AST Announces Strategic Investment by Recognize

AST Corporation, a leading cloud and digital transformation solutions provider, announced it has received a strategic growth investment from Recognize, a technology services-focused investment platform. AST is an award-winning cloud services provider that has served clients in the public and commercial sectors for more than two decades. The partnership with Recognize enables AST to accelerate investment in innovation, enhance its global delivery footprint and expand its solution offering to clients.

"AST has built a strong foundation with an award-winning culture focused on leveraging cloud technology in our core Oracle and Salesforce ecosystems to deliver value-based outcomes for our customers. As we look at the next chapter, we are excited about the partnership with Recognize, which will accelerate our efforts in building a differentiated, purposeful digital transformation solutions provider.”

Justin Winter, CEO of AST

With over 750 team members globally, AST is a leading, trusted services partner to Oracle, Salesforce and other notable technology vendors, managing large-scale digital transformation efforts. As organizations accelerate their shift to leveraging next-generation technologies, AST is uniquely positioned to manage clients’ digital transformation initiatives, including securely and efficiently shifting on-premise systems to cloud-based applications.

“We are excited to work alongside Justin and his team to help AST continue to build on its already strong track record,” said Charles Phillips, Recognize co-founder and former president of Oracle. “AST is well positioned to capitalize on Oracle’s maturing cloud service and customers now have a clear path toward meaningful digital transformation.”

“We are deeply impressed by the company that Justin and his team have built,” said David Wasserman, co-founder and managing partner of Recognize. "AST’s leadership position across its core end markets, differentiated focus on best-in-class service capabilities and industry-leading culture made us excited to partner with the team as they continue scaling the business.”

Charles Phillips will join the company’s Board of Directors as Chairman alongside fellow Recognize co-founder David Wasserman and Recognize partner Mike Grady. This is the fourth platform investment for Recognize as it continues to deploy capital from its flagship fund.

Willkie Farr & Gallagher acted as legal advisor to Recognize. Guggenheim Securities, LLC and Harris Williams acted as financial advisors to AST and Davis Polk & Wardwell acted as legal advisor.

About AST
AST is an award-winning full-service enterprise systems integrator, serving clients in the public and commercial sectors for more than two decades. Clients look to AST for leadership and assistance in systems integration, business process redesign, project management, systems administration, and training. From on-premise applications to modern cloud technology, AST’s services encompass all aspects of Enterprise Resource Planning, Business Intelligence, Enterprise Performance Management, Customer Experience, and Middleware. AST also offers flexible Managed Services, supporting the needs of over 200 Public Sector and Commercial customers around the globe.

About Recognize
Recognize is a technology investment platform exclusively focused on the technology services industry. Tech services firms envision, build, configure, manage, and operate software and business processes to deliver digital outcomes for enterprises. The firm provides operational expertise, industry insights, and strategic capital to innovative companies in this sector. Recognize is led by industry veterans Frank D’Souza, Raj Mehta, Charles Phillips, and David Wasserman, along with partners Mike Grady, Josh Miller, Deborah Munfa, and Shawn Pride.

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