Foresight Group (Foresight), a leading UK listed infrastructure and specialist regional private equity investment manager, has sold Accrosoft Limited, a recruitment and employee onboarding software company, to Acendre Technologies Inc, a global HR software business headquartered in the US.
Based in Loughborough, Accrosoft was founded in 2008 by Alex Khakbiz and Mitesh Chauhan, experienced SaaS entrepreneurs. Accrosoft’s Vacancy Filler (VF) software streamlines talent acquisition and recruitment management for organisations. VF helps millions of candidates to apply for jobs easily and empowers thousands of recruiters and hiring managers to recruit better and faster. The product now supports customers across a range of sectors, including supermarket chain Aldi, which manages thousands of applications daily.
Since the original investment in August 2018, Foresight has taken a proactive approach alongside the management team to strengthen the business, accelerating both product development and commercial activities. The company has established several strategic partnerships to extend the platform’s functionality and developed a range of features to strengthen its offering in its core markets, including education, the public sector, leisure and retail. This successful exit returns 2x to Foresight funds in a little more than three years with further upside for investors given the ongoing investment in Weduc.
Prior to the sale of Accrosoft, its subsidiary, Weduc, was spun out with Foresight’s funds retaining their shareholding. Weduc is a leading communication platform sold into the education sector and was initially launched in 2017. The company has grown significantly since Foresight’s original investment, doubling its customer numbers over the past year following a GBP1.4 million funding round in December 2020 led by Foresight and the management team. Weduc is expected to continue on this growth trajectory over the coming years, taking advantage of the increasing digitisation of the education sector.
Acendre and Accrosoft’s VF product are complementary businesses and by joining forces they will be able to offer a recruitment and HR management software platform across a much wider customer base as well as establishing a presence in Europe.
This transaction represents the sixth successful realisation by Foresight’s Private Equity team in the last 12 months, cementing its position as one of the most active SME investors in the UK market.
Alex Khakbiz, CEO of Accrosoft, says: “Foresight’s support over the last three years has been invaluable in taking our business to the next level. We are delighted to begin the next chapter of our company’s journey with Acendre, which will enable us to showcase our Loughborough, UK-born technology offerings on a global scale.”
David Miles, Senior Investment Manager at Foresight, adds: “It has been a pleasure to work with Alex, Mitesh and the whole Accrosoft team over the last three years. This sale, to a large US buyer, validates Foresight’s approach of supporting regional UK businesses in their ambitions to become global players. This realisation delivers an attractive financial return to investors, while offering the opportunity for further upside through the remaining holding in Weduc.”
Daniel Woodcock, Managing Director at Weduc, says: “There are exciting times ahead at Weduc. Thanks to our continued working relationship with Foresight, we are able to realise our ambitious plans and the dramatic growth we always knew we can achieve.”
