Product Launch #52-#58

De-risked acquisitions and accelerated returns

Summary

A long-term partner for a long-term buy-and-hold plan

Neul Capital doesn’t flip software companies. It buys small-to-micro software businesses to own and operate over the long haul. That model only works if the underlying technology can be understood, stabilized, and scaled across a portfolio – not just for one business unit at a time.

From the beginning, Neul focused on a common R&D methodology and internal infrastructure that would span all its companies. That’s the context in which Modularis was brought in in 2018: as a core part of how the company evaluates, acquires, and then runs software businesses.

This isn’t a typical “project-based” IT relationship. It’s an ongoing alignment between an acquirer and a technical partner who both care about what happens to the product ten years after the deal closes… not just during diligence.

Turning IP risk into a repeatable integration playbook

The primary risk in acquiring small software businesses isn’t brand or market positioning – it’s intellectual property and contracts, especially when most of the real knowledge lives in a handful of engineers’ heads.

Before acquisitions, with us, Neul can validate what’s actually there: codebase, architecture, documentation (or lack thereof), and how fragile the current R&D setup really is. Beyond this technical audit, Modularis creates additional value by determining if and how a potential acquisition can accelerate Neul’s flywheel.

“Identification and validation of intellectual property and understanding… [Modularis helps us know] that what we see is there is really there.”

Adam McGregor

CEO of Neul Capital

But the real value is what happens next. The collaborative teams use that understanding to design “what we’re going to do going forward” so the business doesn’t depend on a few key individuals or legacy decisions.

Scaling across diverse tech stacks with a common R&D foundation

Across acquisitions, Neul doesn’t buy one tech stack. It buys whatever stack comes with the right business… .NET, something older, something custom… everything’s on the table.

That only works if there’s a partner who can both understand multiple platforms and move them toward a more supportable modern architecture without requiring a rewrite. Modularis fills that gap by combining:

A common methodology for how software should be built and maintained
The ability to meet each acquired software where it is, technically
A path to modernization when it’s appropriate, not by default

More than an audit: a partner that stays after the deal

Most tech due diligence providers hand over an expensive report and move on. Neul Capital wanted something else: a partner that would stay involved after the acquisition and help build the long-term R&D foundation.

That’s how we work together. Modularis is involved before the deal to form an opinion on the tech, then we stay engaged to help own and execute the plan post-acquisition. Neul goes into integration with “eyes wide open,” having already seen the code, the risks, and the opportunities.

"Modularis quickly engaged with our R&D team to secure all IP and all critical resources to make sure all key talent and undocumented IP did not walk out the door.”

Adam McGregor

CEO of Neul Capital

Differentiating from commoditized IT services

On paper, Modularis competes with a crowded field of outsourced development and IT services firms. In practice… the value prop is fundamentally different.

Most of our competitors sell time and bodies, i.e. “here’s an engineer for this hourly rate.” Modularis has engineers, plus something harder to explain but more valuable over time: our own reusable intellectual property and platform capabilities that make your portfolio companies more efficient at building and maintaining products.

That’s not what the market is used to:

Traditional vendors are judged on resource cost
The underlying tech leverage is often invisible
Buyers tend to compare hourly rates, no long-term scalability

For Neul, Modularis isn’t just another dev shop. We’re a strategic technical partner embedded in how the firm finds, evaluates, and scales small software businesses.

"Modularis has been a terrific strategic partner for us.They have the leadership, experience, discipline, and technology we needed to build and grow our global IoT platform."