Invest

The first step

We specialise in investing in SMEs, supporting the most dynamic, innovative and fast-growing businesses. We’ve invested over £100m, created thousands of jobs and helped dozens of entrepreneurs and management teams to achieve their goals.

We want to work with people who want help and who want to engage with a supportive business partner.

How we invest

What are we looking for?

Our basic criteria are quite straightforward: we invest in profitable, privately owned UK headquartered businesses, primarily in technology-enabled, healthcare or B2B services sectors.

We look for companies with a strong competitive position, selling into a growing market, with a record of profitable growth and a recognised need for financial and operational support to deliver it.

Obviously, there’s more to an investment partnership – not least a commitment to shared goals and values. But if your business meets our basic criteria then we should definitely talk.

What are you looking for?

Broadly speaking, our investments fall into three categories. Some deals comprise a combination of two or more:

Equity release

You've built a thriving business and you've still got more to achieve. We can enable you to realise some of your value without giving up control, and then work alongside you to continue growing the business and realise additional value over the term of our partnership.

Management buyout

You're managing a company with untapped potential that's held back by inactive or unmotivated owners. We can provide the financial backing for you to buy them out and fund your growth strategy, as well as the operational support for your transition from employee to owner.

Development capital

Rapid growth requires investment – and investment carries risk. We can share the costs and risks of organic development and acquisition and provide the bandwidth for the business to continue investing in people, systems, products and services.

How does it work

We're a small, close-knit team with a lot of experience who only seek to complete a small number of investments each year. We make decisions promptly. An average transaction takes around 8 weeks to complete from agreeing the deal.

During this time, we'll be laying the groundwork for a close, collaborative relationship with the management team (without getting in the way of running the business), reviewing the business plan, carrying out targeted due diligence and planning for life after the deal.

...and what comes next?

Unlike most PE firms, we don't swap out the deal team with a portfolio team once the investment is in place. Instead, we keep the same team in place throughout the engagement, led by a partner who will join the board as a non-executive director.

We make the effort to build strong and trusting relationships; we make the time to support the business as much as it needs – which varies for each company. But ultimately, we're investors not managers. We don’t try and run your business, we don't get in the way and we don't breathe down your neck. We're there to help.

Examples

Sparta Global

Equity release & development capital

We acquired a minority shareholding from two founders and invested £1m of development capital to execute their business plan. Sparta was sold to private equity firm Inflexion in 2020, enabling the founders to further de-risk and continue to grow the business in partnership with Inflexion. We delivered a 7x return to our investors.

CMO

Management buy-out.

We supported the incumbent management team to acquire the business from the founders, who had stepped away from daily operations. We supplemented the management team and floated the business on London’s AIM market in 2021. During our investment revenue grew by 5x and the value of the business increased by 6x. We returned 3.3x to our investors on float, whilst also retaining a significant shareholding in the Plc.

Routes Healthcare

Equity release & succession planning

We acquired a minority shareholding from the founder and supported his transition from CEO to non-executive director over a three-year period. In addition, we invested £1m of development capital to execute the business plan. In 2021 the business was acquired by Palatine Private Equity. At this stage we delivered a significant return to our investors. We also re-invested as part of the new deal and continue to support the business.

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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