Jola

In March 2021, we invested £10.25m into business communications supplier Jola, to support its next stage of growth.​ Alongside our investment, we introduced Jola to its non-executive chair, Martin Harriman. Martin was well placed to support the business, having previously been chair of augmented reality (AR) company WaveOptics, a main board director and head of new business at O2, and the global MD for consumer IoT and digital home at Telefonica.

BGF funding helped to de-risk Jola’s management shareholders and provide capital for its planned expansion. Jola went on to launch a number of innovative products, and acquired fellow telecoms business Zappapi, strengthening its tech team. Jola generated profit growth of 50% during our one-year investment.

In July 2022, the business was acquired by global IoT connectivity platform provider Wireless Logic. Jola’s expertise in the UK channel was highly complementary to Wireless Logic’s routes to market and customer base.​