- Great Hill Partners is marketing Vanco, a faith-focused payments platform, in a deal that could reach about $1 billion.
- Vanco serves 45,000+ schools, churches, childcare providers, and community groups, and CEO Jim McGinnis joined in January 2023.
- Parking and curbside payments provider Passport Labs is also seeking a buyer at roughly a $300 million valuation, with 800+ municipal customers and ~150 employees.
- The parallel sale processes highlight investor demand for sticky vertical SaaS-plus-payments assets as private equity looks to deploy large dry powder amid slower 2024 M&A.
Read More
The asset sale of Vanco represents a classic target in verticalized payments: a specialized platform with stable recurring revenues, high customer stickiness, and low customer churn. With more than 45,000 institutions using its faith-based payment platform, Vanco has both scale and niche positioning—critical in making a $1 billion valuation plausible. Conversion trends in digital giving and donations may bolster its growth prospects, especially under stronger online/offline hybrid demand.
Passport Labs’ opportunity is smaller but still compelling. With ~800 municipal customers, focused use cases (parking compliance, curbside payments), and backing from established investors (Sixth Street, H.I.G., Bain Capital Ventures), a $300 million sale range suggests both room for specialized fintechs or smart infrastructure investors interested in government and mobility adjacencies.
These two transactions, taken together, reflect ongoing themes in fintech/transaction-adjacent software markets: demand for stable SMB and institutional revenue streams, differentiation via vertical expertise (faith, government), and a premium being applied in carve-outs that combine payments + software + niche customer base. They also come as private equity firms face pressure to move capital, with substantial uninvested capital (“dry powder”) seeking deployable deals.
Risks and multiples will be influenced by profitability, regulatory profile, payment processing margins, product differentiation (fraud prevention, compliance), and concentration of revenues among top customers. Speculation about final sale prices is uncertain without public filings; data on EBITDA growth, gross transaction volume (GTV), take-rate, churn, and product roadmap remain open questions.
Strategically, acquirers might include: payments infrastructure companies seeking to bolster vertical reach; PE firms with experience scaling SaaS-payments hybrids; or platforms in adjacent verticals (church management software, government tech, mobility platforms). Competitive tension may push valuation above expectations if multiple bidders perceive defensible niches.
Supporting Notes
- Great Hill Partners has engaged an investment bank to sell Vanco, forecasted to fetch up to $1 billion.
- Vanco operates payment software since 1998, serving 45,000+ schools, churches, childcare, community organizations.
- Jim McGinnis became CEO of Vanco in January 2023.
- Passport Labs may be sold for ~$300 million; it provides parking compliance and curbside payments in municipal settings.
- Passport has more than 800 customer municipalities (e.g., Tampa, Pasadena) and about 150 employees.
- Passport Labs has raised ~$213.5 million in funding; investors include Sixth Street, H.I.G. Capital, Bain Capital Ventures.
- Private equity funds from vintage years 2020-21 hold about $500 billion in dry powder, yet 2024 was slow for M&A activity.