TIVP066: VALUING CONSTELLATION SOFTWARE’S SPINOFFS: TOPICUS, LUMINE AND CO.

W/ DANIEL MAHNCKE & SHAWN O’MALLEY

TIVP066: VALUING CONSTELLATION SOFTWARE’S SPINOFFS: TOPICUS, LUMINE AND CO. W/ DANIEL MAHNCKE & SHAWN O’MALLEY

05 April 2026

Daniel Mahncke and Shawn O’Malley take a deep dive into four companies operating in the shadow of one of the greatest compounders of the last two decades — Constellation Software. From direct CSI spinoffs to spiritual descendants shaped by Mark Leonard’s inner circle, these are the businesses following the exact same vertical market software playbook, but at a fraction of the size and with decades of compounding runway still ahead of them.

Some investors believe that Topicus, Lumine, Sygnity, and Asseco Poland represent the best way to own the CSI model today — capturing the same acquisition discipline, decentralized culture, and sticky recurring revenues, but without the law of large numbers that has inevitably slowed Constellation itself down. Others argue that the spinoffs lack the institutional depth and deal flow of the mother ship, that some of these businesses are still far from proven M&A machines, and that the AI-driven selloff across the entire VMS universe may be masking real structural risks.

Join Daniel Mahncke and Shawn O’Malley as they assess which of these mini-Constellations has the most compelling setup, which carries the most risk, and whether any of them deserve a spot in The Intrinsic Value Portfolio.

Information about the TIVP Mini Conference at the Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder meeting:

On Friday, May 1st, Shawn and Daniel will host The Intrinsic Value Conference in Omaha during the Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting. They will give a special stock pitch presentation followed by a Q&A session, and a private dinner for members of The Intrinsic Value Community.

In addition to the VIP Spots for members, a limited number of free spots will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. The conference is at the Hotel Indigo in downtown Omaha at 1 pm local time.

SUBSCRIBE

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:

  • Why smaller VMS companies are interesting
  • How the law of large numbers shifts CSU’s focus
  • Why VMS is so attractive for acquirers
  • About Topicus and why it’s the closest copy of CSU 
  • Lumine and its focus on the media and communication vertical
  • Sygnity and its new chapter
  • Asseco Poland and why it might be a the next Topicus
  • Whether Shawn and Daniel add a Mini Constellation to the portfolio 
  • And much, much more!

Disclosure: This episode and the resources on this page are for informational and educational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. For full disclosures, see link.

TRANSCRIPT

Disclaimer: The transcript that follows has been generated using artificial intelligence. We strive to be as accurate as possible, but minor errors and slightly off timestamps may be present due to platform differences.

[00:00:00] Daniel Mahncke: Constellation Software has been one of the most successful compounders of the last decade. But every business at that scale faces a similar problem, the law of large numbers.

[00:00:10] Shawn O’Malley: But Constellation is a programmatic acquirer, and that means there are other much smaller businesses out there following the exact same playbook.

[00:00:18] Shawn O’Malley: And many of them are even managed by Constellation since they were spinoffs or acquisitions.

[00:00:23] Daniel Mahncke: And they could be the next big thing. And that’s what we look for today. We analyze four Constellation spinoffs and acquisitions and basically see which one is the best equipped to compound over the next decade.

[00:00:40] Intro: You are listening to The Intrinsic Value Podcast by The Investors Podcast Network. Since 2014 with over 180 million downloads, we’ve learned directly from the world to best investors. Now we are applying those lessons to analyze businesses and investment opportunities every week, helping you uncover intrinsic value. And now here are your hosts, Shawn O’Malley and Daniel Mahncke.

[00:01:12] Shawn O’Malley: At the end of our Constellation episode a couple of weeks ago, we couldn’t shake the feeling that our money might be better off invested in smaller companies running the exact same playbook. These Constellation copycats, spinoffs, and some companies where Mark Leonard is actually personally invested too.

[00:01:29] Shawn O’Malley: And so in the last few weeks, Daniel, I know you’ve dug into a handful of these companies and in today’s episodes we’ll be digging into all of them. And those companies are Topicus, Lumine Group, Sygnity, and Asseco Poland. And knowing that we usually need about 90 minutes for just one company. I’m a little scared of how long we’ll go for today.

[00:01:48] Shawn O’Malley: But yeah, they all follow the same playbook. So hopefully we can kind of keep it at a high level for each one.

[00:01:54] Daniel Mahncke: Well, obviously we can go as in depth as we usually do, right? I mean, the investment case, or better said, the business case is also pretty similar for all of them. But there are very important nuances that kind of make them different and some of them actually more appealing than others, at least in, in my opinion.

[00:02:09] Daniel Mahncke: And you have companies like Topicus, and Lumine, which will be known by most Constellation investors because you know, they are direct Constellation offspring, kind of spun out of the Constellation mothership essentially. Then others are what I would call spiritual descendants. So basically, companies that started by themselves but are now shaped by people who learned directly from Mark Leonard, or at least his inner circle.

[00:02:30] Daniel Mahncke: And I can only spoil that Mark Leonard has significant stakes in some of these companies himself. And if it’s not him, he actually has a son that manages money and they also buy some of these companies. And we will also value all of these companies today. But I do want to emphasize even more so than we do in our usual episodes, that you need to do your own due diligence on these names if you want to dig deeper and if you find any of these names interesting.

HELP US OUT!

Help us reach new listeners by leaving us a rating and review on Spotify! It takes less than 30 seconds and really helps our show grow, which allows us to bring on even better guests for you all! Thank you – we really appreciate it!

BOOKS AND RESOURCES

Some of the links on this page are affiliate links or relate to partners who support our show. If you choose to sign up or make a purchase through them, we may receive compensation at no additional cost to you.

NEW TO THE SHOW?

CONNECT WITH SHAWN

CONNECT WITH DANIEL

PROMOTIONS

Check out our latest offer for all The Investor’s Podcast Network listeners!

WSB + BFF + RWH Promotions

The Intrinsic Value Newsletter