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International venue, events and infrastructure technology solutions business the PMY Group has advised that its international expansion plans are to accelerate as a result of securing a significant investment from sport, media and entertainment private equity firm Bluestone Equity Partners.

Understood to be in the region of US$30 million, the minority investment is a result of the Melbourne-founded PMY Group’s first-ever institutional capital raise and Bluestone’s inaugural investment since closing an opening US$300 million growth equity funding round earlier this year.

Launched in the first quarter of 2023 by Bobby Sharma, a former executive at the NBA and the IMG agency, Bluestone’s investment will see Sharma join PMY’s board of directors and PMY will relocate its headquarters from Australia to the USA.

Founded in 2009 by Paul Yeomans, who remains Chief Executive of the company, PMY works with venues, events and infrastructure builders around the world to optimise operations and drive revenue growth.

Delivering more than US$1 billion of technology solutions to over 1,000 venues and events globally, including many well-known professional facilities and events, the company designs, implements and manages a broad range of solutions, including venue and crowd intelligence, digital scoreboards and billboards, acoustics and noise control, experiential lighting, security and surveillance, as well as control room and production technologies.

In the USA, PMY - through its wholly-owned design firm WJHW, which was acquired in 2021 - has worked on numerous professional sports venue developments. According to PMY, this includes 29 of the 30 most recent facilities in the NFL American football league as well as 28 of Major League Baseball’s 30 venues, and more than half of the new Major League Soccer facilities.

Other current and recent clients include the US Tennis Association, consecutive Olympic Organising Committees (2020, 2024 and 2028), Wimbledon, The Open Championship, UEFA, the England & Wales Cricket Board, Melbourne Olympic Park (Australian Open), the Australian Turf Club, Sydney Motorsport Park and Sydney Showground Stadium.

Commenting on the investment, Sharma advised “PMY aligns perfectly with Bluestone’s mission to partner with strong and scalable blue-chip businesses, and will serve as a cornerstone of the strategic growth equity portfolio we’re building.

“Through hard work, strategic and accretive M&A, and great leadership, Paul and his management team have built an incredible business with a massive addressable market.

“PMY’s value-add has become more relevant and impactful in the sports, media and entertainment industry over time, and now serves critical needs for a wide variety of infrastructure, including large public facilities such as airports, universities and stadiums and arenas.”

Yeomans added “over the past 14 years, PMY has delivered impressive performance and growth by leveraging technology to help venues of all types deliver a safe, secure and engaging experience.

“We intend to leverage the new investment from Bluestone to accelerate PMY’s growth through both organic and inorganic expansion opportunities as we strive to support the fast-growing infrastructure technology market. We see Bluestone as a true partner and look forward to benefitting from the firm’s expertise across sports, media and entertainment as we continue to grow all over the world.”

PMY Group currently has offices in Australia, USA, UK, Europe and Asia.

Images: Bobby Sharma of Bluestone Equity Partners with PMY Group’s Paul Yeomans at Wimbledon (top) and Paul Yeomans pictured earlier this year (below).

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