ScaleUp Capital has made an investment in InStep, a Cheshire-based apprenticeship and commercial training provider, and imageHOLDERS, a Dorset-based custom kiosk designer and manufacturer.
Both companies are profitable with revenues in the range of GBP5-7 million, growing at 30-40 per cent per year and an enterprise value in the range of GBP7-10 million, but both fall into the funding gap for scale-ups in between venture capital and private equity.
ScaleUp Capital invests in digital B2B businesses of GBP1-10 million in revenues that have the potential to grow to GBP10-50 million in revenues but are typically underfunded because they are too small for private equity and not growing fast enough for, or are not in sectors favoured by, venture capital investors. ScaleUp Capital believes InStep and imageHOLDERS have significant growth potential with both operating in attractive, expanding markets. With many companies looking to upskill their workforce to meet the needs of a rapidly evolving and increasingly digitalised job market, InStep is well-positioned to meet this demand with its innovative apprenticeship and corporate training programmes. imageHOLDERS is similarly experiencing a surge in demand for their bespoke tablet enclosures and kiosks as businesses across sectors adapt their sites to facilitate contactless transactions and social distancing and seek lower cost and added value service models across a diverse range of sectors including voting, visitor management, retail, catering, travel and leisure.
ScaleUp Capital’s team of scale-up specialists will help both companies to take advantage of the opportunities in their respective markets by strengthening their management teams, growing their marketing and sales functions, professionalising processes and systems and refining their products and technologies to achieve sustainable growth.
“InStep and imageHOLDERS are two promising businesses with significant growth potential,” says Simon Philips, CEO and founder of ScaleUp Capital. “They are classic examples of exciting British businesses with great products and management teams that are too often overlooked by private equity and venture capital investors. We are looking forward to supporting both businesses through the often challenging scale-up transition so they can fulfil their true potential.”
“Through the process of identifying the right partner to take Instep forward, ScaleUp Capital demonstrated that their values and ambition aligned with ours,” says Andy Murphy, CEO of Instep. “What stood out, was that ScaleUp Capital make meaningful investments that really support the management team to develop the business and execute their plan. That coupled with ScaleUps’experience of supporting and developing businesses of a similar size, some from our sector, made it a really compelling proposition. The Instep leadership are really excited to be working with ScaleUp Capital, as we collectively embark on the next phase of our journey.”
“We are delighted to have completed a deal with ScaleUp Capital,” says Adrian Thompson, CEO of imageHolders. “It is fantastic to have found an investing partner who understands the business and its global potential. imageHOLDERS chose ScaleUpCapital due to their proven track record and dedicated scaler support. We are looking forward to the next part our exciting journey.”
