Mainsail Partners Invests in Zen Planner

Mainsail Partners Invests in Zen Planner
October 22, 2013 Mainsail Partners

Zen Planner, a leader in cloud-based business management software for the health and fitness industry, announced today that it has secured a $10M growth equity investment from Mainsail Partners.  Zen Planner is the solution of choice for thousands of customers who trust the Denver-based company to manage their most critical business functions.  The capital will be used to support continued product innovation, expand its best in class customer service and hire key roles at the company.  Mainsail Partners, based in San Francisco, is a growth equity firm focused on investing in fast-growing bootstrapped businesses, and is the first and sole institutional investor in Zen Planner.

“This investment is an important milestone in our company’s history and growth,” said Jeff Gardner, Zen Planner CEO. “Our goal is to make business management easy for our health and fitness customers so they can focus on delivering great experiences for their members.  This growth capital, combined with Mainsail’s experience in scaling companies like ours, will allow us to further invest in product development, mobile solutions, sales and marketing, and delivering the high quality of service our customers have come to expect.”

Zen Planner was founded in 2006 with the goal of making it easier for small business owners in the health and fitness industry to manage critical day-to-day functions, including scheduling classes, managing members, billing and marketing to prospective clients.   Co-founders Ben and Filipina Pate recognized the opportunity to create a technology solution that catered specifically to the needs of business owners in health and fitness, which was plagued by a lack of innovation from legacy solutions.   Zen Planner serves business owners across multiple disciplines, including general fitness gyms, martial arts, CrossFit®, yoga, Pilates, gymnastics and dance studios, among others.

“Zen Planner’s intuitive cloud-based technology, combined with the company’s relentless focus on customer service, delivers the best solution for a large percentage of the health and fitness market that is still using manual processes or suboptimal solutions,” said Vinay Kashyap, a Vice President at Mainsail Partners, who will also be joined by Jason Payne from Mainsail on the Zen Planner board.  “Most importantly, we have partnered with a capable management team, led by Jeff Gardner, who is passionate about the customer base they serve,” Kashyap added.

Zen Planner continues to be recognized for its growth and exceptional corporate culture. This year, the company was listed as a Top 50 Colorado Companies to Watch and the No. 2 “Best Place to Work in 2013” by Outside Magazine.

For more information about career opportunities at Zen Planner, visit http://www.zenplanner.com/jobs.

About Zen Planner:

Zen Planner, headquartered in Denver, Colo., is a leader in cloud-based business management software for the health and fitness community. Using a combination of industry-leading customer service with state-of-the-art technology – the software manages all areas of business, including: marketing campaigns, customer relationship management, automated online payments, class and appointment scheduling, event registration, expense tracking, and detailed financial reporting across multiple studios or locations. Zen Planner provides small business owners with critical insights into their business performance, and tools that improve retention and ultimately make them more successful at the disciplines that they love. For more information, visit www.zenplanner.com.

About Mainsail Partners:

Mainsail Partners is a leading growth equity firm that invests in growing, bootstrapped businesses and helps build them into industry-leading companies.  Mainsail leverages a dedicated team of experienced operators and a powerful network to accelerate growth at the firm’s portfolio companies.  The San Francisco-based firm has raised nearly $400 million in committed capital to back outstanding entrepreneurs.  Mainsail’s recent Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) investments include Netchemia, a K-12 Talent Management Suite, and Steelwedge Software, a leading provider of cloud-based Sales & Operations Planning solutions.   For more information, visit www.mainsailpartners.com.

Media Contact:
Maria Miller, 303-847-1409

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