ABOUT US
We set up Ignite to support management teams in building better businesses
Our entire team have helped run businesses
We are investors but we provide much more than just money
We’re interested in building businesses with strong foundations which will long outlast our involvement in the business. To achieve this, we think long and creatively about business planning and fuel growth with ambitious capital.
We all know that businesses are more than balance sheets. They’re living, fragile things which must be nurtured in different ways. That’s why we look at the companies we invest in on a smart and healthy basis.
HOW WE SUPPORT YOU
Years of experience has taught us that for smaller businesses to grow to the next level they often need support. We think there are 5 key areas:
Talent
& HR
& HR
The hardest job: finding great people and building the appropriate infrastructure and culture to nurture and get the most out of the team
Strategy
Deciding where to allocate resource to enable long term profitable growth.
Management Information Systems
Using information to monitor a business’s development and using that information to make strategic decisions to accelerate growth.
Digital
Creativity
Creativity
Using digital tools to enhance engagement with customers and suppliers; using data in a smarter way; putting technology into products or services.
Ambitious Capital
Being prepared to use money to help a business grow faster throughout the investment life cycle
We deliver support in these areas through our Development Team. We’ve handpicked them because of their experience at working through the challenges ambitious businesses face
WHAT WE INVEST IN
We invest in smaller, UK-based, businesses worth up to £30m.
We look to invest between £2-15m in a single transaction.
We know a little about a lot of sectors. We’re actually less concerned about what sector you operate in than how the business is positioned and your ambition for the future.
We’re not big into tick-lists, but the deals that get us excited will have some of the following features:
- EBITDA greater than £750k
- A clear position in the value chain
- A large end market
- Opportunity to invest further money to enhance growth
For us, growth is paramount: either showing it today or a believe that, working together, we can help ignite it.
THE TEAM
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Andrew Leek Partner
I’ve been investing in and running businesses for nearly 20 years and I’ve always been fascinated by them: why they grow (and shrink), how the best ones are run, and how they are financed.
That’s led me on a “career” of investing in and running smaller businesses. I’ve invested and worked across a huge variety of sectors: from nutritional milk shakes to open cast coal mining, jewellery retailing to judicial services. I’ve worked at two great PE firms – Alchemy and Inflexion – and spent 4 years as MD of Complan, an international nutritional supplement business.
In setting up Ignite, I wanted to create the investment firm that would have helped me when running a business: a combination of capital and assistance from people who have done it before.
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Forbes Stuart Partner
Having recently been part of the executive team in a fast growing business and before that spending many years working in finance, I’m all too familiar with the frustrations faced by management teams when they try to find a financing and growth partner.
Through establishing Ignite, I wanted to change the way finance is provided, ensuring management teams get help when needed and have an active interested partner to support them through their growth journey.
Some of my past experience includes working at GI Partners, a transatlantic PE fund, and as Commercial Director of Cambian Plc, a £300m turnover healthcare services provider.
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Simon Hill Talent Director
I am the founder and Managing Consultant of Hill Coates Associates Executive Search which fulfils the Talent Director role for Ignite. I have several decades of experience in headhunting for large and small businesses, many of which were private equity backed. I’ve also spent time working in and running businesses (including being acquired). I was previously the UK Managing Partner of Alexander Hughes Executive Search.
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Nicki Crossland HR Director
I’ve spent my career building HR departments and advising and coaching senior management teams all with the simple aims of building great cultures and fulfilling potential. I have experience across companies large and small and was previously VP of HR EMEA for Bombardier and prior to that SVP HR Europe for Claire’s Stores.
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Pete Lock Digital Performance Director
I’m a performance marketing specialist and co-founder of Usable Media and Excello Partners. I spent my early career working in the financial markets for Man Group, a hedge fund and Cargill, a global commodities producer, before moving into a consultancy advising business on how to grow online revenue.
We now support a wide range of companies, from private equity backed to PLC’s, with their digital sales and marketing. Helping them to optimise their digital presence and drive new growth.
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Paul Stratford Digital Brand Director
I’ve spent my career advising brands on how to communicate through creating persuasive content that their customers will find compelling, across all platforms. I’ve set up, run and sold several marketing agencies before co-founding Usable Media and Excello Partners where we work with clients in a huge variety of industries, from software development to engineering businesses and healthcare.
