Foresight Group (Foresight), a listed infrastructure and private equity investment manager, has made a GBP2 million follow-on investment in Spektrix Limited (Spektrix).
Founded in 2007, Spektrix was an early pioneer in bringing cloud technology to the arts. It is now the UK industry’s leading SaaS solution, encompassing ticketing, marketing, fundraising, analytics and customer relationship management (CRM). It has been recognised as one of the UK’s fastest growing technology companies by the Sunday Times TechTrack 100 and FT Future 100 and since Foresight’s original investment in December 2018, Spektrix has continued to grow its customer base at a rate of 20% per annum.
Although it has been an extraordinarily difficult time for the arts industry, with few events taking place and ticket sales being extremely suppressed, Spektrix has continued to win new customers in the UK such as the Royal Exchange in Manchester, and in the US and Canada, where the Company just had a record year of new customer wins.
The Company has supported the sector as a whole during this period of economic uncertainty. This includes the launch of a free ‘Ticket Converter Tool’ in response to the mass cancellation of live events, allowing ticket holders to receive credit notes for future bookings or donate to performing arts organisations rather than receive a ticket refund, raising millions for the arts industry at a time of need. More recently the business has released thought leadership papers and strategic insights on re-opening as well as product functionality for socially-distanced theatre seating.
Since Foresight’s original investment, the senior management team and board have been strengthened, with Mark Redwood joining as Chairman. Mark has brought a wealth of experience having previously chaired a number of SaaS businesses that have grown, sold and floated. The ambitious team is focused on pushing through the current pandemic, continuing to build their market leading product offering and returning to growth once more.
Commenting on the investment, Michael Nabarro, CEO of Spektrix, says: “We’re delighted to continue our strategic partnership with Foresight. It has been a challenging year as a SaaS business serving the performing arts, but Foresight has been behind us the whole way and this follow-on investment is testament to that. It will allow us to grow again sooner than we otherwise would have been able to and allows us to be even more optimistic about what the post-pandemic future holds.”
Matthew Evans-Young, Senior Investment Manager at Foresight, adds: “The last year has been extremely challenging for everyone, particularly in the performing arts. The Spektrix team has continued to impress us with the way they have responded to the challenge. The level of support which Spektrix provides to its customers and the wider industry is evidenced by its retention and new wins during this period, and we’re excited to continue our support as Spektrix becomes the platform of choice in North America, as it did in the UK a number of years ago.”
