Grow
Capital investment is just the beginning...
More than money
More than investors, we're business partners – contributing knowledge and experience, tapping into valuable professional networks and sharing the hard work of building a better business. We work with you to build the structures, systems, teams and strategies to maximise growth by organic and acquisitive means. We call our approach Value Added Capital.
In Key we have a partner who brings not only the capital we need to execute our ambitious growth plans, but inside knowledge of our sector, and a wealth of experience in scaling businesses and value creation alongside founders and management.
Value added Capital
Our value-added approach sets us apart from traditional passive private equity investors, and has earned us a place among the world's top-ranking SME investors.
1
Talent acquisition & development
Hire strategically and build the best team to achieve your goals.
2
Systems, structure and process improvement
Invest in scalable systems and processes to support your ambitions.
3
Governance
Create a high-performance environment through tailored governance structures and processes.
4
Professional and commercial networks
Our networks provide rich opportunities for recruitment, advice and business development, and we promote cross-fertilisation of ideas across our portfolio.
5
Sustainable growth
Integrity is everything. We’ve lived by the principles of responsible investing from the beginning.
Start-up vs Scale-up
Starting a business takes talent, ambition, determination and hard work. Scaling it – say from £10m to £50m – is a whole new ballgame. You need to establish new structures and systems, hire different kinds of people – and all while managing daily operations and cash flow.
Expanding bandwidth
Partnering with us plugs you directly into these new skills, knowledge and networks – and provides the cash to deploy them quickly and effectively. With a decent war chest and a motivated team of business growth experts on board, you'll have the bandwidth to shift focus away from short-term survival and quickly start building strategic capacity for sustainable growth.
Living with Key
We don’t believe in portfolio teams: the same people you work with to negotiate the deal will continue to work with you once it's in place. We'll help you to recruit an experienced non-executive chairman who can gain the trust and confidence of all stakeholders. Our interactions and engagement will vary according to your business needs, but you'll always have access to the people you need to get things done and decisions made quickly.
Trust and resilience
The world is unpredictable and change can come out of the blue leaving the best laid business plans in shreds. As a low-volume investor we're not playing the averages – every investment is important to us. We are responsive to change and supportive when plans don't work out. We're patient, flexible, adaptable and tenacious – in short, we stand by the people we invest in. If we didn't trust you, we wouldn't invest in you.
Examples
Alliance in Partnership
Acquisitive growth.
We worked alongside the management team to execute a buy and build strategy, helping to source and complete two acquisition transactions during the partnership.
Nurse Plus
Organic growth.
We worked with management to open 10 new branches and roll-out plan and strategic reorientation to focus on higher value service provision, achieving revenue and profit growth of 143% and 175% respectively during the partnership.
CMO
Investment in people and systems.
Our investment enabled the business to invest heavily in people and systems. In the four years between our investment and flotation overheads increased by 8 times, including a 7x increase in headcount
Sparta Global
Systems investment.
We encouraged and supported the business to source, procure and implement an integrated ERP solution, enabling dramatic efficiency improvements across the business.
Routes Healthcare
People and corporate governance.
We worked with the founder to scale up management capability, hiring a CEO, Commercial Director, Head of Compliance and an experienced non-executive chair. The team eventually went on to lead a successful management buy-out.
Gear4music
International expansion.
We supported an ambitious international expansion program, providing financial and operational backing to establish sales and supply chain infrastructure in over a dozen mainland European markets along with associated increases in staffing, support and inventory.
You’ve come this far. Do you call it a day, cash in and retire? Or do you still have more to do?
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