DCA Capital in the News

November 29, 2007
The Fresno Bee

Roseville-based DCA to invest in Fresno's Decipher

A Sacramento-area private equity firm has made its first entry into the central San Joaquin Valley with an investment in Decipher Inc., a software company that hopes to nearly double its work force and possibly open a European office by the end of next year.

Roseville-based DCA Capital Partners expects to announce today its investment in Decipher, which since 2000 has built a name for itself by providing survey software and services in the growing field of online marketing research.

"We've been looking for a high-quality company in that region that we could back," DCA Managing Partner Curt Rocca said. "Decipher stood out head and shoulders among the companies we've been looking at" in the Fresno region, he said.

DCA Capital Partners wouldn't disclose the exact amount of the equity investment, but Rocca said it was between $1 million and $10 million.

That cash injection should help Fresno-based Decipher expand in its field of making and managing online surveys for Internet companies, movie studios and other customers seeking more information about what their customers want, said Jayme Plunkett, company co-chief executive.

"We're really energized right now about all the growth opportunities we're seeing in the marketplace," he said. "We feel this is the right time to raise some capital to seize that opportunity."

Decipher has about 65 employees today and projects revenues of about $10 million this year, Plunkett said. With the new investment, the company expects to "at least double" its revenue next year and could see its work force grow to more than 100 employees by the end of 2008, he said.

Decipher also may open an office in London by the end of next year, he said. The company opened its first satellite sales office in New York City this year.

Plunkett and Jamin Brazil, co-founder and co-chief executive of Decipher, will retain majority ownership, Plunkett said. Rocca will join the company's board of directors.

DCA Capital Partners was attracted to Decipher's profitability and positioning in its field as well as Plunkett and Brazil's management expertise, Rocca said. The firm targets a wide variety of businesses with annual revenues between $5 million and $80 million and expects companies it invests in to experience 35% to 40% annual revenue growth, he said.

DCA Capital Partners first learned of Decipher while attending the October 2006 Central Valley Venture Forum, an event held by Fresno State's Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Davis-based Central Valley Fund, Rocca said.

Tim Stearns, director of the Lyles Center, called the Decipher investment "a watershed event" for efforts to draw more equity investment to Valley companies. "It's clearly a sign that the central Valley is emerging as an opportunity for venture capital."

Late last year, Fresno-based MuniServices, which audits local governments and agencies to help them find unrealized revenue, received a $4.5 million investment from the Central Valley Fund to finance a management buyout that officials said allowed the company and its 116 employees to remain in Fresno.

And earlier this year, Fresno-based Internet search-engine developer Galaxy IT received an undisclosed amount from the Valley-based venture capital fund Bulldog Capital Partners.

Stearns cited these examples, along with DCA's investment in Decipher, as proof that "we're not just able to produce ideas in agriculture or related industries. We can have the same kind of success with a wide array of technologies."

Rocca said that DCA Capital Partners continues to seek investment opportunities in the Valley.

STRATEGIC ADVISORY | PRIVATE EQUITY | RESTRUCTURING | TEAM | CASE STUDIES
CONTACT | HOME