We’ve been investing in the services sector for two decades, empowering outstanding businesses on their journey through the ever-changing marketplace. We’ve made more than 50 services sector private equity investments over the last 20 years, building the expertise to enable management teams to take better and braver decisions for their businesses. We don’t tell our companies what to do, but ask the right question to make sure they are exploiting every opportunity.   

Enabled by technology

We believe that in a crowded and competitive marketplace, tech-enabled businesses will be the long-term winners. These are businesses that are committed to exploiting technology and data in order to build a much richer understanding of their customers – and therefore to build more enduring and profitable relationships with their client base. 

The best services sector businesses are harnessing their proprietary intellectual property to build customer-centric business models. They have a clear picture of what customers want and how to deliver it, driving acquisition and reducing churn. As a result, these businesses are able to grow more quickly than competitors, maintain and improve profitability as they grow, and use their technology to enable expansion into new markets, including international opportunities. 

We believe that this will continue to be a winning formula for businesses across our services sector investments. In areas such as specialist consultancy, performance marketing, software development and the provision of services to small businesses (B2SME), the sector’s leaders are putting innovative new technology at the core of their business models. 

For example the the data-led marketing firm Brainlabs has built a team of 30 developers who are constantly developing new products and services for clients with an innovative, scientific approach that is disrupting the industry. Our investee, Vendigital, provides transformation consultancy services across a range of industries. It wins in a competitive marketplace due to the technologies it has developed at its in–house data science lab, which offers bespoke solutions to clients, streamlining the way in which they collect, analyse, and prioritise data.  

In many cases, our services sector investments are working with the growth acceleration team to pursue ambitious M&A programmes. For example, we’ve supported Broadstone, the pensions and employee benefits provider, through five acquisitions in recent years, enabling it to deliver a range of new services and massively enhance its client base. And we’ve guided Catalyst Development through a merger with New York headquartered Sionic Advisers – now rebranded as Sionic – equipping the business’s leaders with new capabilities as they continue to work towards building one of the world’s best consultancies. 

 We’re convinced that the best tech-enabled businesses have a real opportunity to grow rapidly in their markets – and to move into new markets. Our experience acquired over more than 50 services sector investments can help unlock that opportunity, empowering investee companies to become best-in-class market leaders.