Transparity Solutions secures Seed investment from Beech Tree Private Equity

Leading Microsoft-focused partner Transparity secures investment to enhance technical portfolio

UK-based Transparity Solutions Limited has secured funding from Beech Tree Private Equity (BTPE) to accelerate its business growth plans in addition to the impressive organic growth already achieved since 2015, ensuring they sustain their place as a leading Microsoft partner in the UK.

Transparity currently employ 60 staff across the UK and plan to grow to 200 in the next three years, focusing on continued organic growth and strategic acquisitions to widen its reach in providing Microsoft Technologies to its customers.

Incorporated nearly six years ago, the business was started with a completely different culture in the tech industry; one that puts its staff, customers and partners first and before profits, being transparent, and ensuring growth is delivered through strong relationships built on trust.

This has delivered more than 60% year-on-year organic growth since inception and will only be strengthened by these future plans. Their sixth financial year is on target to deliver £13m turnover (growing from £7.9m despite COVID-19) and the following year is expected to be £21m turnover, all delivered through organic growth.

Today the business focuses on Microsoft Cloud, with expertise in areas such as Microsoft 365 and Azure services. With an impressive 12 Gold Competencies and the status of being a direct CSP provider, customer success and support is ensured from beginning to end.

There will be no deviation from its heritage, with the company only working with the Microsoft platform. However additional services in Security, Dynamics 365, Business Applications and Teams Enterprise Voice will see investment to strengthen the existing portfolio.

David Jobbins (CEO, Transparity) said:

“In today’s evolving environment, our customers need us and the tools we specialise in more than ever, supporting organisations through COVID and beyond in a sustainable way is essential for us to focus on.

“Since starting the business six years ago, we have been focused on becoming the most highly-skilled and best Microsoft partner in the UK. Today, I am proud to say that our incredible team have achieved this, and the investment and partnership with BTPE cements our position firmly for the future. It will be my core responsibility to ensure that the unique culture we have built in Transparity does not change and is only strengthened moving forward.

“This is excellent news for the team at Transparity and for future opportunities inside the business, fantastic news for our customers and the services we will enhance. It is also excellent news for Microsoft and will deepen our partnership with them.”

Adam Rudd (Beech Tree) said:

“We have been seeking to work with Transparity for two years, and I am very pleased to join in with today’s announcement on this excellent news. We have been looking for a suitable partner to support the growth in the Microsoft Cloud space, and Transparity stood out with an incredible team that is loved and respected by its customers and Microsoft alike. We believe that Transparity is a fantastic platform which we can add to with strategic acquisitions to help the business grow its capabilities even further.

“This partnership cements two great teams coming together and creates a fantastic market opportunity to grow an incredible business focused on Microsoft technologies, whilst continuing to build on what already sets Transparity apart from the crowd.”

James Chadwick (GM UK Partners, Microsoft) said:

 “Transparity’s focus on driving valuable outcomes through a combination of investing in deep skillsets and strong partnerships sets it up for delivering significant impact for our mutual customers.

“I would like to congratulate Transparity on the news of this latest agreement, which further demonstrates its commitment to accelerating digital outcomes and business value across the breadth of Microsoft capabilities and services.

“As we continue our partnership with Transparity, the team’s energy for innovation continues to grow. I am looking forward to seeing the progress we continue to make together.”



Press Release from Beech Tree

Beech Tree Private Equity today announces a significant investment in Transparity Solutions, a fast-growing Microsoft cloud specialist. The Business is a pureplay Microsoft Public Cloud Partner, meaning all products and services provided are from the Microsoft stack, this specialisation allows them to offer the highest possible levels of service around their solutions when supporting their large corporate and enterprise clients. Beech Tree Private Equity has been looking to invest further in the sector due to the rapid growth in demand for the provision of cloud managed services across this area of the market and will support Transparity with its plans to scale up rapidly in this highly fragmented market. According to industry forecasts, the CAGR across public cloud is expected to be greater than 20% over the next five years and Azure (Microsoft’s cloud) looks set to continue to capture further market share.

Transparity Solutions, headquartered near Bournemouth, provides a full range of Microsoft cloud solutions to support UK large corporates and enterprises. Transparity provides advice, implementation services and training with regard to digital transformation projects and migration to Microsoft 365 and Azure services. The business also provides ongoing support and maintenance to customers around these business critical services including Modern Workplace (Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Teams etc) and Azure (data and support infrastructure). Transparity has a market leading offering with a strong focus on technical knowledge and customer services. The Business has plans to continue to invest and expand its service offering to include additional value-added managed services, security and voice solutions.

Transparity currently employs 60 people and has delivered year on year growth of c.60% since inception almost six years ago. The business is on track to deliver £13m revenue in the current financial year (up from £7.9m) and plans to grow to £21m next year.

The company has appointed a new CFO as part of the deal, Iain Slater, whose prior sector knowledge and acquisition experience will help to support the current management team in executing its buy-and-build strategy. Adam Rudd and Simon Hemley from Beech Tree Private Equity have also joined the board as Non-Executive Directors.

Commenting on the investment in Transparity, Adam Rudd, Director at Beech Tree Private Equity said “we have been seeking to invest in a Microsoft specialist cloud service provider targeting the large corporate and enterprise market for some time. The market is growing extremely quickly, and the business has referenced very strongly with a happy customer base and a strong relationship with Microsoft. We are excited to support the management team in pursuing a buy and build strategy – this is an area in which we have a lot of experience, having helped many of our other invested businesses to pursue similar strategies. We are delighted to invest in Transparity.”

David Jobbins, CEO of Transparity comments on the investment “we have built a strong relationship with the Beech Tree team over the past eighteen months or so and their experience, connections and knowledge of the sector will help us scale to the next level. Importantly, this investment will enable us to continue to improve and expand our high-quality offering to our customer base. With Beech Tree’s assistance we will now accelerate our organic growth through further expansion of our cloud services proposition. With Beech Tree supporting us, we are now looking forward to embarking on our acquisition strategy in order to accelerate our growth even further”.

Funders of the transaction:

Beech Tree Private Equity (Adam Rudd, Simon Hemley, Luke Burns)

Advisers to the transaction:

Advisers to Beech Tree and Newco:
Financial Due Diligence – Dow Schofield Watts (Ed Brentnall, Rob Parker, Rebecca Smith)
Legal – DLA Piper (James Kerrigan, Christopher Wilson, Helen Tsang)
Tax – PwC (Nick Elliott, Catherine Kay, Callum Lee)

Customer diligence – The Customer Consultancy (Charlie Bantoft)

Management due diligence – i2i HQ Ltd (Michael Finnigan)
Insurance Due Diligence – Bollington Insurance (Ian Muldowney)

Advisers to the Company:
Legal – Moore Barlow (Peter Jeffrey)

Safiya Marzook

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