IMB Partners invests in business system specialist

IMB Partners, a private equity firm focused on midsized companies in the government and highly-regulated industrial markets, has invested in a federal technology services provider focused on business systems at the Internal Revenue Service.

ETelligent Group started in 2005 and is eyeing that backing as a means to scale its overall organizational infrastructure with the goals of pursuing larger contracts and exploring acquisitions of other businesses to expand into new customer sets.

Terms of the transaction announced Wednesday were not disclosed. The company also known as eTel has booked approximately $19.4 million in unclassified prime obligations over the trailing 12 months with the IRS representing all of that.

In 2019, eTel scored a milestone win when it and eight other companies secured positions on a potential $1.1 billion blanket purchase agreement to support the IRS' IT enterprise program management office.

ETel is the second-largest recipient of task orders against the so-called “IT-EMPSS” vehicle with $38 million in work obligated since the 2019 award, according to GovTribe data.

IMB opened for business in 2010 as a private equity sponsor that seeks to invest in lower middle-market companies in the government market, plus firms in the electric and gas utility sector. The target range is companies that generate $10 million-to-$250 million in annual revenue.

Bethesda, Maryland-headquartered IMB's other two major investments in the federal technology landscape are Ashburn Consulting and E&E.