Investor Mobeus backs HR consultancy LACE Partners
Leading HR consultancy LACE Partners has today announced a significant investment from private equity business Mobeus. Co-founders of LACE, Aaron Alburey and Cathy Acratopulo, said it will help to ‘supercharge’ the business ahead of increasing demand for strategic HR services from businesses across all sectors.
LACE Partners is a boutique consultancy specialising in HR transformation, change and technology advisory work. With a tightening talent market meaning firms are increasingly looking for support from consultancies to help obtain and retain the labour needed for success, LACE has been growing rapidly in recent years.
With demand for HR consulting showing no signs of slowing, the firm has attracted new investment, to help it scale its services. The company’s first external investment will enable it to enhance its offerings across all industries and support an ongoing growth strategy that Co-founder Aaron Alburey says will include both organic recruitment, and acquisitions.
Alburey explained, “Since Cathy and I founded LACE, we have seen the market for strategic HR services expand rapidly. The impact of the pandemic and the need for our enterprise clients to change their approach to better enable their people by investing in experiences and technology has created a significant opportunity for us. This investment will help us to deliver on this at speed and to expand through organic and non-organic growth.”
The deal sees Mobeus Equity Partners become a minority partner in LACE Partners. Mobeus is a mid-market private equity firm, which provides £2 million to £15 million investments to UK SMEs across all sectors – something LACE’s leaders believe make it ideally placed to help them take the business to the next level.
LACE’s other Co-founder, Cathy Acratopulo, added, “People functions have made massive strides in recent years. They are front and centre in driving value for the businesses they support through maximising the engagement and productivity of their people, against a backdrop of increasing economic pressure and hot talent markets. We’ve secured this investment because we want to support more HR leaders with their strategic priorities. We are so excited to be working with Mobeus to take forward our growth agenda.”
The investment process was led by Mobeus Investment Director, Freddie Bacon, with support from Chris Price and Samira Aminzare. Mobeus Portfolio Partner, Guy Blackburn, will join LACE Partners’ board while Samira Aminzare will join as a board observer.
Bacon added, “Mobeus is delighted to be partnering with LACE, a high-quality platform in a market where businesses increasingly require strategic advice and delivery capability across the HR spectrum. Since our initial conversations, we have been enthused by the ambition of founders Aaron and Cathy and the calibre of talent across their wider team. Mobeus is eager to support these plans by leveraging our recent experiences of the wider consultancy sector, which delivered two successful exits last year.”
