CHICAGO, IL– July 13, 2021

Benford Capital Partners Management, L.P. (“Benford Capital” or “BCP”) is pleased to announce that it has, in partnership with LiteSentry LLC (“LiteSentry”), completed a recapitalization of Softsolution GmbH (“Softsolution” or “The Company”).  The companies will work in partnership to serve the flat glass market worldwide across its most critical automated inspection and process control needs.

Founded in 2000 by Peter Pfannenstill, Ing. Thomas Schuller and Hermann Sonnleitner and based in Waidhofen an der Ybbs in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, Softsolution is a leading provider of automated inspection and process control systems to the flat glass fabrication market.  The Company will continue to operate as a GmbH in its current location in Waidhofen. The leadership team and organization, along with their commitment to innovation and customer support, remain unchanged.

“We are excited to work alongside the LiteSentry team to position ourselves to find even more future-oriented, innovative solutions that inspire our customers and partners anew every day,” commented Thomas Schuller, Founder and Managing Director of Softsolution.

As a result of this partnership, both LiteSentry and Softsolution enhance their ability to respond to customer needs with more localized resources, improve end users’ access to the best available technology for their evolving glass production needs, and accelerate new product development from the industry’s most innovative teams.

Gary DiDio, President of LiteSentry, added, “This collaboration brings the leading inspection and process control solutions together to serve every aspect of the flat glass fabrication process. Customers can count on us as comprehensive partners to help them solve their toughest challenges and deliver the highest quality, most beautiful glass.”

Softsolution represents the first add-on acquisition for LiteSentry, and BCP’s 8th investment in industrial technology.

Brian Staff, BCP Operating Partner, noted, “We are thrilled to continue building our glass inspection and control platform with the addition of Softsolution. The Company’s commitment to customer-focused innovation, along with its leading quality and dimension inspection products are the ideal complement to LiteSentry’s business.”

About LiteSentry, LLC
LiteSentry™ LLC designs and manufactures patented inspection technology for the glass, solar PV, and sheet plastic industries. LiteSentry has installed over 450 inspection systems measuring distortion, flatness, defects, blemishes, size, and geometry; and 1,000 measurement sensors to monitor thickness, coating, air gap, and other critical metrics at glass fabrication and sheet plastic extrusion plants worldwide. When quality is essential, LiteSentry systems are the solution.

About SOFTSOLUTION, GmbH
Softsolution GmbH is an Austrian manufacturer of highly professional glass quality assurance systems, and a software developer in the field of digitization with locations in Lower Austria, Waidhofen / Ybbs, and Chicago, Illinois.  Since 2002, the company’s image analysis products, such as the LineScanner, CulletScanner, and VirtualDigitizing, have been used for all quality inspections of transparent flat glass products such as single sheets, insulating glass, automotive glass, processed glass, polycarbonate, or film.

About Benford Capital Partners
Founded in 2004, Benford Capital (www.benfordcapital.com) is a Chicago-based private equity firm focused on buying and building leading lower middle market companies in partnership with founders and management.  Since inception, Benford Capital has acquired 26 companies, including several add-on acquisitions, and currently owns 12 platform companies.  Industry areas of focus include industrial technology, consumer products and food, B2B e-commerce, and agricultural products and services.

For any questions or add-on acqusition ideas for LiteSentry, please contact Ben Riefe (ben@benfordcapital.com) or Brian Staff (brian@benfordcapital.com).