Diversis Capital Partners I LP, a Los Angeles-based private equity fund that invests in lower middle-market data and technology companies, has made a strategic growth investment in Retail Finance Intelligence (RFi Group).With primary offices in Australia and the United Kingdom, RFi Group is a data-driven insights provider and thought leader to the global financial services industry. As part of the transaction, co-founders Charles Green and Alan Shields, will maintain a significant minority ownership in the company and will continue to lead the company in their roles as CEO and COO, respectively.
“RFi has built a fantastic data-driven insight offering over the last decade and we are really excited to welcome Diversis as our strategic partner. Diversis brings world class strategic planning and operational expertise to the group as we look to build out our technical and data-as-a-service capabilities. This partnership will enable RFi to better serve the increasingly sophisticated digital data needs of our global client base as we expand our footprint and services,” says Charles Green, RFi Group CEO and founder.
Established in 2006 and operating in 48 countries across four continents, RFi has become known as an industry leader for financial services data, providing unique and differentiated research and insights to many of the world’s largest financial institutions and technology companies. Providing products such as enterprise marketing trackers, retail banking trend and sentiment tracking and cutting-edge, insight-based research around Buy Now Pay Later and via the Global Digital Banking Council, RFi supports banking leaders at global banks such as HSBC and Standard Chartered, payment providers American Express, Mastercard and Visa as well as fintech firms such as Paypal and Square.
“RFi is extremely well regarded for its financial services data, research capabilities and deep insights. With its traditional research in commercial and retail banking or its cutting-edge research in cross border and B2B payments, RFi has cemented itself as a thought leader globally,” says Ron Nayot, a Managing Partner at Diversis. “We see tremendous upside potential as the company dramatically expands both its geographic and technical footprint.”
Diversis’ strategic investment, operational expertise and extensive experience transforming and growing data and technology companies will enable RFi to build upon the success of its initial Data-as-a-Service product offering and further grow its customer base both in existing and new geographies and continue its strong growth trajectory.
“We look forward to helping Charles, Alan and the rest of the RFi team capitalise on its various near and longer-term growth opportunities as the business continues its evolution into becoming the global leader in its industry. We are especially proud of both firms’ ability to execute an international transaction during Covid. It points to the commitment and energy of both RFi and Diversis,” adds Joseph Lok, a Vice President at Diversis.
