11th July 2023
FPE Capital LLP (‘FPE’), the specialist software & services focused lower mid-market growth investor, announces that it has led a buyout of two leading UK Oracle NetSuite partners, NoBlue and Elevate2.
This investment is the fifth investment from FPE Fund III – the firm’s third specialist software and services fund, the successful final close of which was announced in May 2022, at a raised hard cap of £185m.
Following successfully exited and existing investments into the ERP software sector, this latest investment from FPE will create the leading NetSuite Solutions Provider in the region. The combined business will trade under the name NoBlue2. Ian Irwin, founder of NoBlue, will become CEO of the group, with Alex Lester, founder of Elevate2, becoming COO.
NoBlue has focused on Oracle NetSuite since 2011 and was recognised as EMEA Oracle NetSuite Partner of the Year in 2022. The company has offices in the UK and Europe and customers around the world. It specialises in supporting digital transformation, leveraging Oracle NetSuite, whether clients require Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Professional Services Automation (PSA) or Commerce, or a combination of all of these. The company works across a wide range of industry sectors including Software, FinTech, Discrete Manufacturing, Wholesale Distribution, Professional Services and Retail, plus many more.
Elevate2, founded in 2015, is the largest independent NetSuite Solution Provider headquartered in London, UK, with a further office in the Philippines. It has extensive experience in NetSuite, as well as supporting the implementations of other business applications including Oracle Fusion, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, and Sage. Elevate2’s client base covers many sectors including FinTech, Blockchain/Web3, Financials Services, Professional Services, Media & Publishing and Hospitality.
FPE Capital has a successful track record in backing ERP software and services businesses with a focus on market-leading vendors and strong, client-focused cultures. With FPE’s support, the combined business is now planning to invest further into application development and related services and to scale the business further internationally.
As part of this investment, Glenn Timms is appointed as Non-Executive Chair of the group. A serial Chair, Glenn has extensive experience of helping private equity-backed technology and service-orientated businesses scale-up within rapidly changing UK and US markets. An experienced Board level operator, he has a proven track record of helping growth businesses succeed by delivering sales performance, operational scale and complimentary acquisitions within technology markets internationally.
Dan Walker, Partner, FPE FPE is delighted to have completed this investment into NoBlue2, our fifth from Fund III. Our investment focus is on enabling software founders and teams to go through a second stage of growth and scaling after they have established their business and reputations in a chosen B2B sector. We consider the opportunity for ERP and related applications to be significant and growing, and could quickly see the value that Ian and Alex had built in their respective businesses, and the power of the combination. We are excited to be working with them on the next part of this journey and to further build the group organically and via acquisition.
Ian Irwin, Founder at NoBlue We identified that FPE was the right partner not just on its track record of backing software companies and its expertise in the next stage of growth that we are targeting, but also in helping us with key initiatives such as moving further into international markets.
Alex Lester, Founder at Elevate2 This is great news for the whole Elevate2 team and our customers. The synergies between NoBlue and Elevate2 are very strong and will benefit our team and customers alike. We are all very excited about the combination and the future growth opportunities
Glenn Timms, Chair, NoBlue2 It is a fantastic opportunity to be asked to join the business as Non-Executive Chairman. The businesses have already each developed market-leading positions that generate material value for their clients and the combination is poised for significant future growth. I look forward working with the team and to supporting them as we scale further
The FPE investment was led by Dan Walker, Harriet Hunt and Harry Gill. FPE was advised on the transaction by Stephenson Harwood (Legal), Graph Strategy (Commercial), Crowe U.K. LLP (Financial and Tax), Tax Advisory Partnership (Tax structuring) and Continuum Ventures Ltd. (Management).
The shareholders of NoBlue were advised by Myerson (Legal), and Elevate2 by Herrington Carmichael (Legal).