23rd July 2021
Investment is the tenth from FPE’s second software and services focussed Fund II
FPE Capital LLP (‘FPE’), the software & services focused lower mid-market growth investor, announces that it has acquired Zest Technology, a leading UK-based employee benefits SaaS software provider.
This marks the tenth investment from FPE Fund II and the fourth pure SaaS product focused investment in the Fund, joining Questionmark, Kallik and MaxContact.
Zest’s award-winning platform enables businesses to efficiently deliver and administer their employee benefits schemes and allows employees to view and easily manage their selection of these benefits. For employers, the software – which has been transitioned completely to a full SaaS solution - reduces the time and cost of administering benefits, whilst also increasing employee engagement and retention.
The transaction was sourced by FPE via direct discussions with Fintel plc, which had originally acquired Zest in 2013. The business is run by an experienced management team, and FPE will lead the expansion of the executive team and help to accelerate growth within the sizeable and expanding UK market, as well as internationally.
David Barbour, Managing Partner at FPE, commented:
FPE is delighted to have completed this investment in Zest, which represents our fourth deal in Human Capital Management (HCM) software within recent years and builds on our granular knowledge and recent successes in this sector. Our investment focus is on assisting high quality businesses successfully scale, and we are excited to partner with Ray and his team to support their growth ambitions and capitalise on the significant market opportunity.
Ray Sieber, CEO of Zest, added:
we are delighted to be partnering with FPE, whose expertise in successfully scaling SaaS businesses, and especially those within HCM, will be very valuable. The strength of their executive talent bench, and their experience of international expansion is also highly impressive, and we are excited about working together to grow Zest further.
Matt Timmins, Group Joint CEO of Fintel plc, commented:
we are delighted to have been part of Zest’s growth journey to date, and to have supported the successful development of its market leading, modern full SaaS solution. As specialist software investors, we believe that FPE will be excellent custodians of the business, and we wish them every success in continuing Zest’s upward growth trajectory
The FPE investment was led by Dan Walker, Connor Trendell and Claire Sweet. FPE was advised on the transaction by Dorsey Whitney (Legal), CIL (Commercial), HMT (Financial and Tax), Intechnica (IT Technical), and Continuum Ventures (Management).
The management team was advised by Mazars (CF Advisory) and Weightmans (Legal).
Fintel plc was advised by Investec (CF Advisory) and Eversheds (Legal).
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