BGF’s South West team invests over £115 million in 2021

The South West team of BGF has delivered a strong run of investment activity in 2021 after deploying over £115 million of equity funding to the region’s strongest growth economy businesses.

BGF is a long-term investor, making initial investments between £1 million to £15 million for a minority equity stake. It backs ambitious teams across a range of sectors and funds a variety of growth plans.

Strong regional momentum comes off the back of a record year for BGF as a whole, which has seen the growth capital investor complete 67 new deals and invest £600m over the course of 2021 – a record year that underlines BGF’s critical contribution to the UK’s growth economy.

Key investments by the South West team over the last 12 months have included a £13.5 million investment in property developer Burrington Estates to support the ambitious growth plans of the Exeter-based business. BGF also provided Bristol-based XCD, the cloud-based HR and Payroll software provider, with a further £3 million of follow-on funding to support its acquisition of Hireserve, a recruitment software company; while early-stage funding was provided to Bristol University spin-out Forefront RF to help launch its disruptive technology for the global smartphone market.

Additional investments completed by the South West team included an £8 million investment in Operational Solutions, a leading counter drone technologies business based in Reading; a £10.5 million minority investment in e2e-assure, a fast-growth cybersecurity business based in Oxfordshire; and a £14 million investment in Victorian Sliders, a South Wales based business which is the UK’s only fully integrated, specialist manufacturer of uPVC sash windows.

In recognition of BGF’s dealmaking excellence across the South West, BGF won a trio of awards at the Insider South West Dealmaker Awards held in October. These included the ‘Private Equity House / Venture Capitalist of the Year’ gong for the range and breadth of its investments, as well as the diverse geographical split to those deals; and the coveted ‘Dealmaker of the Year’ award for investor, Alex Garfitt.

We are extremely fortunate to have so many brilliant, diverse and ambitious businesses based in our region. They have shown themselves to be incredibly resilient to the ongoing challenges faced by the pandemic and have their sights firmly set on growth, both in the UK and internationally. We’re delighted to be supporting many of these companies as they move forward with their plans – through our combination of growth capital and strategic business support.

Ned Dorbin, BGF’s head of the South West and Wales

“As we enter 2022, all the signs are there for another active year of supporting high quality businesses that have the appetite to scale. With an abundance of talented business owners looking to capitalise on the opportunities head on, we’re looking forward to supporting new and exciting companies as they look to scale.”