Trak Global Group completes significant minority investment from Three Hills Capital Partners

• New growth capital investment of over £40m will accelerate the development of new products and services via IMS’ DriveSync 6 platform, benefitting the Group’s clients across insurance, mobility, automotive OEMs and governments.
• Company confirms that its focus will be on supporting rapid growth in the N. American territory; also considering further acquisition activity.
• IMS now the lead brand for the Group’s international business activities within the insurance market. The company provides complete end-to end services that insurers need in order to leverage the benefits of usage-based insurance (UBI) and extract value from telematics data across the entire value-chain, from customer acquisition and risk management through rewards, engagement and claims remediation.

London, UK: Trak Global Group [‘TGG’], one of the world’s leading telematics technology companies with operations in the UK, Europe and North America, has announced today that Three Hills Capital Partners [‘THCP’] is to acquire a significant minority stake in the business. The deal comes less than a year after TGG acquired IMS, one of N. America’s three leading telematics solution providers. The combined Group business has long-standing partnerships with global insurers, mobility operators and motor manufacturers, gathering and interpreting data from connected devices to help organisations manage driver and vehicle risk. Its customers include RSA, Volkswagen Financial Services, Nationwide Insurance (USA), Allianz, Europcar and Zipcar.

The Group also owns and operates multi award-winning telematics insurance broker Carrot Insurance and TGG employs over 250 people across four international offices. TGG Group CEO Nick Corrie said the partnership creates a capital structure that will “enable us to more rapidly execute our ambitious growth plans, both organic and by acquisition, to become the global leader providing connected, data-driven technology solutions for the insurance and shared mobility markets.” Corrie stated that the investment from THCP will accelerate the deployment of the next generation of IMS’s cloud-based, device-agnostic single telematics platform, DriveSync6, and enable the deployment of new solutions and services for customers. “We will also be continuing to invest in innovation, such as our pioneering work in Road Usage Charging in the US and developing IP around connected car services that our customers in UBI and mobility will jointly benefit from, particularly as we continue to see the convergence of these two markets.”

He added: “This is a real milestone for TGG, as we celebrate a decade in business. In THCP we’ve found an investment partner that believes in our vision, is very well-aligned culturally and possesses the expertise to help steer the business through what will be an exciting phase of growth. THCP’s solution was unique in the market and matches our ambitions for the future. Worldwide, TGG already connects half a million vehicles and we are aiming to increase this figure exponentially over the coming years.” Joe Jefferies, UK coverage at THCP, who will join TGG’s Board, said: “Trak Global is our first investment in the IoT and telematics space, and during our detailed diligence into the sector it quickly became clear that TGG was the stand-out performer. The combination of management team strength and vision, as well as the company’s relentless focus on forming true partnerships with their customers, made for a compelling investment case. We are delighted to be Trak Global’s partners in what we expect to be a period of exceptional and transformative growth. It is another example of Three Hills’ commitment to backing ambitious founders and management teams who are looking for an alternative solution to traditional private equity structures.”

Notes to editors:

• TGG was advised by PwC (Corporate Finance, Financial, Commercial and Tax DD) and DWF (Legals)
• THCP was advised by KPMG (Corporate Finance, Financial, Commercial), EY (Tax), CMS (Legals) and Anagram (Technology)
• Ed Rochfort (MD, Carrot) and Ben Miners (VP Innovation and Data Science, IMS) will be speaking at the forthcoming TU-Automotive Connected Car Insurance USA conference in Chicago on 4th – 5th September

About Trak Global Group
 
Operating in five countries, Trak Global Group (TGG) is one of the world’s largest telematics companies, gathering and interpreting data from connected devices to help organisations manage driver and vehicle risk.   The business has long-standing partnerships with global insurers, leading motor manufacturers, corporate fleets and daily rental companies and is the UK’s largest insurance telematics business. In late 2018, Trak Global Group acquired IMS, the 3 rd largest insurance telematics business in North America. In addition to its partnerships with major insurers, the business has over 130 patents associated with connected car services and has pioneered the use of telematics technology for Road Usage Charging in the US, with successful pilots across four states.

Carrot Insurance, also part of TGG, is a UK-based, award-winning telematics insurance broker specialising in novice drivers. In 2015, Carrot received the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award for its work in reducing young driver accident frequency, and in 2015, it launched Better Driver, an app-based product representing the UK’s first mass-market usage-based insurance product.
 
Visit: http://www.trakglobalgroup.com

For more information, please contact:

Ben Welsh, Certus Corporate Communications
m. +44 (0)7568 382040
e. [email protected]

Andrew Brown-Allan, Group Marketing & Propositions Director, Trak Global Group
m. +44 (0)7753 743357
e. [email protected]

About THCP

THCP is an innovative investment house delivering enhanced risk-adjusted returns to investors, by investing through preferred capital instruments.
THCP currently manages approximately €1.2 billion AUM. Since inception, THCP have invested approximately €750 million in successful mid-market companies across Europe, collectively valued at c.€3 billion of enterprise value at the time of initial investment. THCP provides partnership capital and investment support to mid-market companies who want to invest in growth but avoid dilution of ownership and control. This appealing alternative to control-orientated private equity serves a gap in the financing market for the growing number of companies run by outstanding entrepreneurs looking to enter the next phase of growth with their businesses. THCP portfolio companies include amongst others ACT, Byron, Building Energy, Hunter, Magnaghi Aeronautica, Recycling Lives, Sigma GRP, Tomorrow London and WPI Group.

Visit: www.thcp.eu

For more information, please contact:

Adrian Flook C|T Group
t. +44 20 3540 6456
Email: [email protected]