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Programme

Livingbridge 2021

Finance and Risk Capital

Impact for scaleups

22

UK companies backed

15%

Follow-on investments

68%

Investments outside of London

16

Growth-stage investments

Key sectors

Healthcare Technology & Communications

Livingbridge is a private equity firm that has been investing in four sectors – healthcare and education, services, consumer and TMT – for more than 20 years, making more than 100 investments.

It typically makes investments between £5m to £100m, taking a flexible approach – it will provide growth capital, as well as funding management buy-outs and secondary buy-outs and replacement capital deals. 

The average size of its investment round into UK companies since 2014 is £14.3m. In the period between 2014 to June 2021, the firm invested a total of £228m in 22 UK companies in 26 fundraising rounds. The average turnover of those companies was £18.4m and their average number of employees was 184.

This year it has raised its largest fund (Livingbridge 7 – £1.25bn) to focus on equity investments of up to £150m in high-growth, entrepreneurial businesses with enterprise values of up to £300m.

Scaleups in its portfolio include insurance broker Jensten, data security and compliance provider Semafone, and email signature management business Exclaimer.

The firm has offices in London, Birmingham and Manchester and an Australian office in Melbourne to make primary investments in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. It has an office in Boston to support expansion and M&A in the US.

To support the growth strategies of its portfolio companies, Livingbridge has developed its “growth accelerators,” which it describes as “core value creation capabilities designed to unlock a business’s potential.” Its in-house growth acceleration team is made up of market experts principally covering international growth, corporate development, customer acquisition and retention, talent and technology. Its managing partner, Wol Kolade, is a founder of The 10,000 Black Interns programme, which will offer paid work experience across a wide range of sectors, providing training and development opportunities and creating a sustainable cycle of mentorship and sponsorship for the Black community.

Livingbridge 2021 website