BGF backs ROI for future growth 

BGF – the UK’s most active growth capital investor – has announced a further £4 million investment in fast-growth, lead generation technology business, ROI.  

This deal follows just seven months after BGF’s initial investment, taking the total invested to £7 million. In November 2020, ROI acquired the consumer finance assets of Raketech to accelerate the company’s growth in the financial services sector and establish a base in Norway.  

With ambitions to become the number one lead generation business in Europe, ROI’s success to date is through its lead generation product which allows small businesses to rent a highly optimised website, attract more leads and generate sales.  

Since BGF’s investment, ROI has made strategic hires in key locations and is already seeing significant growth in new markets with high demand from businesses looking to establish a digital platform to gain new customers.  

Robin Kaneteg, co-founder and CEO of ROI said: 

“We have invested in building a market-leading technology that allows businesses to grow. This has underpinned our own growth to date, but the pace of digital transformation we’ve all experienced in the past 12 months has resulted in a surge of enhanced interest that we have been ideally positioned to address. The additional funding from BGF will allow us to unlock growth even more quickly, expand our market share and move into more locations and vertical sectors, as well as considering complementary acquisitions.” 

Joel Halling, co-founder and sales director at ROI added: 

“When we first received funding, we had proven our business in Sweden and were looking to roll-out the concept to other locations across Europe. In the past six months, we’ve done this successfully in the UK and Norway and there is significant demand for our services even though some locations are still facing local Covid-19 restrictions. This leaves us very optimistic about the future potential as areas emerge from lockdown. We’ve made some excellent hires as we continue to build a team that will support us achieving our ambitious goals.” 

Pinesh Mehta, investor at BGF added: 

“With a strong, entrepreneurial management team, this is a business that has a clear plan and has a genuinely innovative proposition capable of significant scale. We’ve been impressed by the progress made since our initial investment and look forward to supporting the business through this next growth phase with follow-on investment.” 

Advisers  

For BGF: Knights Plc 

For ROI: Squire Patton Boggs  

About BGF:  

• BGF was set up in 2011 and has invested £2.5bn in nearly 400 companies, making it the most active investor in the UK.  
• BGF is a minority, non-controlling equity partner with a patient outlook on investments, based on shared long-term goals with the management teams it backs. 
• BGF invests in growing businesses in the UK and Ireland through its network of 16 offices.   
• BGF models have now been set up in Canada and Australia, with other countries evaluating the opportunity to replicate this. 
• www.bgf.co.uk / Social media: @BGFinvestments