Investor Login
LONDON, England — June 2021
eStoreMedia, the digital shelf software for Fortune 500 brands has raised $30 million in its first fundraise through investment by Kennet Partners and Digital+ Partners. The firm, which already counts many of the Fortune 500 brands as its clients, will use the investment to accelerate eStoreMedia’s digital shelf automation suite for brands, as well as for expansion into new markets.
This is the first external investment in the company and both investors have significant experience in building SaaS and B2B focused businesses as they look to accelerate their growth. Kennet Partners is a leading European technology growth equity investor focused on bootstrapped and capital efficient companies, and it has invested alongside Digital+ Partners, a leading growth equity investor focused on B2B technology companies.
In addition to the $30 million invested in the company, eStoreMedia plans to bolster its Board of Directors with leading industry experts to support and drive the company’s international growth strategy as it looks to expand into the US market and accelerate in existing markets such as the UK, Mexico, Poland, and the DACH region.
eStoreMedia uses the knowledge of branding experts combined with tech engineers to develop solutions which change the way brands, and their e-commerce retail partners, work together. It creates seamless platforms for integrated analytics, e-content automation, and shopper research for ultimately better brand positioning and consequently sales. It has a global footprint with over 1000 e-retailers and hundreds of global brands.
Bartosz Kielbinski, founder and CEO, eStoreMedia, said: “We are extremely excited about the opportunities our new investment will bring. We plan to accelerate our vision of creating the most complete Digital Shelf Automation platform for brands, revolutionizing how they manage their e-commerce retail partners. We recognise the value of our people and the expertise we have from a branding perspective which makes us unique when it comes to developing technology which makes a difference. This new investment is exciting for our global teams as we can make even more great ideas come to life.”
Hillel Zidel, Managing Director, Kennet Partners, said: “eStoreMedia is a great example of the type of bootstrapped B2B SaaS company that we love to invest in. We see huge potential in the business: they are revolutionising how brands manage e-commerce and have ambitious plans for tech development which will retain their industry leading offering. We look forward to working with the team as they embark on the next stage of growth.”
Dirk Schmuecking, Partner at Digital+ Partners said: “We have been thoroughly impressed by eStoreMedia’s accomplishments to date and look forward to supporting the team’s growth strategy to become the category leader for digital shelf analytics. With the new financing, eStoreMedia is well-positioned to accelerate product roadmap opportunities, attract further top talent and scale up the go-to-market organization globally.”
eStoreMedia was advised by Michal Frys and CP Legal. The investor consortium was advised by Goodwin as legal advisor, Smith & Williamson and Code & co as financial and technical advisors respectively.
About eStoreMedia
eStoreMedia provides an e-commerce automation suite that helps Fortune 500 Brands accelerate online sales. eStoreMedia’s suite of SaaS tools integrates Digital Shelf Analytics, Product Information Management and Al‑based Research Methodologies to streamline e-commerce processes and drive Perfect Store implementation across thousands of online e-retailers in over 50 markets globally.
About Digital+ Partners
Based in Frankfurt and Munich, Germany, Digital+ Partners is a leading technology growth equity investor focused on European and US technology companies with over €500 million assets under management. Digital+ Partners aims to support ambitious entrepreneurs build global technology leaders, providing them with strategic advice and long-term financial support to help them define and execute their growth plans. Digital+ Partners focuses exclusively on B2B technology companies and leverages a deep corporate network to help portfolio companies access new markets and build new partnerships. For more information please visit: www.dplus.partners
LONDON, England — February 19 2021
In the latest development, leading market engagement platform for virtual and in-person events, Grip, has announced $13 million (£9.3 million approx) in series A funding, taking its total amount raised to $14.5 million (£10.4 million approx).
The round, led by London-based growth equity fund Kennet Partners, will further enable Grip to provide industry-leading experiences both in-person and virtually.
Founded in 2016, Grip aims to transform the way professionals network at industry events, working with the majority of the world’s largest event organisers including Reed Exhibitions, Messe Frankfurt, VentureBeat, and TechCrunch.
With the pandemic serving as a catalyst for the online events industry, organisers have needed to provide different event types to serve the updated needs of the market. Building on five years of in-person event experience, Grip’s Market Engagement Platform enables event organisers to create an omnichannel experience, combining various event types across virtual, hybrid and live to deliver increased networking value and engagement.
Underpinned by its award-winning AI-powered technology, Grip is proven to increase the number of quality interactions at events, creating unique insight and opportunities for organisers to generate meaningful value for their clients.
Tim Groot, CEO and founder of Grip, says: “Our mission is to empower organisers to bring professionals together to advance industries. This funding round is going to enable us to take the experience to a new level, leveraging our extensive industry-leading platform, offering unique value for Virtual, Hybrid and In-Person events.”
“I’m humbled and thankful to our clients for trusting us and working with us to achieve this milestone. We’ve raised the round for them, to make our platform better. We’re going to invest heavily in our product and global expansion to support organisers across the world in the continued digitization of their business and empower them to succeed in this new reality."
“Now, more than ever, we must do everything possible to help professionals connect in useful and meaningful ways.”
Hillel Zidel, Partner at Kennet and Grip board member, added: “Grip’s ability to organise virtual events with a key focus on networking has meant that the company has seen tremendous growth over the last year. Event organisers and their clients have been able to remain connected with their customers despite the constraints on in-person events. As live events resume in the future, Grip is extremely well positioned to continue to assist event organisers through the provision of software solutions supporting live, virtual and hybrid events.”
Brent Hoberman, co-founder of Founders Factory and previous investor, says: “Grip was born out of a need we saw in running events at Founders Forum – how do you use smart technology to catalyse the most relevant and valuable connections between your guests? I’m thrilled that under Tim’s leadership, Grip has become a world-class product that continues to build on this seed of an idea in using smart tech to facilitate more meaningful connections. It’s exciting to see the team attract and bring on a great fund in Kennet Partners – they now have the resources they need to take the company to the next level.”
Grip is the first Market Engagement Platform for Event Organisers to create Virtual, Hybrid and Live event experiences in a single solution to move markets forward. Grip works with 12 out of 20 of the leading Event Organisers in the world and is known for its leading AI-powered matchmaking engine, which has been used to establish millions of valuable connections at thousands of events.
Learn more at: www.uktech.news/ai/
LONDON, England — March 9 2021
Work management software company secures investment to enable customers in North America, APAC and European markets to simplify their techstack and eliminate distractions
Scoro, an award-winning work management software for professional service businesses, has closed a $16.4 million Series B funding round led by Kennet Partners. Additional investors include Columbia Lake Partners, Inventure, Livonia Partners and Tera Ventures. The investment will fuel continued global expansion and is supported by new French and Spanish versions of the software.
“Even before Covid-19 hit, most professional service businesses used as many as a dozen different platforms daily,” said Scoro’s Founder and CEO, Fred Krieger. “However, teams now realise that constantly switching between tools harms productivity and results in lost data and duplicated work. In many ways, these tools became weapons of mass distraction. We’re proud to have the support of Kennet Partners and other investors as we help businesses identify and remove these weapons of mass distraction with our end-to-end work management software.”
Scoro’s most recent product launch has been a modernization of the Gantt chart, which had not evolved since its creation at the turn of the 19th Century. With the new funding, Scoro will continue to create innovative tools which enable professional service businesses to improve their productivity and profitability.
“The dramatic disruption to working practices caused by Covid-19 should give us pause for thought, challenge our assumptions, and encourage us to think about what the new normal should be,” said Dave Kellogg, a highly experienced SaaS advisor and new addition to Scoro’s Board of Directors. “The evolution of the workplace will be supported by platforms such as Scoro which enable staff to communicate and collaborate effectively, flexibly and without distraction.”
Kennet Partners’ Managing Director Hillel Zidel also joins the Board of Directors, alongside Dave Kellogg. Martin Fincham continues to lead the Board of Directors as Scoro’s Chairman.
“It is a privilege to chair such a high calibre Board and very reassuring to be supported on our scale-up journey by some of Europe’s top B2B SaaS investors,” added Martin Fincham.
“Scoro is a great example of the type of high-growth, founder-led B2B SaaS company we love to invest in at Kennet,” said Hillel Zidel. “Clients get a lot of value out of Scoro and I’m very excited to support the company in its international expansion at a time when so many businesses are looking for productivity gains.”
Scoro now joins an elite group of start-ups founded in Estonia that have raised more than $20 million in venture capital. Estonia is the world leader in creating technology unicorns per capita, with successes including Skype, Transferwise, Bolt and Pipedrive.
To learn more about Scoro’s end-to-end work management software and how it helps professional service businesses boost productivity and profitability, visit www.scoro.com.
About Scoro
Scoro is an award-winning work management software platform for collaborative teams in the professional services and creative industries.
Thousands of teams in more than 60 countries trust Scoro to increase their margins, save them time and accelerate data-driven decision making. Unlike traditional single-use solutions, Scoro is scalable across an entire business – from projects and sales through to billing and reporting.
Founded in 2013 by Fred Krieger, Scoro is headquartered in London, with additional offices in Tallinn and New York. Scoro has been listed in Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 list and the Inc. 5000 list. For more information, visit www.scoro.com.
About Kennet Partners
Kennet is a leading international growth equity firm that invests in high-growth companies in Europe and North America. With offices in London and Silicon Valley, the firm supports entrepreneurial technology businesses with expansion capital to accelerate growth and build exceptional shareholder value. Kennet is an experienced investor with approximately $900 million in funds under management. For more information, visit www.kennet.com.
About Columbia Lake Partners
Columbia Lake Partners is an experienced team of investors providing investment for growing technology companies across Europe. Columbia Lake Partners’ portfolio has extended investment of more than €300 million to over 100 companies. For more information, visit www.clpgrowth.com.
About Inventure
Inventure is one of the most experienced Nordic venture funds that specializes in helping its portfolio companies with talent and expansion. Since 2005, the team has been in venture with over 70 companies ranging from deep tech to consumer internet brands, including Wolt, Detectify, Blueprint Genetics, and Swappie. For more information, visit www.inventure.vc.
About Livonia Partners
Livonia Partners is a private equity and growth capital firm which invests in companies with a strong growth potential, providing investments in the range of €10 million to €20 million. For more information, visit www.livoniapartners.com.
About Tera Ventures
Founded in 2016, Tera Ventures is an international investment firm which enables disruptive technology companies to scale into global leaders. For more information, visit www.tera.vc.
Learn more at: www.uktechnews.info
LONDON, England — March 26 2021
Clearwater International has advised nudge, a market leading global financial wellbeing platform, on its investment from Kennet Partners to expand its global operations.
nudge provides a SaaS platform focused on enhancing the financial wellbeing of individuals across 50 countries. It is addressing a rapidly growing demand for employee wellbeing solutions as it becomes a higher priority for organisations. This focus was a growing trend before COVID-19 with a recognition that employee wellbeing directly contributes to productivity, but it has rapidly accelerated since, largely due to the increased pressures on employees from the uncertain economic environment, home-working and the associated impacts of the pandemic.
Kennet has provided nudge with investment to accelerate its global expansion. This partnership enables nudge to develop the financial skills and knowledge of millions of more people globally, including the US with a local solution.
"As we recover and rebuild from coronavirus, financial wellbeing (the feeling of confidence and control over one’s money), has unrivalled importance for the world’s productivity and economic recovery. Kennet Partners’ investment helps us extend and accelerate our support for millions of more lives globally."
Tim Perkins, co-founder, nudge
"This partnership will turbo-charge our growth helping us launch our unique solution in many more countries for millions of more people."
Jeremy Beament, co-founder, nudge
"We pride ourselves on helping organisations take the next big jump, which is why we chose to work with nudge to aid their expansion into new and existing global markets. We are proud of what nudge stands for and together look forward to helping more people build a brighter financial future."
Michael Elias, Managing Director, Kennet Partners
"When we met Tim and Jeremy it was immediately obvious that nudge was a special business addressing a significant unmet need – staggeringly, a quarter of employees admit that money worries are having an impact on their focus at work. We really enjoyed helping to find a partner that believes in the vision of the founders and that can support the growth of nudge as it continues delivering a much-needed solution to more people."
Wesley Fell-Smith, TMT Director, Clearwater International
Learn More at: www.clearwaterinternational.com
LONDON, England — March 16 2021
LoyaltyLion, a leading loyalty and engagement platform for fast-growth ecommerce brands, today announced the closing of $12.5 million in Series A funding with an investment from Kennet Partners, an international growth equity firm whose portfolio includes high-growth companies in Europe and North America. This growth investment supports LoyaltyLion’s mission to help ecommerce brands build a better understanding of what will drive long lasting customer relationships and use those insights to create unique and rewarding loyalty programs.
This funding round takes place on the back of a number of years of significant growth for LoyaltyLion which it has achieved in a very capital efficient manner. In 2020, LoyaltyLion experienced triple digital revenue growth and doubled its headcount. With the new funding, LoyaltyLion plans to invest in growing its Development and Customer Success teams and further evolving its loyalty and engagement platform. This will give customers greater access to the loyalty expertise, features and integrations they need to build successful loyalty programs that connect and accelerate their ecommerce marketing efforts. They will also continue with global expansion plans and set up a physical office in North America.
As part of this investment for expansion, Michael Elias, managing director and founder of Kennet Partners, will join the LoyaltyLion board of directors.
About LoyaltyLion
LoyaltyLion is a data-driven loyalty and engagement platform, powering growth for thousands of ecommerce brands worldwide. LoyaltyLion helps merchants build a better understanding of what drives longer-lasting customer relationships and provides the platform needed to create a unique loyalty program that increases retention and spend. Founded in 2012, LoyaltyLion is headquartered in London. Learn more at https://loyaltylion.com/.
About Kennet Partners
Founded in 1997, Kennet Partners is a Silicon Valley and London-based growth equity investor with $900 million under management. Kennet focuses on partnering with bootstrapped and fast-growing SaaS and tech-enabled services businesses with a focus on predictive analytics and AI and has a track record of building global market leaders and achieving high-value exits. For more information, visit kennet.com.
Investors exit as Nuxeo secures half of Fortune 10 companies as customers
March 4, 2021: Kennet Partners Limited (“Kennet”), a leading European technology growth equity investor focused on bootstrapped and capital efficient companies, and Goldman Sachs Growth Equity ("Goldman Sachs"), a leading global growth equity investor, have entered into an agreement to sell co-owned portfolio company, Nuxeo, a content services platform and digital asset management (DAM) provider. Kennet and Goldman Sachs are expected to make a 5x return on their investment in Nuxeo.
Kennet and Goldman Sachs acquired Nuxeo in 2016. Nuxeo’s platform focuses on Digital Asset Management for companies with fast product life cycles such as media, fashion and consumer electronics, and Enterprise Content Management for financial institutions. Nuxeo has a range of global customers across its target sectors such as ABN-AMRO, Fox, Electronic Arts, CVS, and Siemens.
Over the last five years, Goldman Sachs and Kennet have worked to build Nuxeo’s world-class management team and to accelerate the company’s growth as it secured half of the Fortune 10 companies as customers. Goldman Sachs helped Nuxeo achieve broader market visibility and win several new key customers in financial services as well as other sectors. In support of Nuxeo’s CEO, Eric Barroca and CMO Chris McLaughlin, Kennet introduced the current CFO, James Colquhoun and Executive Chairman, Steve King.
Michael Elias, Managing Director, Kennet Partners, said:
“Nuxeo is a prime example of the type of company in which we seek to invest. When we first invested, it was clear that the business had solid foundations but lacked the resources and broader team to take it to the next level of growth. We were able to support Eric and the team to accelerate Nuxeo’s growth trajectory and are proud of what we have collectively achieved. We wish the company all the best as it moves to the next chapter in its exciting development.”
Christian Resch, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, said:
“Back in 2016 we quickly recognized Nuxeo’s strong technology differentiation in the ever-evolving content management software space. Over the last five years we helped Nuxeo grow its organisation, software products and market presence and we are delighted with its performance. We wish Eric and his team all the best in continuing to further build Nuxeo’s unique platform.”
Eric Barroca, CEO, Nuxeo, said: “The offer from Hyland is a strong endorsement of the vision and market position we’ve achieved so far, particularly in recent years. Thanks to the support and investment by Goldman Sachs and Kennet we have been able to become a global leader in enterprise content services. We look forward to working with the team at Hyland.”
Media Enquiries
SEC Newgate UK
Tali Robinson, Jessica Hodson Walker and Jamie Williams
KennetPartners@secnewgate.co.uk
+44 (0) 20 3757 6865
Notes to Editor:
About Kennet Partners
Kennet is a leading international growth equity firm that invests in high-growth companies in Europe and North America. The firm supports entrepreneurial technology businesses with expansion capital to accelerate growth and build exceptional shareholder value. Kennet is an experienced investor with approximately $1 billion of cumulative funds under management. For more information: www.kennet.com.
Kennet’s successful investment model focuses on bootstrapped companies which are often founder-managed and have previously received little external investment. Kennet provides knowledge, contacts and investment to SaaS companies where there is significant potential for growth. Other recent investments by Kennet include Onfleet, Grip, and Provar Testing.
Kennet Partners Limited is authorized and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority.
About Goldman Sachs
Founded in 1869, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm. Goldman Sachs Asset Management is the primary center for the firm’s long-term principal investing activity. Goldman Sachs Asset Management is one of the leading private capital investors in the world with investments across private equity, infrastructure, private debt, growth equity and real estate.
About Nuxeo
Founded in 2000 and with offices in New York City, Paris, and London, Nuxeo offers a cloud-native, open-source, low-code platform with content services and DAM capabilities, among others.