Electrified: Announcing Our Investment In Alpha Grid
It can be difficult to comprehend the scale of the aggregate effort required
Sharing some happy news from our portfolio, which had its first realization this quarter. On May 10, Randstad NV acquired Torc, a September 2021 investment into which we made follow-on investments in January 2022 and January 2023.
Torc is an AI-powered platform for engaging remote software developers that we co-incubated with Recognize Partners and the founding team during the summer of 2021. From Asymmetric’s investment through its final quarter of independent operations, Torc grew into a thriving business with attractive run-rate net revenue, and became a strategic partner to many delighted repeat customers from enterprise through SMB. In addition to consistent management support, Asymmetric sourced Torc’s Chief Revenue Officer (who previously led enterprise business at Catalant, the company that Asymmetric Managing Partner Rob previously founded).
While we believed the company had a bright future and powerful independent prospects, management, Asymmetric, and our co-investors felt comfortable that the sale price (which represented a very fair revenue multiple) and speed/certainty of close from a preemptive inbound suitor justified a timely exit. Torc and Randstad had had a successful and mutually beneficial commercial relationship and the acquisition conversation flowed naturally from that partnership.
We see Torc as validating Asymmetric’s model in a handful of ways: