Florida-Based Lean Solutions Deepens Its Philippine Bet With SupportZebra Deal

The acquisition will lift the US-based provider’s Philippine workforce above 2,000 and add Cagayan de Oro to its Manila and Cebu delivery network, while bringing clients from fintech, healthcare and SaaS.

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Florida-based Lean Solutions Group agreed to acquire SupportZebra‘s assets, growing its Philippine workforce to more than 2,000 and extending its delivery network to Cagayan de Oro, the company said in a statement on Monday. The deal’s financial terms and expected closing date were not disclosed.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Houston, SupportZebra has more than 1,300 employees across delivery centres in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, and Zapopan, Mexico. It serves over 40 clients. The announcement did not provide a country-by-country breakdown of the workforce.

Lean said its Philippine workforce will exceed 2,000 upon deal closing and will be more than 12 times its level two years ago. SupportZebra’s Cagayan de Oro operation will become the third location in Lean’s Philippine network, alongside Metro Manila and Cebu.

The transaction follows Lean’s January purchase of CarParts.com’s Manila operation. A Lean subsidiary acquired all shares of CarParts.com (Philippines) Inc., which employed 445 people as of January 3 and included teams spanning customer service, back-office operations, finance and accounting, marketing and technology.

The two transactions expand Lean’s Philippine delivery capacity through different structures. CarParts.com transferred a captive operation that continued serving the online automotive-parts retailer, while SupportZebra focusses on a multi-client and multi-industry landscape.

The expansion is taking place inside an industry that generated $40.3 Bn in export revenue and employed 1.89 Mn people in 2025, according to the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP). The association reported 5% revenue growth and 4% employment growth during the year.

The industry is trying to increase the value of work performed in the country as artificial intelligence becomes integrated into outsourced services. IBPAP president and chief executive officer Jack Madrid said the sector should increasingly measure its performance through revenue per employee as well as job growth.

SupportZebra will help Lean expand beyond transportation and logistics, the industries that built its business. The company provides customer support, technical assistance, content moderation and back-office services to businesses across e-commerce, SaaS, fintech, healthcare, insurance and automotive services.

SupportZebra’s data security credentials may also help Lean compete for work in regulated industries. The company says it holds SOC 2 Type 2 and PCI-DSS Level 1 certifications and describes itself as HIPAA-certified.

Client retention is another part of the acquisition rationale. SupportZebra says its client attrition rate is less than 1%, a figure that has not been independently verified.

“SupportZebra has spent 14 years doing a hard thing: building service teams deeply embedded in client operations,” said Lean’s CEO Jack Freker.

Lean said SupportZebra’s clients will gain access to its LeanTek technology platform. LeanTek AgentEdge applies artificial intelligence and automation to support workflows, while LeanTek Connect provides information on workforce management, talent placement and account performance.

The acquisition increases Lean’s workforce as it deploys technology designed to automate repetitive work. Under the company’s expert-in-the-loop model, employees remain responsible for judgement, exceptions and customer interactions while software handles repeatable tasks.

SupportZebra’s founder Nathan Yap said the company had sought to become “a true extension of our clients’ teams”. Retaining those relationships during the integration will be one measure of the transaction’s success.

The deal also extends Lean’s acquisition programme. It agreed in April to acquire the assets of revenue-services company Lead2Revenue. In July, it completed its purchase of Chicago-headquartered logistics specialist Rapido Solutions Group, which operates in Mexico. Lean says its network now includes more than 13,000 employees in six countries and over 600 clients.

The SupportZebra transaction makes the Philippines a larger base for Lean’s expansion beyond logistics. However, Lean has not disclosed its own revenue, SupportZebra’s financial performance or enough financial information to assess the acquisition’s potential contribution to earnings.

Florida-based Lean Solutions Group agreed to acquire SupportZebra‘s assets, growing its Philippine workforce to more than 2,000 and extending its delivery network to Cagayan de Oro, the company said in a statement on Monday. The deal’s financial terms and expected closing date were not disclosed.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Houston, SupportZebra has more than 1,300 employees across delivery centres in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, and Zapopan, Mexico. It serves over 40 clients. The announcement did not provide a country-by-country breakdown of the workforce.

Lean said its Philippine workforce will exceed 2,000 upon deal closing and will be more than 12 times its level two years ago. SupportZebra’s Cagayan de Oro operation will become the third location in Lean’s Philippine network, alongside Metro Manila and Cebu.

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