MasterControl Raises $150M Series A Funding

Company’s first funding round will be used to accelerate product development for its QMS and MES SaaS offerings

Published: Thursday, December 15, 2022 - 11:09

(Master Control: Salt Lake City) -- MasterControl, a leading provider of quality and manufacturing software solutions for the life sciences, today announced its first ever funding, a $150 million Series A round led by Sixth Street Growth. MasterControl has grown profitably for nearly 30 years, and with this funding is valued at $1.3 billion. The proceeds will be used to accelerate the development of SaaS solutions serving the company’s global life sciences customers, which include Pfizer, Cochlear, Thermo Fisher Scientific and more than 1,100 others worldwide.

“For nearly three decades, we’ve been laser-focused on our mission to make life-changing products available to more people sooner,” says Jon Beckstrand, CEO of MasterControl. “This commitment has led us to attack inefficiencies in quality and manufacturing that were extending product research and delivery cycles. We see an urgent need to help our customers deliver their breakthrough technologies to the market faster and at a lower cost. Our goal is to add a strategic partner with resources and expertise to help us meet the significant need for our solutions. We’re fortunate to have the experienced investment team at Sixth Street Growth to help make that a reality.”

MasterControl will use the financing to continue to build and enhance its solutions while also placing more focus on technology that will predict and prevent quality events, and enable true AI assisted manufacturing optimization. Investing in new technologies such as AI, machine learning, and natural language processing will improve customers’ business outcomes and reduce the time and cost of compliance and red tape. This will help get life changing products to patients in timeframes that were previously not possible.

Before taking on funding, MasterControl bootstrapped its way to more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) with more than 25-percent year-over-year growth to date. Well into its expansion to disrupt the $17 billion manufacturing execution system (MES) market through the launch of Manufacturing Excellence in 2019, it has attracted well over 100 new customers in the MES market and seen more than 100-percent growth in sales every year. With half of the top 50 pharma and medical device companies as customers, MasterControl is poised to enter new markets adjacent to its core pharmaceutical and medical device segments, such as contract development and manufacturing, personalized medicine, and cell and gene therapy.

“MasterControl is the SaaS leader helping strengthen the manufacturing industry’s digital transition and ensuring that life sciences and other highly regulated organizations get the safest products to consumers as fast as possible,” says Nari Ansari, managing director at Sixth Street Growth. “It has a proven business model, an accomplished leadership team, a marquee client base, and a solid track record of growth. We’re honored to be the company’s first external investor and look forward to supporting its continued success.”

William Blair acted as advisor to Sixth Street Growth in connection with the investment. For more information about MasterControl, please visit www.mastercontrol.com.

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