Mike Nugent leaves Bison, provider of IR, benchmarking platform

Mike Nugent, a co-founder and chief executive of Bison, a five-year-old company that provides an online platform for investor-relations professionals, left the company earlier this month.

Why Nugent left is unclear, although a source familiar with the situation noted that the venture-backed company has brought in a strategic investor. Buyouts was unable to reach executives at Bison for comment.

The Bison software platform can be used by IR professionals to identify potential investors, benchmark fund performance, track portfolio cash flows and net asset values, and find out which other funds are in the market.

Nugent teamed up with co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Rasmus Goksor to start Bison toward the end of 2011. Previously, Nugent had headed up due diligence at fund-of-funds manager SVG Advisers for four and a half years. Goksor had been an attorney for venture firms and startup companies at Gunderson Dettmer. The firm’s website lists 13 professionals working for the company.

Bison launched its platform commercially in June 2014 and by later that year had attracted some 70 institutional clients. These include investors, private equity firms and service providers, which typically paid $5,000 to $10,000 per year for unlimited seats, according to a late 2014 article in Buyouts.

Bison’s database included information on more than 17,000 funds managed by more than 5,100 general partners at the time, the article said.

Action Item: Visit the Bison platform at https://goo.gl/RIkLhJ.

A wild bison and her eight-day-old calf are seen at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge outside Denver August 6, 2009. The bison were reintroduced to the area in 2007 and have had several calves since then. Photo courtesy Reuters/U.S. Forest Service.