Madison Dearborn acquires Harmonia Holdings, brings in Dovel execs
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By
Nick Wakeman
Damon Griggs is a CEO once again and has set an "aggressive" $1 billion annual revenue goal.
Madison Dearborn Partners has made another acquisition and is placing two of its executive partners at the helm of the company.
The private equity firm has purchased a majority stake in Harmonia Holdings, a provider of Agile and DevSecOps services to federal customers.
Damon Griggs, former CEO of Dovel Technologies, was named CEO and chair of Harmonia. Jon Brooks, former chief legal officer at Dovel, will fill the role of chief business and legal officer for Harmonia. They joined Madison Dearborn as executive partners after completing the sale of Dovel to Guidehouse in late 2021.
Two of Harmonia's founders, Pallabi Saboo and Jai Saboo, retain ownership positions in the company and will serve as strategic advisors. Pallabi Saboo will also serve on Harmonia’s board of directors.
Anil Patibandla will continue as Harmonia’s president. Dr. Marc Abrams, another co-founder, will continue as CTO.
Griggs told Washington Technology that other than the additions of himself and Brooks, plus the shift to advisory positions for the Saboos, no changes to existing management positions are planned.
Griggs and Brooks looked at 100 companies over nearly two years before signing the deal with Harmonia.
“The table stakes were the right capabilities, the right customers and the right contracts. We also wanted enough scale to be a platform,” Griggs told us. “We checked all of those boxes with Harmonia.”
But Harmonia also brought something else — a team and culture he found appealing.
“It felt to me like Dovel — very innovative, entrepreneurial culture, agile, and very customer focused,” Griggs said.
“We are proud of what we have accomplished together with Marc, Anil and the rest of our colleagues at Harmonia, and we are excited to begin this new chapter of Harmonia’s growth journey,” the Saboos said in a statement.
Harmonia was founded in 2006 and has developed its offerings around artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data, and cloud modernization. Customers include the departments of Agriculture, State, Defense, and Homeland Security; as well as the Census Bureau and national security agencies.
According to USASpending.gov, the company has posted $34.5 million in unclassified prime contract revenue over the past 12 months.
Harmonia's annual revenue tops $100 million after counting its share of subcontracting and joint venture work, Griggs said.
He has a goal of reaching $1 billion in revenue over the next five-to-seven years through organic growth and acquisitions. He expects to close the first acquisition before by 2025.
Griggs said he likes to set aggressive goals, but he has a track record. When Macquarie Capital acquired Dovel, the company had about $200 million in annual revenue. Griggs set a goal of $1 billion in five years.
“We got halfway there in two and two and half years, so I figure $1 billion in five is reasonable,” he said. “Obviously it’s going to take a lot of hard work.”
The Harmonia acquisition closed last week and the public debut is Monday (today). Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Crowell & Moring LLP provided legal counsel to MDP. KippsDeSanto & Co. served as financial adviser to Harmonia and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP provided legal counsel.