Bigbelly Partners with McCarthy Capital

Bigbelly, a global leader in smart waste solutions for public spaces, announced that it has partnered with McCarthy Capital Fund VI to recapitalize the company and provide further cash investment to accelerate growth. McCarthy Capital, a private equity firm headquartered in Omaha, Neb., manages more than $1 billion of investment capital across its portfolio of companies and specializes in growing businesses in partnership with management teams.

Bigbelly pioneered the smart waste industry more than 10 years ago and currently has more than 60,000 solar-powered and remotely managed units deployed in cities, parks, universities, airports and retail outlets in more than 50 countries. The investment will support Bigbelly's plans to expand its penetration of existing markets, including through its platform-as-a-service subscription offering, while also developing exciting, new market opportunities in both the public and private sectors. In addition, the investment will support new product development including expanding the system into a hosting platform for wireless communications technologies, including 4G LTE and the rapidly growing 5G infrastructure.

"As the recognized market leader in the smart waste industry, we take great pride in what the Bigbelly team has created. McCarthy Capital is a natural fit due to their partnership philosophy and our mutual desire to continue to innovate while providing the highest level of customer service in the marketplace," said Brian Philips, president and CEO of Bigbelly, in a statement. "I am especially excited about the opportunity to expand into new markets and to achieve a level of scale that would have not been possible previously."

"Bigbelly has single-handedly created the smart waste market that has had a transformational impact in creating cleaner public spaces in major cities worldwide while simultaneously helping municipalities achieve dramatically more efficient and sustainable waste collection operations through its smart, cloud-based platform," said BJ Hansen, vice president at McCarthy Capital, in a statement. "The Bigbelly solution is also delivering the same benefits in many private sector operations such as theme parks, airports, corporate and university campuses. We are excited to partner with Brian and his team as they continue to provide innovative IoT [Internet of Things] solutions in an ever-growing range of markets. In fact, as you travel around the world, you are likely to come across Bigbelly units in whatever city you may be visiting."

Stephens Inc. acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Bigbelly in this transaction.