Breakwater Solutions spins off from IBM, gets funding from JLL Partners
Breakwater Solutions – an Austin, TX-based risk and data technology and consulting firm – has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from private equity firm JLL Partners.
Breakwater launched last year, and the core of its services center on a software suite from IBM that helps governance and legal professionals manage and analyze massive volumes of data. The AI and automation-driven software suite – which includes IBM StoredIQ, IBM StoredIQ for Legal, IBM StoredIQ InstaScan, and the IBM Atlas suite of products – helps clients address challenges in information governance, disputes and investigations, regulatory compliance, privacy, and cybersecurity.
Through a partnership agreement with IBM, Breakwater will provide ongoing support and investment in the above products.
The new firm also delivers consulting and managed services in governance, risk, and compliance. The Austin-based firm is led by CEO James Schellhase, an IBM executive who previously oversaw the software portfolio now offered by Breakwater.
“We have brought together experienced consultants and advanced software designed to help public and private companies mitigate risk, improve productivity, and increase profitability,” Schellhase said. “We use statistical sampling and AI data segmentation to help organizations ‘know what they know’ and make more confident decisions about how to monitor, organize, and store overwhelming amounts of data.”
Breakwater’s leadership team is also composed of two senior consulting leaders from Ankura/Navigant (Ankura acquired two business units from Navigant before Guidehouse bought the rest of the global consultancy). Jim Vint, formerly the leader of Ankura and Navigant’s technology practice, serves as Breakwater’s chief revenue officer. Rebecca Patterson, previously a managing director at Ankura/Navigant, is Breakwater’s managing director of consulting.
“Breakwater enters a market primed for innovation, with existing providers offering consulting or technology for these business challenges, but are not positioned to combine the two to deliver more effective solutions,” said Brooks Powlen, managing director at JLL Partners, which invested in the firm earlier this month. “Breakwater’s ability to deliver a solution that marries consulting with powerful, AI-powered software is what made this an easy investment decision for our firm.”
