Verne

What Verne does

Verne is a privately held micro-private equity holding company founded in 2020 by Colin Keeley (Austin, TX) and Brent Sanders (Cleveland, OH) that acquires profitable B2B SaaS businesses from founders. Its acquisition target profile is narrowly defined: $1M–$10M in annual recurring revenue, 3+ years of operating history, mission-critical use case, low churn, and diversified customers. Verne positions itself as a founder-friendly alternative to traditional private equity, emphasizing simple deal terms, light diligence, long-term (Constellation-software-style) hold horizons, and cultural preservation of acquired businesses.

The firm's current portfolio comprises five wholly-owned SaaS subsidiaries — Scout (pet sitting), Ottomatik (database backup), Prolifiq (AI sales enablement), HireInSouth (HR/recruiting), and Blinksale (invoicing) — operated with minimal intervention under matched leadership. Verne does not develop proprietary technology products; its core capability is deal sourcing, technical/product due diligence, and hands-off portfolio stewardship. Deal flow is sourced through a content-first origination engine: the Indie Acquisitions Podcast (distributed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast), an active Twitter presence (@colinkeeley, @iambrentsanders), a blog, and a planned Micro-PE cohort course, supplemented by direct outreach, inbound via Typeform, brokers (Effie International), and marketplaces (MicroAcquire).

Commercially, Verne generates revenue through two streams: (1) cash flow and value creation from acquired SaaS holdings, and (2) a Technical & Product Due Diligence professional service sold to outside buyers, covering performance, scalability, code quality, technical debt, integration, security, and architecture assessments. The firm has disclosed $450,000 in funding from Right Side Capital Management (March 2023), operates with 1–10 employees plus contractors, and is structured as a partnership between the two co-founders with no external institutional control or parent entity.

Name

Verne

Legal name

Verne

Website

https://vernehq.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Verne is a micro-private equity firm that acquires B2B SaaS businesses with $1M–$10M ARR from founders, holding them long-term under culture-preserving stewardship. Its portfolio spans five SaaS companies across pet services, backup, sales, HR, and invoicing, complemented by a technical due diligence service and a content-driven deal-sourcing platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Micro Private Equity / SaaS Acquisitions

NAICS

Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416)

akta.pro primary industry

Small-Cap / Micro-Buyout (FSANABAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Buy-Side Search & Acquisition Advisory (FSAEAIAD), Buy-Side M&A Advisory (FSAEAGAB)

Keywords

• Micro private equity
• SaaS acquisitions
• Software holding company
• Technical due diligence
• B2B SaaS buyers

Headquarters

HQ city

Cleveland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. SaaS Company Acquisition & Operations: Verne acquires profitable B2B SaaS companies and operates them long-term, generating returns through cash flow and value creation. They buy businesses with $1M-$10M in annual recurring revenue, operate them with minimal intervention, and potentially sell or hold indefinitely.
2. Technical Due Diligence Services: Verne offers technical and product due diligence services to business buyers analyzing acquisition targets. Services include performance & scalability review, code quality review, technical debt assessment, integration strategy, security vulnerability assessment, and architectural choices evaluation.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Verne is a micro private equity firm that acquires profitable B2B SaaS businesses with $1M–$10M in annual recurring revenue, operating them long-term under a founder-friendly acquisition model. It also sells Technical & Product Due Diligence services to outside business buyers evaluating acquisition targets, covering performance, scalability, code quality, technical debt, integration, security, and architecture.

Product overview

Verne is a micro-private equity holding company that acquires B2B SaaS businesses with $1M-$10M in annual recurring revenue. The company operates as a unified acquisition platform with a core focus on acquiring software companies through a founder-friendly process, offering Technical & Product Due Diligence as a supporting service. Verne's portfolio includes acquired brands: Scout (pet sitting SaaS), Ottomatik (database backup), Prolifiq (AI sales software), Hire in South (HR/recruiting), and Blinksale (invoicing). The company also produces the Indie Acquisitions Podcast as content/educational resource for the micro-PE community.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Verne Acquisition Services Micro-PE acquisition services that buy profitable B2B SaaS businesses with $1M–$10M in ARR and 3+ years of operating history from founders under a friendly, founder-first deal process with no gotcha terms, no brutal diligence, and a long-term permanent-home holding strategy.
• Technical & Product Due Diligence Paid technical and product due diligence service for business buyers evaluating B2B SaaS acquisition targets, covering performance and scalability, code quality, technical debt assessment, integration strategy, security vulnerabilities, and architectural choices, delivered by Verne's CTO and senior executive consultants.
• Scout Leading dog walking and pet sitting SaaS platform owned and operated by Verne as part of its acquired SaaS portfolio.
• Ottomatik Database and server backup automation SaaS platform owned and operated by Verne as part of its acquired SaaS portfolio.
• Prolifiq AI-powered sales intelligence and productivity SaaS platform owned and operated by Verne as part of its acquired SaaS portfolio.
• Hire in South Southern U.S.-focused HR and recruiting SaaS platform owned and operated by Verne as part of its acquired SaaS portfolio.
• Blinksale B2B SaaS invoicing platform that enables businesses to create and manage invoices online, owned and operated by Verne as part of its acquired SaaS portfolio.

Named customers4 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Effie InternationalminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorBroker network partner for larger deal flow. Effie International is a SaaS-focused M&A broker that helps package and sell businesses, typically charging 15% fees on transactions.
• MicroAcquireminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMarketplace platform for listing smaller SaaS businesses for acquisition. Verne uses this marketplace to find and acquire smaller SaaS companies.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Empire Flippers: Online business brokerage and marketplace for SaaS, content, and ecommerce sites. Competes with Verne for small SaaS acquisition opportunities and seller relationships.
• Acquire.com: Marketplace and matching service for bootstrapped SaaS acquisitions, often pre-revenue to low-ARR. Competes for the same indie founder exit flow that Verne targets.
• MicroAcquire: Marketplace for buying and selling small SaaS and online businesses. Verne explicitly uses MicroAcquire as a sourcing channel, making it a direct channel/competitor for the same micro-SaaS deal flow.
• FE International: M&A advisory firm specializing in SaaS, e-commerce, and content business sales in the $1M-$100M range. Competes for sellers in the lower end of Verne's target range.
• Quiet Light Brokerage: M&A advisory for SaaS and ecommerce businesses, frequently facilitating founder exits at $1M+ ARR. Adjacent buyer-broker model serving the same indie founder segment.
• Search Funds / Iter VC: Aggregator of search fund and micro-PE operators acquiring small businesses. Shares buyer-side deal sourcing, lender relationships, and operational model with Verne.
• Centurica: Micro-acquisition platform that acquires and operates small SaaS businesses with the founder-exit focus. Direct competitor pursuing a similar hands-off operating model.

Others

• Forge (Forge Global): Liquidity and secondary market platform. Less directly comparable but serves the broader alternative-investment ecosystem where micro-PE acquirers may eventually seek partial liquidity.

Emerging players

• Tiny.vc (TinySeed): Micro-fund (pre-seed/seed for indie SaaS founders) run by Rob Walling and Eben Pagan. Targets adjacent early-stage bootstrap SaaS founders and could evolve into acquirer of similar assets.

Broad incumbents

• Constellation Software: Large-cap perpetual-hold acquirer of vertical market software (referenced explicitly on Verne's podcast). Operates Volaris and other divisions that buy similar micro-SaaS assets at scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/colinkeeley

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Verne