Congratulations to disguise, Exclaimer, Red Box and Sykes Cottages
We are delighted to see Livingbridge investees disguise, Exclaimer, Red Box and Sykes Cottages included in the Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100, a league table ranking Britain’s private companies with the fastest-growing profits over their last three years.
Leading independent holiday home provider Sykes Cottages placed 44th in the league table, with summer holiday searches on its website in January 2021 up 129 per cent year-on-year. “Given the challenges at the beginning of 2020, all the hard work from our team, our owners and understanding guests has helped us deliver another strong performance and one we hope to build on during 2021”, said Graham Donoghue, CEO, Sykes Cottages. “We’re proud to have made the list across all three FastTrack league tables”.
Livingbridge first invested in Sykes Cottages in 2015, when the business managed 5,000 properties in the UK and Ireland. Livingbridge successfully sold Sykes to private equity firm Vitruvian Partners in October 2019, at which time it managed over 17,500 properties, before reinvesting in January 2020 to support the business during next stage of its growth.
Global provider of visualisation solutions disguise snagged 49th place. Livingbridge first invested in disguise in 2017 through its Enterprise 2 fund, having recognised its unique technology and significant international opportunities. Since then, disguise’s new technology has been instrumental in spearheading immersive content delivery, including for key projects like the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards and Eurosport’s coverage of the US Open. Livingbridge announced the concurrent sale of and reinvestment in disguise in March 2021.
Email signature software provider Exclaimer ranked 68th, with over 75 million people in 150 countries using its software, including the royal household. Livingbridge invested in Exclaimer in 2016, the last investment from Livingbridge 5, the firm’s £360m fund raised in 2012. Since then, Exclaimer has also featured in The Sunday Times World First SME Export Track 100 (2019) and was awarded a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade (2020).
Heath Davies, CEO at Exclaimer, commented: “Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many organisations have accelerated their move to cloud-based email services as part of the new global working from home paradigm. As part of this transition, the importance of centralised email signature management to underpin corporate integrity, legal compliance, and brand consistency across multiple remote devices has accelerated our company growth. I’m delighted we have received this award as it recognises Exclaimer’s commitment in delivering an excellent service for our customers.”
Red Box, a voice capture software developer, placed 69th in the table. Livingbridge invested in Red Box in 2013 to cement its leading global position in the compliance driven market and to enhance its complete voice offering. Red Box’s software is now used by around 1,650 customers, including 70 per cent of the UK’s police force.
“Over recent years, the use-cases for speech analytics and voice AI have significantly expanded and driven increasing demand for the high-quality, AI-ready audio captured by Red Box”, said Richard Stevenson, CEO at Red Box. “It’s great to receive this recognition of our growth and resilience through the pandemic which is testament to the hard work by the Red Box team.”
Wol Kolade, Managing Partner at Livingbridge, said:
“We are thrilled to have four portfolio companies feature in the Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100 – one of the most well-respected private company league tables. This achievement is a testament to the quality of the companies we partner with, and to the excellent work done by the Livingbridge team in helping them to execute their ambitious growth plans.”
Read more about this year’s Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100 here