01/25/2021

Citizens Advises Health iPASS, Inc. on its Sale to Sphere, Backed by Waud Capital

PROVIDENCE, RI – Citizens M&A Advisory served as the exclusive financial advisor to Health iPASS, Inc., a high-growth, innovative provider of cloud-based patient engagement software and revenue cycle management technology, in its sale to Sphere, backed by Waud Capital.

Health iPASS specializes in solutions that enhance provider revenue collections and deliver a streamlined healthcare consumer experience from appointment to final payment. The software helps providers accelerate cash flow, reduce the cost to collect, lower claim denials and improve patient relations. The technology improves the healthcare consumer experience by simplifying the check-in process and payment experience by facilitating pre-service, time-of-service and post-service engagement and patient payments through an innovative, multi-channel virtual software interface.

“The Health iPASS team has built a tremendous business with innovative technology and has reached a point where we will benefit from broader distribution channels, an in-house payment acquiring platform and a global brand. These gaps are filled when combined with Sphere,” said Rajesh Voddiraju, founder and chief executive officer of Health iPASS. “The Citizens team was instrumental in helping us get to the right outcome at the right time.”

Imran Ahmad, chief financial officer and chief operating officer of Health iPASS, said: “The Citizens M&A Advisory team really helped us to get organized and negotiate the best outcome for our shareholders. The team was with us during every step of the transaction and played a significant role in preparing materials, managing the entire process with interested parties and helping to optimize the final bids.”

Don Holbrook, managing director at Citizens, said: “Health iPASS’ software modernizes the patient experience, visibility to healthcare costs and ability to pay while giving the healthcare providers a higher probability to collect payments and improve the patients' overall experience.” 

“Healthcare providers’ need for virtual interactions with their patients throughout the full patient experience is greater than ever. The Health iPASS software platform addresses those needs by delivering a streamlined healthcare consumer experience from appointment to final payment and enhancing provider revenue collections,” said Andrew Rueff, executive chairman of Sphere and operating partner at Waud Capital. “This strategic acquisition advances Sphere’s strong presence in the healthcare and wellness market and brings together key components of the patient financial engagement workflow to address the growing demand for improved patient engagement and payment experience in healthcare.”

Citizens M&A Advisory specializes in middle-market mergers and acquisitions as well as later-stage financing transactions. Citizens combines sector intelligence with a client-focused approach to realize our clients’ true value. The Citizens team has closed more than 150 transactions in the last five years and has more than 80 M&A professionals specializing in a range of industries across the United States. Citizens M&A Advisory is part of Citizens Capital Markets, Inc., a subsidiary of Citizens Financial Group (NYSE: CFG).

 

About Citizens Financial Group, Inc.

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest financial institutions, with $183.3 billion in assets as of December 31, 2020. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens offers a broad range of retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, large corporations and institutions. Citizens helps its customers reach their potential by listening to them and by understanding their needs in order to offer tailored advice, ideas and solutions. In Consumer Banking, Citizens provides an integrated experience that includes mobile and online banking, a 24/7 customer contact center and the convenience of approximately 2,700 ATMs and approximately 1,000 branches in 11 states in the New England, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions. Consumer Banking products and services include a full range of banking, lending, savings, wealth management and small business offerings. In Commercial Banking, Citizens offers a broad complement of financial products and solutions, including lending and leasing, deposit and treasury management services, foreign exchange, interest rate and commodity risk management solutions, as well as loan syndication, corporate finance, merger and acquisition, and debt and equity capital markets capabilities. More information is available at www.citizensbank.com or visit us on TwitterLinkedIn or Facebook. 

The testimonials presented are applicable to the individuals depicted and may not be representative of the experience of others. The testimonials are not paid and are not indicative of future performance or success.