Odessa announced an investment from Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. (THL), a premier private equity firm that invests in growth companies.

Odessa’s architecture and design approach set it apart from existing equipment leasing and auto finance technologies by unifying siloed business teams and stakeholders to create a single system of insights, orchestration and extensibility. This enables asset finance organizations to remain nimble and innovative in how they go to market, manage operations and deliver customer value. Odessa customers realize significant value, including streamlined business operations, significant increases in deal velocity, data-based business decisioning and omnichannel customer service.

“As the leader in asset finance technology, Odessa is ideally positioned to drive further customer-focused innovation and to unlock additional market opportunities,” Ganesh Rao, managing director and head of Financial Services at THL and Mark Bean, Director at THL, said. “We are confident that they have the vision and track record to disrupt and define the future of financial services technology, and we are excited to partner with them to support this growth trajectory.”

“We are grateful for the support of our employees that has fueled our success for more than two decades, and we are humbled by the confidence our customers and investors have in Odessa – but our vision goes further still,” Madhu Natarajan, co-founder and CEO of Odessa, said. “There is an enormous opportunity to reimagine the way asset finance companies scale and adapt to disrupting market forces and changing consumer demand. We have the platform, technology, team, and investment partner to be the operating system that powers the modern enterprise.”

In the last year alone, Odessa has been Great Place to Work certified; named to the Inc. 5000 List for the second year in a row; named a leader in technology work culture as the Timmy Award winner for Philadelphia; and named a leader on the Most Innovative Companies list by the Monitor.

The investment seeks to catalyze Odessa’s growth initiatives and further accelerate the company’s platform roadmap and geographic expansion, including through M&A opportunities. To learn more about Odessa’s vision for the future of technology for financial services, read Madhu’s blog.

Houlihan Lokey served as M&A advisor to Odessa, with O’Melveny & Myers serving as its legal counsel and KPMG serving as financial advisor. Kirkland & Ellis served as legal advisor to THL, with Raymond James serving as its financial advisor and Oliver Wyman serving as commercial advisor.