Bridewell Consulting secures investment to fuel expansion
Private equity firm Growth Capital Partners has taken a minority stake in end-to-end cybersecurity specialist Bridewell Consulting.
Cyber security was fast becoming a crucial industry before the last 12 months, with a number of high-profile international breaches illustrating the high stakes at play when companies experienced a cyber-attack. The last year has only served to emphasise this importance, with many firms digitising operations to enable working from home suddenly finding themselves exposed to hackers like never before.
As a result, consulting firms which specialise in working with clients to fortify their cyber defences are in keen demand at present. Founded in 2013, Bridewell Consulting is a fast-growing cyber security services firm, having enjoyed 75% year-on-year revenue growth since its 2018 financial year.
Headquartered in Reading, Berkshire, the company has supported over 100 clients in the last 12 months in industries including national infrastructure, financial services, and central government. This track record is delivered by a team of over 80 employees – and with its client base set to grow further in the coming months, the firm has plans to double this figure by 2022.
In order to enable this expansion, Bridewell has secured a minority investment from Growth Capital Partners (GCP). The deal sees GCP take a minority stake in the consultancy, with the private equity firm’s support being used to fund Bridewell’s ambitious plans not only to grow its team, but to accelerate its end-to-end cyber security and managed security services.
Anthony Young, Co-CEO of Bridewell, said that the injection of funds meant the firm could retain its independence while growing, explaining that as Bridwell enters its next stage of growth, “it’s critical we retain our culture and service excellence, which is exactly what the investment will enable us to do.”
Meanwhile, fellow Co-CEO Scott Nicholson added that GCP’s “focus on partnership, sustainable ambitious growth, and people development fits perfectly with Bridewell’s culture and values.”
Richard Shaw, a Partner at GCP, added, “Bridewell’s relentless focus on delivering expert solutions as a trusted advisor to its clients, its extensive accreditations, investment in people and pro-active managed security services approach, means that the business is ideally placed to continue its impressive growth trajectory both in the UK and overseas.”
Dealmakers
The deal was advised on by a cohort of M&A consultants. Buyer GCP received advice from Alantra, delivered by James Chapman-Andrews, Tom Stoten, Jamie Dickson and Milan Vashi.
Sell-side M&A advisory was provided by GCA Altium, its team comprising Adrian Reed, Mark Smith, Gabrielle Worrall and Matthew Jenner. Financial due diligence and tax was provided by Jon Cooper and Pete Stephenson from PwC, commercial due diligence was provided by Patrick Woodrow from Fairgrove and vendor tech due diligence was provided by Intechnica.
Legal advice was provided by Paul Medlicott, George Danczak, Rachael Norris and Elizabeth D’Albert at Addleshaw Goddard. Tax advice was provided by Matthew Hodgson and Peter Hully at Claritas.
