LOS ANGELES, Dec. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Telescope Inc., the market leader in audience participation, consumer engagement, and mobile and social technology solutions, announced they have completed a management buyout and significant growth investment in the business. The transaction was led by Telescope CEO Jason George, in partnership with H.I.G. Growth Partners ("H.I.G.") and Moorgate Capital Partners ("Moorgate").

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Telescope is responsible for revolutionizing television-audience participation first deployed for the worldwide reality-competition phenomenon, "American Idol," and now their platform is viewed as the industry standard for TV and mass media live events.   Telescope's technology powers engagement across multiple platforms and connected devices, enabling brands to connect and interact with audiences and customers anywhere, anytime. Telescope works with a wide range of partners, including the world's largest media networks, advertisers, social platforms and leading Fortune 500 companies.

"Our media and advertising clients know that an engaged consumer is a loyal consumer, and are increasingly aware of the need to build a one-to-one relationship with their fan base through connected devices and social media," said Jason George, CEO of Telescope. "With the backing of H.I.G. and Moorgate, Telescope will continue to innovate across multiple devices and platforms, pioneering the next generation of audience engagement. By leveraging the opportunity to connect in a more targeted and personal way, we can deliver more immersive experiences for our clients and their consumers."

As part of the investment, Fred Sturgis and Nik Shah from H.I.G. Growth Partners and John White and Chris Boyle from Moorgate Capital Partners will join Telescope's Board of Directors. Telescope Inc. intends to use the investment partnership to accelerate its growth and expand its market offerings to current and new partners and television advertisers.

"Telescope is a true market leader in interactive media and technology," said Fred Sturgis, Managing Director for H.I.G. Growth Partners. "We are pleased to partner with Telescope's outstanding senior leadership and look forward to working alongside Telescope to grow the company and further entrench them as industry leaders."

"Telescope has created a unique platform that allows advertisers and media companies to engage real-time with viewers and consumers," added John White, Founding Partner of Moorgate Capital Partners.  "We look forward to working with Jason and his team to expand Telescope's reach even further."

The company's unrivalled expertise in audience behavior allows its suite of products to deliver billions of interactions each year for clients seeking to engage and monetize their target consumers, underpinned by real-time reporting and analysis tools supported by its intelligent back-end CRM engine, Insight. With expanding partnerships across multiple social networks, the Telescope platform is leading the way in the evolution of cross-platform audience participation via mobile and other social TV and second screen applications.

About Telescope

Telescope Inc. is the market leader in audience participation, consumer engagement, and mobile technology for live television. Managing over 1.5 billion consumer interactions every year, Telescope specializes in cross-platform solutions for media networks and brands to both capture and monetize fans and consumers via real-time engagement across digital devices and multiple platforms. With a technology platform used by the world's largest media brands, biggest social platforms, content owners, and leading Fortune 500 companies, the company delivers high-capacity audience participation and second-screen technology, supporting the largest and most demanding mass-volume televised campaigns and record-breaking events. For more information, visit us on Facebook, Twitter, or www.telescope.tv.

About H.I.G. Growth Partners

H.I.G. Growth Partners is the dedicated growth capital investment affiliate of H.I.G. Capital, a leading global private equity investment firm with over $10 billion of capital under management and offices in Miami, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New York, and San Francisco in the U.S., and affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid and Paris in Europe as well as Rio de Janeiro in South America. With $500 million of committed capital, Growth Partners seeks to make both majority and minority equity investments ranging from $5 million to $30 million in strong, growth-oriented businesses with between $10 million and $100 million in revenues. Growth Partners considers investments across all industries, but focuses on certain high-growth sectors where the team has extensive in-house expertise such as healthcare, technology, internet and media, consumer products and technology-enabled financial and business services. Growth Partners strives to work closely with our management teams to serve as an experienced resource, providing broad-based strategic, operational, recruiting and financial management services from a vast in-house team and a substantial network of third-party relationships. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.HIGgrowth.com.

About Moorgate Capital Partners

Moorgate Capital Partners teams up with experienced executives primarily in media, interactive media and information services to invest in growth opportunities. We seek to partner with industry leading management teams to source and finance transactions that will generate significant shareholder value. Moorgate has offices in New York and San Francisco.  For more information, visit www.moorgatepartners.com.

Contacts

Telescope
Media:
Mike Gyulai, Beck Media & Marketing
mike@beckmedia.com
310 300 4800

H.I.G. Growth Partners
Fred Sturgis, Managing Director
fsturgis@HIGgrowth.com

or

Nik Shah, Principal
nshah@HIGgrowth.com

Moorgate Capital Partners
John White, Founding Partner
John.White@moorgatepartners.com

or

Chris Boyle, Managing Director
Chris.Boyle@moorgatepartners.com

SOURCE Telescope Inc.