Impero
Profile of the company
Impero* is the UK market leader of classroom and network management software for schools, with strength in addressing on-line radicalisation and bullying issues.
Investment Summary
Julian Carr arranged the acquisition of Impero from its founders with a £4m equity raise in May 2014 and was proactively involved through the Board in helping to shape the strategy and management team through to exit:
- Arranged a buy out of US distributor in order to double US margins and control that route to market as part of the original acquisition
- Appointed a new Finance Director and FTSE 250 non-executive Chairman prior to acquisition
- Supported further expansion of the management team with the appointment of a CTO and Technical Development Director and Sales Director
- Managed banking relationship through early trading and organised additional £1.4m equity capital raise
- Engaged Houlihan Lokey, the most active M&A midmarket specialist in the US, to lead the sale process.
Exit
Impero was acquired as a £9m acquisition in May 2014 with £3.8m of revenues and £1.2m of EBITDA and doubled in size before being sold for £27.5m in August 2017.
| Sector | Software |
|---|---|
| Location | Nottingham |
| Investment type | MBO |
| Date of transaction | May 2014 |
| Status | Exited – 3.1x |
| Website address | www.imperosoftware.com |
Sam Pemberton, CEO says:
“Julian has always provided dynamic and commercial support to the business and to me as CEO. I have previously described him as a ‘fire hose’ in referencing in the best sense; he never seeks to run the business but I have been able to use his energy to get things done when on occasion I have run out of hours in the day and I have enjoyed our partnership.”
Julian Carr, NED says:
“Impero always had a very strong product in a large attractive and relevant international market. As with many smaller businesses it had to manage a transition to professionalise in order to grow and to realise its potential and Sam did an incredible job with him team to deliver that in the UK, US and 70 other worldwide markets.”
* Julian Carr led this investment prior to founding Ethos Partners