The virtual-assistant business has been a source of real-world growth for Zirtual, a portfolio company of Lancaster-based investment firm PennSpring Capital.
Zirtual closed Friday on the acquisition of Double, a virtual-assistant business based in Brooklyn, New York.
It’s the third deal this year for Zirtual since it was acquired by PennSpring in December.
People hire virtual assistants to help manage their calendars, track expenses, book travel and perform other back-office work.
The acquisition expands the number of virtual assistants working for Zirtual but, just as importantly, it gives the company access to Double’s artificial intelligence technology, according to PennSpring managing partner Lou Castelli.
The technology speeds up the process of matching assistants with clients based on their needs, and it streamlines back-office tasks such as accounting, scheduling and social media management.
“It truly is a game-changer,” Castelli said, adding that Double’s platform could end up being the one used across all of Zirtual.
Castelli declined to disclose the terms of the transaction but said it brings Zirtual “deep into” eight digits for annual recurring revenue.
The seller: Double was co-founded in 2018 by Alice Default, Christophe Lamperti and Pierre Elie-Fauché.
They met while working for Sunrise Calendar, a calendar app that Microsoft bought in 2015 for a reported $100 million-plus.
Since its founding, Double has raised more than $20 million from investors, including Index Ventures, Eurazeo and Daphni.
Double has about 250 virtual assistants and a mostly remote-working management team of about 30 people, Castelli said.
The company will keep its name and management, he added.
Double’s founders are not remaining with the company, but Default is staying on temporarily as a consultant, Castelli said.
Double’s investors, meanwhile, are rolling their equity into Zirtual, Castelli noted, declining to disclose more.
Those investors bring a network of contacts that could benefit Zirtual, he added.
The buyer: Founded in 2015, Zirtual now fields more than 500 virtual assistants, according to Castelli.
In February, Zirtual acquired Delegated, which provides U.S.-based virtual assistants for small-business owners and executives.
In June, Zirtual bought Del.Trust, a firm providing virtual paralegal services to attorneys and law firms nationwide.
Pending acquisitions could add virtual-assistant firms specializing in bookkeeping, registered investment advisers and social media marketing for real estate, Castelli said.
Zirtual’s competitors include a company called Belay.
