Benevity CEO Kelly Schmitt was photographed in the company’s Calgary offices on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021. Article content Kelly Schmitt is taking over as CEO of Calgary-based tech company Benevity Inc. at a time when the firm’s 650 employees are just starting to come back down to earth. The software company, founded in 2008, has been on quite the ride so far this year, closing a blockbuster deal in January that saw British-based Hg Capital LLP purchase a majority stake in the privately held Benevity for $1.1 billion . The transaction not only gave the Calgary company rare “unicorn” status (a term granted to privately held startups that achieve $1 billion in valuation), but Benevity’s employee stock option program meant that staff at the company got to share in the wealth. “That was one of the most fun things about it,” Schmitt said in an interview this week. “People were running around and buying engagement rings for their partners and condos and houses. We kind of joke it was our mini economic stimulus package for Alberta.” Article content But now the dust from that transaction has settled and the high is wearing off, and it’s back to business as […]
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