21st May 2024
FPE is pleased to announce that it has led a buyout of a leading provider of specialist research and data products for institutional capital markets investors, Vanda Research (‘Vanda’).
This investment is the sixth 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.
Vanda has developed a unique research and data proposition, underpinned by proprietary quantitative models, to provide tactical macro and strategic investment analysis to institutional investors. These B2B information products are based on positioning and flow data, which enables clients to make or recommend short-term tactical trading decisions. The company has offices in the UK, US, EU and APAC and serves a global customer base consisting of blue-chip investment banks, hedge funds and asset managers. The business is led by CEO Angus Hume.
FPE Capital has a successful track record in backing B2B data and information businesses as well as companies that serve the financial services market. With FPE’s support, the business is now planning to invest further into its go-to-market strategy to accelerate growth.
Chris Kay, Partner at FPE FPE is delighted to have completed this investment into Vanda, our sixth from Fund III. Our investment focus is on supporting B2B information and data businesses through a second stage of growth and scaling after they have established their business and reputations in a chosen sector. We were attracted to Vanda as it has substantial headroom for growth within its market, driven by a large stable addressable client universe and increasing need and budget for their unique research and data. It was clear that Angus and his team have built an excellent product that meets the needs of a currently underserved market, and we look forward to supporting them as the business scales.
Angus Hume, CEO of Vanda Vanda was founded by Jason Ambrose and Eric Liu, with the sole purpose of providing global institutional investors with a tactical macro view underpinned by proprietary positioning and flow data. Today sees the next stage of Vanda’s journey and we are excited to partner with FPE who have a strong track record backing research and data firms, successfully helping them scale. As a dynamic and fast-growing business, Eric and I knew early in the process that Chris and the team shared our vision and values making them an attractive partner. This investment allows Vanda to further strengthen and evolve our data and research offerings benefitting our global clients whilst also giving us the ability to bolt on selective acquisitions.
The FPE investment was led by Chris Kay, Dan Walker, Claire Sweet and Sam Greenberg. FPE was advised on the transaction by Stephenson Harwood (Legal), Plural Strategy (Commercial), RSM (Financial and Tax) and The Continuum (Management). The shareholders of Vanda were advised by KPMG (Lead advisory), K&L Gates (Legal), BDO (VFDD) and EY (Tax).