Healthcare IT continues to benefit from providers’ reliance on technology to boost operating efficiencies, investments in clinical trial IT infrastructure, according to Bain’s 2024 healthcare private equity analysis. While Nordic Capital and Riverside Partners capture headlines for their clinical trial management system investments, the underlying investment logic has been refined over decades by healthcare technology veterans like Reeve Waud.
The surge in clinical trial technology investment represents more than opportunistic capital deployment. For Waud Capital Partners, it reflects the natural evolution of an investment framework that has generated successful exits across healthcare software platforms since the firm’s 1993 founding. Reeve Waud’s approach to healthcare IT investment provides a template for understanding why clinical trial management systems offer compelling opportunities for experienced private equity operators.
The Waud Capital Healthcare IT Formula
Integrated Practice Solutions exemplifies how Reeve Waud’s team evaluates healthcare software opportunities. According to the firm’s portfolio description, IPS is “a market leading provider of practice management and EHR software to healthcare practices in chiropractic, optometry, speech and other therapy markets” with “market-leading software applications” that “include ChiroTouch, RevolutionEHR, ClinicSource and ACOM Health.” The platform serves fragmented healthcare segments that require specialized workflow solutions—exactly the dynamic driving clinical trial management system demand.
The company’s stated goal is to “continue to be the trusted partner of choice within the markets we serve” by offering “feature-rich solutions and unrivaled support to allow them to focus on the core of their business – their patients.” This value proposition translates directly to clinical trial management, where pharmaceutical companies seek software platforms that optimize research workflows, ensure regulatory compliance, and accelerate time-to-market for new therapies.
The recurring revenue model that defines IPS’s success—subscription-based software with ongoing support services—mirrors the business model characteristics that make clinical trial management platforms attractive to private equity investors. Healthcare organizations become dependent on these mission-critical systems, creating the customer retention and predictable cash flows that support leveraged buyout strategies.
Operational Excellence in Research
According to Waud Capital’s investment approach, the firm’s Portfolio Operations team “actively works alongside the company and its new leadership, optimizing operations and building the foundations for higher profitability.”. This hands-on operational improvement approach becomes particularly valuable in clinical trial software, where efficiency gains translate directly to accelerated drug development timelines and reduced research costs.
Reeve Waud’s experience with Acadia Healthcare demonstrates understanding of complex healthcare operations that require sophisticated technology coordination. Clinical trial management presents similar coordination challenges across multiple sites, regulatory jurisdictions, and data collection protocols—operational complexity that benefits from the same systematic improvement methodologies Waud Capital applies across its healthcare portfolio.
Roll-Up Potential
According to the firm’s track record, Waud Capital’s healthcare platform investments undertake “over 10 add-on acquisitions” during the hold period on average, reflecting the firm’s expertise in consolidating fragmented markets. The clinical trial software market exhibits similar fragmentation, with specialized point solutions serving different aspects of research management—patient recruitment, data collection, regulatory submission, site coordination.
Reeve Waud’s buy-and-build strategy has produced “an average revenue growth of 400%+” for realized investments, demonstrating the value creation potential when experienced operators systematically consolidate market-leading companies. Clinical trial management platforms offer similar roll-up opportunities, particularly as pharmaceutical companies seek integrated solutions rather than managing multiple vendor relationships.
The firm’s disciplined approach involves identifying “attractive niche sub-sectors” and recruiting “top executive talent to lead the platform’s growth,” providing the framework for evaluating clinical trial technology consolidation opportunities.
Reeve Waud’s three-decade track record of healthcare software investment success suggests that clinical trial management systems represent a natural extension of proven investment strategies rather than speculative venture into unfamiliar territory. For private equity operators with deep healthcare IT experience, research technology offers the same fundamental value creation dynamics that have generated consistent returns across practice management, EHR, and healthcare services platforms.
