Waste
Harmonics

Quick Stats

  • Leadership: Mike Hess
  • Prospect Team: Brett Holcomb, Erik Maurer
  • Location: Victor, NY
  • Industry: Specialty Service (B2B)
  • Investment Date: July 2015
  • Exit Date: December 2019

Overview

Waste Harmonics is a technology-enabled facilities services platform delivering a comprehensive suite of recurring, asset light mission-critical managed waste solutions to blue-chip clients throughout North America. A unique combination of patent-pending technology, superior service delivery and robust reporting and analytics allows Waste Harmonics to simplify complex waste management strategies, significantly reduce costs and improve sustainability.

Our investment in Waste Harmonics is a great example of how we build management teams around a very strong CEO and make infrastructure investments into a business while maintaining a Company’s unique culture.

We were introduced to Mike Hess, Founder and CEO of Waste Harmonics, via an independent sponsor. Mike was looking for a partner to help him structure and close add-on investments and serve as a sounding board as he continued to build a dominant platform in the Managed Waste Service industry. Mike selected us as his partner due to our willingness to structure a transaction that gave his management team the opportunity to retain significant ownership in the business and collaborate on a shared vision for the company.

Partnership Rationale

We saw a talented CEO providing a unique, recurring service, focused on solving customers’ frustrations with national waste haulers. As a result of the team’s customer-first philosophy, the business had exceptional customer loyalty. As a result, Prospect Partners made a control-equity investment in Waste Harmonics and focused on leveraging Waste Harmonics’ strong reputation in the fragmented managed waste services market to grow both organically and through acquisitions.

growth

Growth Initiatives

  • Closed on three add-ons: one within four months of initial investment
  • Developed the next generation of iWaste product – patented IoT platform to perform real-time fullness monitoring
  • Expanded the company’s Smart Equipment Rental product line to further ally itself with customers
strategic

Strategic Partnership

  • Created best-in-class regulatory compliance across all 50 states
  • Evaluated over 100 M&A targets and maintained contact with select firms to accelerate growth
  • Implemented the first equity incentive plan for key members of the management team
infrastructure

Infrastructure Building

  • Developed monthly financial reporting packages, established KPI reporting and tracking, and built out board materials
  • Implemented Salesforce to manage the company’s sales and marketing processes
  • Performed a comprehensive rebranding and website redesign within eight months of initial investment
management

Management Team Additions

  • Added key members of senior management to further support Mike Hess, including a COO, CFO, and VP of Vendor Relations
  • Enhanced the sales and marketing organization to capitalize on more opportunities and respond to more sophisticated customer RFP processes
  • Developed a finance group to meet the needs of a rapidly growing organization

Exit

In 2019, Prospect Partners sold its interest in Waste Harmonics for a significant gain to a larger private equity fund. Mike Hess and his team continue to grow the business.

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