MasterControl announces $150m Series A funding round

MasterControl, a provider of quality and manufacturing software solutions for life sciences, has 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.

Jon Beckstrand, CEO of MasterControl, said: “For nearly three decades, we’ve been laser-focused on our mission to make life-changing products available to more people sooner. 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 to 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 to 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 AI assisted manufacturing optimisation.

Before taking on funding, MasterControl bootstrapped its way to more than $100 million in ARR with over 25% YoY 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% 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, personalised medicine, and cell and gene therapy.

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