Hamilton-Based Billtrust Makes First Acquisition since Bain Capital Ventures Investment

Billtrust, the technology-based billing company in Hamilton that recently scored a $25 million investment from Bain Capital Ventures (Boston), completed its first acquisition since that funding materialized, merging with Best Practice Systems, an Englewood, Colo. provider of end-to-end billing solutions. The details of the deal were not disclosed.

While the company called the acquisition a merger, Billtrust is staying in Hamilton and plans to add some 30 jobs there in 2013, according to Anthony Vigorito, CFO in an interview with NJTechWeekly.com. The company had approximately 110 employees before the merger, but not all of them were in N.J.

Best Practice will also be staying in Colorado and Billtrust plans to retain all the employees there, Vigorito added.

“This is our third acquisition,” Vigorito said. In the first instance, the company acquired the customer relationships of a company called Invoice Connection (Carlsbad, Calif.), in a deal that was discussed in this Inc. Magazine article.

The second acquisition, in December 2011, Billtrust acquired the assets of Mark Altman & Associates, a billing service based in Hudson, Mass., serving the municipal, utility and private-sectors. That purchase expanded Billtrust’s reach into these particular vertical markets, he said.

With Best Practice Systems, the company is going after a combination of the two, he added. Best Practices has a diverse customer base spanning different market segments and billing needs.

Importantly, the acquisition is also bringing in new technology to Billtrust that the company didn’t have before, including billing solutions involving payments over mobile devices, a hot area right now, as well as interactive voice response over the phone.

In a statement, Nancy Atkinson, senior analyst with the Aite Group(Boston) said that the combination of the two companies will result in increased service offerings.

“The most effective providers will be those offering advanced capabilities such as receivables processing across all channels as well as automated interfaces for users and integrated, channel-agnostic information reporting,” she added.

In December 2011 Billtrust moved to new headquarters at 100 American Metro Blvd. in Hamilton, making an investment to stay in N.J.

In 2011, Billtrust was named one of the fastest growing companies in N.J. For CEO Flint Lane’s views on the investment in his company by Bain see his blog here.