FPE Capital LLP (‘FPE’), the specialist software & services focused lower mid-market growth investor, announces that its portfolio company NoBlue2 has acquired BrightBridge Solutions to create one of Europe’s largest Oracle NetSuite partners.   The combined business has over 400 customers, approximately 130 employees and revenues of over £16m.

NoBlue2 is the fifth and most recent investment from FPE Fund III – the firm’s third specialist software and services fund, the successful final close of which was announced in May 2022, at a raised hard cap of £185m.  The acquisition was funded from a new debt facility with DunPort Capital Management and equity from Fund III.

Following successfully exited and existing investments into the ERP software sector, this latest acceleration in the scaling of the NoBlue2 investment continues FPE’s significant focus in this sector with an investment in the channel of Oracle NetSuite, the leading global cloud native ERP vendor.

NoBlue2 was created through the recent merger of NoBlue with Elevate2, which FPE initiated and funded, and which brought together two  UK Oracle NetSuite partners, who are  able to offer customers support in digital transformation across Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Professional Services Automation (PSA) or Commerce, or a combination of all of these.  

BrightBridge is another leading UK solution provider in the Oracle NetSuite ecosystem, and in addition has significant capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics and Sage.  It was awarded top 3 Oracle NetSuite EMEA partner status in 2022.  The business has over 150 enterprise customers spread across a range of sectors. It employs 46 people.

“FPE is delighted to have completed this significant acceleration of our investment in NoBlue2 through this acquisition of BrightBridge so soon after our initial investment.  We have used our specialist focus on this sector to identify this rapid pathway to creating the leading European Oracle NetSuite partner. We are ambitious to continue an acquisitive and organic growth strategy in this sector and provide our customers with a range of business applications and services to aid their digital transformation” commented Dan Walker, Partner at FPE.  

”I’m delighted to welcome the BrightBridge  team and their customers – we’re looking forward to working together to help customers to achieve their goals. We’re focused on strengthening our relationships further, delivering existing – and new – products and services to customers, and expanding our reach to deliver more innovative solutions to ambitious businesses”, said Ian Irwin, CEO of NoBlue2.

“Any acquisition had to be a perfect fit to guarantee customer satisfaction and staff retention for both our NetSuite and Microsoft teams – I’m delighted that we identified FPE’s investment and NoBlue2 as just that. This is great news for everyone – we can continue to deliver projects to BrightBridge’s high standard and be part of an exciting growth story”, said Ian Robertson, Co-Founder and Sales and Marketing Director, at BrightBridge.

“DunPort are delighted to have supported FPE and NoBlue2 in their acquisition of BrightBridge. NoBlue2 is now the clear market leader in the NetSuite implementation sphere and we are very excited to support the Group on its continued growth trajectory.” said Ross Morrow, Executive Director of DunPort.

James Wild, partner at leading audit, tax and consulting firm RSM UK, comments: “From early on in discussions it was evident that the combination of NoBlue2 and BrightBridge was compelling and a great fit culturally. We are delighted to have advised BrightBridge on this exciting new chapter.”

The FPE investment was led by Dan Walker, Ben Cole, Harriet Hunt and Harry Gill.  NoBlue2 was advised on the transaction by Stephenson Harwood (Legal), Crowe U.K. LLP (Financial and Tax) and Graph (Commercial). Debt financing was provided by DunPort Capital Management team of Ross Morrow, David Gilbane and Seán Healy who were advised by Addleshaw Goddard (Legal). 

The shareholders of BrightBridge were advised by RSM (deal advisory).

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

FPE Capital

FPE is a specialist private equity investor focused on the software and services sectors. It invests in lower mid-market UK and Ireland headquartered software and services companies with advantaged business models that offer significant growth potential in large markets that are undergoing structural change.

It is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. www.fpecapital.com

NoBlue2

NoBlue2 was created in June 2023 through the FPE funded merger of two leading UK Oracle Netsuite Solution Partners, NoBlue and Elevate2. They serve customers across a range of industries and countries and supports these customers through the entire lifecycle of an ERP adoption, including strategic consultancy, implementation, optimisation and support.  Headquartered in the UK, the business has people and operations in multiple global locations, and is fast approaching 100 full time employees.

BrightBridge

BrightBridge is a leading Oracle NetSuite and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Solution Provider, with headquarters located in Sharnford, Leicestershire. The company was formed in early 2015 by a group of colleagues who had each been in the IT Industry for over 30 years, it expanded in February 2018 with the acquisition of a similar NetSuite Solution Provider and strengthened its portfolio again in March 2020 with the addition of a team of people from an established Microsoft practice. In its ninth trading year, the firm has over 150 customers spread across a range of sectors and employs 46 people. It was awarded top three Oracle NetSuite EMEA Partner status in 2022.

DunPort Capital Management

DunPort Capital are the leading provider of non-bank corporate and SME debt capital in the Irish market, an established player in the UK lower mid-market and an emerging player in the Benelux market.