RIYADH — Investcorp Technology Partners, a leading European lower middle market technology investor, announced Tuesday that it has completed the acquisition of Impero Holdings Limited for an enterprise value of £27.5 million for its fourth Technology Fund. Impero is the UK’s no. 1 provider of online student safety, classroom and school network management software. The transaction marks Investcorp’s third technology deal in the lower middle market in the past nine months.
Founded in 2002, Impero has become the UK market leader in integrated safeguarding software with its comprehensive education solution that enables schools to keep students safe, improves the teaching environment and maximizes efficiency for school network managers. Headquartered in Nottingham, UK, the Company has a 20% share of the UK secondary school market, currently serving more than 1,400 secondary schools across the country. Globally, the software is accessed by over 1.5 million devices in over 90 countries, including schools in more than 500 US districts. Impero has revenues of approximately $10 million.
Investcorp Technology Partners plans to support Impero’s international growth both organically and through add-on acquisitions, further expanding its customer base into new geographies as it becomes increasingly important to address parents’ and teachers’ concerns around the online safeguarding of children in the school environment.
Yasser Bajsair, Managing Director at Investcorp in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, said “we are excited about this acquisition as we see a lot of potential in Impero and the education technology sector it operates in – we believe it will be a great addition to the Investcorp Technology Partners portfolio. We are committed to deploying our expertise and experience in this sector to helping Impero further strengthen its reputation and grow its operations beyond its existing markets.”
Sam Pemberton, CEO of Impero, said: “We recognised that, as a business, having achieved everything we set out to achieve with Connection Capital it was time to find new owners with a wealth of experience in the EdTech space, who would help us deliver on our next set of business goals and with the expertise to drive international expansion. We were impressed by Investcorp Technology Partners’ knowledge of our sector, enthusiasm and deep understanding of our business and commitment to growth. I am delighted to be working alongside their world-class team.”
Impero marks Investcorp Technology Partners’ third technology investment in the lower middle market in the last nine months for its fourth Technology Fund, a space in which Investcorp Technology Partners has established a market leading position. Investcorp Technology Partners recently announced the acquisition of Ageras, a fast growing online marketplace matching Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (“SMEs”) and micro-businesses with professional services providers such as accountants and lawyers, and prior to that Calligo Limited, a provider of cloud solutions focused on serving the global mid-tier enterprise segment that grew its revenues by approximately 100% year-on-year in 2016. Having raised over $1 billion for dedicated technology investments starting with its first Technology Fund, Investcorp Technology Partners has a particular focus on Data, IT Security, Internet/Mobility and Fintech/Payments businesses. Other Investcorp investments in the education sector include GL Education, a leading provider of educational assessments globally, and Nobel Learning, a leading provider of private preschool through high school education in the United States.
Gilbert Kamieniecky and Julian Bennet will join the board of Impero as non-executive directors. — SG
