value of this: it consists of a financing round of 150 million dollars. At the same time, it should be noted that it has been only one investment firm that has carried out the operation: Searchlight Capital Partners. This private US firm was founded 10 years ago and invests in a wide range of industries, albeit mostly technology. It differentiates itself by having the ability to embrace complexity and drive post-investment value creation. Companies such as Global Risk Partners or Latécoère S.A. are present in its portfolio.