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BizEquity raises USD5.1m Series A capital investment from Frost Brooks

Frost Brooks, the London-based boutique private equity firm, has completed its second deal with a significant capital investment for BizEquity, an online provider of business valuation services.

The new investment included commitments from Frost Brooks’ founders and also from the firm’s network of limited partners comprised of former leader of the world’s largest data company, Experian; captains of industry and executives from Lloyds Bank; Standard Chartered Bank; and other leading financial institution executives.
 
It will help US-based BizEquity, which already has a presence in London and Singapore, accelerate its expansion strategy, which includes a full UK launch in first quarter 2015 followed by strategic rollout across Europe, Asia Pacific and North Africa. The market opportunity is significant: fewer than two per cent of the world’s 200 million businesses value themselves annually, largely due to the time and cost constraints, yet it is a multi-billion dollar market.
 
BizEquity is the creator of the first online business valuation platform, Valuation as a Service (VaaS), and has valued more than 27 million businesses around the globe ranging in annual revenue from USD50,000 to USD100 million. The algorithmic valuation system that drives the platform has been granted eight patents, with more than 60 additional patents pending.
 
The company’s platform gives business owners a user-friendly method for gaining insight into a fundamental question about their business – what it is worth – at a fraction of the typical USD8,000 cost and four to six week time frame required by traditional business valuation firms to complete the same process.
 
In the US, BizEquity has already made progress securing as clients Metro Bank, Experian, Dynasty Financial Partners, Bryn Mawr Trust Bank, Fox Chase Bank, and Action Coach.
 
BizEquity was founded by Michael Carter in 2010.
 
Miles Frost, managing partner of Frost Brooks, says: “BizEquity is an exceptional company whose globally scalable technology has already been thoroughly tried and tested in the U.S. market. Our capital raising will help accelerate the company’s global expansion to make its unique, cloud-based valuation platform and data service available to an increasingly diverse global client base.
 
“The question ‘What’s my business worth?’ is top of mind for the typical business owner, but until BizEquity came along, determining the answer required a tremendous investment of time and resources. Through BizEquity’s deep understanding of the complexities of valuation and its simple yet innovative approach, business owners now have their company’s valuation, and the full rationale behind it, at their fingertips.
 
“We are always rigorous and patient in assessing an investment opportunity, and BizEquity marks only our second investment in two years. In CEO Michael Carter we have backed one of the most impressive entrepreneurs in FinTech globally. Under his leadership and with the power of his product, the future of BizEquity is tremendously exciting.”
 
Carter says: “We very much look forward to working with Frost Brooks to help further enhance our services and support the company’s international expansion. The group of investors the firm has assembled include some of the most powerful names in British business and they will undoubtedly add significant value, contribute strongly to our future growth, and help reinforce our position as the world’s leading cloud-based business valuation service.
 
“Providing companies with an easy and reliable platform to assess their worth gives them the insight into the fundamental question relating to their business and helps them ensure that the strategies and plans they implement are the most appropriate to help propel their growth and success. It is an exciting time for BizEquity as we look forward to our full launch in the UK early next year, followed by a release in other key regions to give companies all over the world the opportunity to leverage our service. Business valuation is a multi-billion dollar market category that we are democratising by putting it online and making it accessible to the masses.”

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