Anthesis Consulting Group raises £500,000 to support expansion

Anthesis Consulting Group has sourced £500,000 in financial backing from UK-based Capital for Colleagues. The deal, part of efforts to raise £1.3 million, bolsters the firm’s war chest, from which it aims to further its organic and inorganic growth strategy.

Founded in 2013, Anthesis Consulting Group is a specialist consultancy guided by the principle that sustainability and commercial success are not mutually exclusive. The firm helps clients meet compliance targets as well as support making sustainability a core concern of the business lifecycle. Anthesis is headquartered in the San Francisco, and has additional offices in the UK, Germany, the Middle East, and the Philippines.

Anthesis recently announced that it has secured a £500,000 investment from Capital for Colleagues, a UK-based private equity firm targeting employee owned business (EOB).

The deal is part of wider fundraising effort by the firm, for a total of £1.3 million, for which it has tapped its employees and existing investors – as well as additional sources from traditional investors – to help it boost its organic and inorganic growth strategy going forward. The £500,000 investment includes a subscribed £350,000 for ordinary shares and a loan of £150,000 to Anthesis.

The company has enjoyed rapid growth since its inception, now operating in more than 7 countries across the globe. That growth has in part been groomed inorganically: the firm has acquired ten companies since its founding – most recently acquiring Sustain and, earlier this year, Mosaic Sustainability.

John Eckersley, Chief Executive of Capital for Colleagues, says, “We are delighted to be able to support Anthesis as it raises additional finance to continue its international expansion. Encouraging employee ownership as a cornerstone of its buy-and-build strategy means that Anthesis already has significant employee participation and we are investing alongside those stakeholders in this round. The scale of Anthesis’ operations and ambitions is a further demonstration of the breadth of opportunities available in the EOB sector, which we believe can continue to be a driver of economic growth, despite current uncertainties.”

Earlier this month Ecofys, another large sustainability consultancy, was acquired by US firm Navigant.