As school holidays approach, London-based marketing entrepreneur secures funding for fast growing family travel media business

 

The Cass Entrepreneurship Fund and Angel Co-Fund join forces with angel investors to bridge gap between venture and Series A funding

 

Family travel media business “Family Traveller” today announced that it has secured a £750,000 investment of early stage growth capital from the Cass Entrepreneurship Fund, the Angel Co-Fund and individual angel investors.  The funding round was over-subscribed.

 

This marks the ninth investment made by the Cass Entrepreneurship Fund.  The £10m fund was established in 2010 with the support of Peter Cullum CBE, one of Cass' most successful entrepreneurs. The Angel CoFund is a Government-backed fund, which co-invests alongside angel investors into British high-growth businesses.

 

A former senior marketing executive at Harrods and News Corporation, Andrew Dent (CEO) founded Family Traveller in 2013 and is on track to achieve revenues in excess of £1 million in 2015.

 

Family Traveller (www.familytraveller.com) is a print and online media business focussed on the family travel market.  The target readership comprises 28-45 year old females with children, and an ABC1 demographic profile.  Content is designed to provide inspiration and advice for holidaying with children of differing age groups, as well as multi-generational travel.   Regular contributors include the BBC’s Simon Reeve, Mariella Frostrup and Tom Parker Bowles.

 

Family Traveller offers advertisers exposure to a valuable demographic (research shows that 80% of household spending is controlled by mothers); and in just two years, has attracted high-end advertisers from the travel, fashion and motor industries. They include British Airways, Scott Dunn, Club Med, Hertz, Disney, American Express, Burberry, Estee Lauder, Hyundai and many more. Family Traveller has also had distribution partnerships in place with ocado.com, Boden and Legoland in order to build its print circulation and online user base. In addition, the company holds a Rugby World Cup 2015 license for production of the Official Travel Guide.

 

To date, the company has published 12 issues of Family Traveller Magazine (average distribution 65,000 copies). The website has grown to c. 100,000 monthly unique users and an email newsletter database of over 45,000.

 

The investment will be used predominantly to invest in the digital side of the business and the user experience that it offers, with the aim of growing the base of online users and in turn attracting increased commitments from advertisers.   It will also support marketing and brand building activities, and enable the business to attract top media talent.

 

The ‘family’ and ‘multi-generational’ segments are growing at a rate that outstrips the industry as a whole. The global market is expected to grow by $40bn over the next five years and be worth over $180 billion by 2018 (Thomson Reuters).   Most recent estimates from The UK World Tourism Organisation value the UK family travel market alone at c. £3.5 billion.  Family travel is an area where detailed advance information and peer reviews can be crucial to holiday choices, and buying decisions.

 

Founder and CEO of Family Traveller, Andrew Dent, commented:

 

“Family Traveller aims to be the voice of authority in providing trusted inspiration, information and advice about travelling with a family. Our goal is to build a valuable niche in family travel, with high quality curated content and a targeted market place for advertisers.

 

“The opportunity is global with the market set for rapid growth. Despite this opportunity and evident consumer demand, there is no one else doing what we do in the UK or overseas.  This offers an enormous opportunity for us to take the Family Traveller brand into new markets – and this will be a major area of focus for us over the next three years.

 

“This investment is an important milestone for Family Traveller and enables us to take considerable strides in developing our online presence, brand awareness and pool of talent. Fairly imminently, familytraveller.com will be re-launching as a highly personalised, social intelligence built site that will deliver hyper-curated, and therefore relevant, content to our audience, enabling a richer experience for them, as well as more targeted and efficient advertising opportunities for our commercial clients.”

 

Jane Reoch, Investment Director at the Cass Entrepreneurship Fund, commented:

 

“In just two years, Family Traveller has achieved material revenues, a base of 100,000 monthly unique users, and partnerships with a highly impressive advertising roster including some of the world’s most recognisable brands.  The company operates in an under-served niche of the travel market, presenting an opportunity for advertisers to reach a much sought-after audience.   It is for these reasons that the funding round was oversubscribed and Cass is very pleased to have led the £750,000 investment.

 

“The funding will provide a strong basis for future growth.    Family Traveller bridges the travel and media industries, both of which offer a supportive future environment for acquisitive growth and/or sale in the long term.  Both sectors have seen an increase in private equity investments and, a highly active M&A market exists for strong digital brands.  All of this points to a very bright future for Family Traveller.”

 

 

Tim Mills, Investment Director at the Angel CoFund, said: "At the Angel CoFund we are always on the look-out for high potential angel-backed British businesses, that are building innovative franchises, regardless of sector. Family Traveller's targeted focus on travel and an underserved demographic makes them a great platform for both consumers and, crucially, advertisers. We look forward to working closely with Andrew and his team over the coming months, as the team takes Family Traveller through their next stage in the business' development."

 

 

FirstCapital Announces Sale Of eCommera To Dentsu

 

FirstCapital has announced the successful negotiation of the sale of eCommera, a market-leading commerce specialist agency, to global marketing agency Dentsu Aegis Network (Dentsu).

This strategic deal brings eCommera’s omni-channel ecommerce expertise together with Dentsu’s global brand commerce offering, to establish a potent combination of content and brand which delivers an integrated consumer experience for major international retailers and brands.

 

On completion of the deal Hazel Moore, Chairman of FirstCapital said, "We are really pleased to have been able to deliver such a great result for eCommera and its shareholders. FirstCapital is proud to be working with great people doing exceptional work in a hugely exciting space. We are committed to delivering the best outcome for our clients, and ambitious about cementing our credentials as the go-to dealmakers for growth technology businesses."

 

 

Andrew McGregor, CEO of eCommera’s parent company OrderDynamics said “This was a really strong, well-run process by FirstCapital. Everyone on the team did great work from the initial positioning and messaging to the market; through to the attention to detail in the final close out stages. They delivered an excellent result for the business and we are extremely happy with the outcome.”

 

 

AZINI CAPITAL TO ACCELERATE GROWTH AT CLUSTERSEVEN

 

New finance will enable fast-growing UK technology business to invest in product development and go-to-market capabilities

 

ClusterSeven, a leading provider of solutions to manage corporate spreadsheets and other end-user computing (EUC), today announced that it has secured new finance from private equity firm Azini Capital Partners LLP (“Azini”). Azini has acquired 100% of ClusterSeven and will be providing additional investment to promote high quality and wider customer engagement.

 

Surveys by auditors and analysts repeatedly show that over 70% of businesses are dependent on spreadsheets to deliver key financial information. ClusterSeven was founded to help businesses cope with this dependence.  Its unique technology allows financial institutions and businesses to validate, analyse and control the use of business-critical spreadsheets and similar applications and databases.  The firm’s products automatically document activity to detect problems such as spreadsheet errors and security risks.

 

ClusterSeven has seen interest in its solutions grow significantly as institutions seek to improve the accuracy and guardianship of their data.  Its solutions help firms to balance their governance, risk and regulatory compliance (GRC) obligations with the need for innovation and productivity. ClusterSeven provides non-invasive, passive monitoring and tracking of spreadsheets down to the level of individual cells.

 

The firm’s clients include many leading global companies; a third of the world’s top 30 banks as well as leading insurers, investment managers, energy firms and manufacturers. The Azini investment comes in the wake of record ClusterSeven turnover and new client wins in 2014.

 

Ralph Baxter, CEO and founder of ClusterSeven, said: “We are very pleased to move to the next stage of our development in partnership with Azini Capital.  This investment is great news for our clients as it will enable us to further develop our solutions and improve awareness in the market of the best practices we have built together. Businesses are increasingly focused on the quality of information delivered to all their executives, clients, auditors and regulators. That means knowing what is happening in your spreadsheets.”

 

 

Nick Habgood, Managing Partner, Azini Capital Partners LLP, said: “ClusterSeven is perfectly positioned to enter its next growth phase.  It’s a great UK technology company that is meeting a pressing need from top tier financial services companies across the world. We see the opportunity to take its technology to a much broader marketplace.  We are very pleased to work alongside Ralph and the team to help grow ClusterSeven.”

 

 

Polaris Private Equity acquires TRIAX A/S from Nielsen & Nielsen Holding A/S

 

TRIAX is an international market leader of innovative, high-tech solutions for reception and distribution of TV, radio and internet.

With more than 60 years of experience within the industry, TRIAX is widely associated with high-quality products, durability and a high level of customer service. With its headquarters in Denmark, as well as 8 European subsidiaries, TRIAX has a solid foothold in the European continent. With strong partnerships throughout major regions of the world, TRIAX has also established a global reach. Products and solutions include signal processing, multiswitches, amplifiers, headends, aerials, and dishes. The product portfolio consists of both own products and sourced products. During recent years, TRIAX has successfully managed the revenue contraction that followed the conclusion of the migration from analogue to digital signal broadcasting in Europe. TRIAX is now in a good position for revenue and profit growth. TRIAX, which posted 2014/2015 revenue of DKK 608 million and earnings (EBITDA) of DKK 52 million, has 310 employees.

 

• “This is a very important milestone for TRIAX, and we are truly excited about TRIAX’s future prospects, which can be utilized under new ownership”, says Claus Omann, CEO of TRIAX A/S. “With the strong support of Polaris, we are very well positioned to accelerate the development and growth throughout the EMEA region”.

 

• “TRIAX has shown a strong development throughout some busy years with the European conversion from analogue to digital signals. We have owned TRIAX for nearly 30 years and it has been a very good investment for us. We got an attractive offer and as a result of the strong and constructive dialogue we have had with Polaris, we are convinced that TRIAX and the many talented employees, who have been a big part of the development of the company, are facing an exciting new future”, says Søren K. Vilby, CEO of Nielsen & Nielsen Holding A/S.

 

• “With the solid market position of TRIAX, its strong management, and its dedicated employees, we are very excited about the acquisition of TRIAX. We are planning for continued improvements and significant growth in revenue and profit over the coming years. If the opportunity is there and the fit is right, Polaris hopes to further strengthen TRIAX via add-on acquisitions”, says Niels Worning, partner at Polaris Private Equity.

 

• “TRIAX has a unique and strong market position. With continued exponential growth in data and multimedia consumption worldwide, TRIAX can grow significantly in the coming years. However, continued market, product and solutions development are necessary to stay competitive and relevant”, says Allan J. Vestergaard, the incoming Chairman of the Board of TRIAX. “I very much look forward to working with management and employees to realize the ambitious vision of TRIAX”, concludes Allan J. Vestergaard.

 

 

SEB Corporate Finance has acted as exclusive financial advisor to the seller. Nordea has provided debt financing for the transaction.