Palatine has backed Manchester-based, high-growth fintech business Voly Group with a £2m loan from its pioneering Growth Credit Fund towards a key acquisition.
This is the first Northern deal for the Palatine Growth Credit team, and its second following the deal with Bristol edge computing company StorMagic in July.
Headquartered in Cheadle, Voly’s financial management software is used across the international luxury yacht industry to manage operational expenditure and maintenance. It provides superyacht captains, crew, owners, management companies and family offices with the ability to conduct instant global transactions, backed by transparent, real-time reporting.
The deal includes funding for Voly’s acquisition of specialist maritime payroll provider Voyonic – which adds multi-jurisdiction payroll capabilities to its Software as a Service (SaaS) offer – as well as support for the ongoing development of its best-in-class fintech platform.
Voly was established in 2016 by former professional tennis player Ian Flanagan and has rapidly grown to become the market leading multi-asset financial management platform in the yachting sector. It employs circa 100 staff at its HQ in Cheadle, Greater Manchester and locations across the UK and Europe. In 2021 Voly Group received private equity investment from Magenta Partners.
Flanagan said: “With the support of the Palatine Growth Credit Fund, the acquisition and integration of Voyonic into Voly Group will create more benefits for superyacht owners, further cementing our position as the leading management platform in the sector. We have a very clear strategy at Voly Group to create the market leading and industry standard ERP solution in the yachting industry which will always involve building new product but we are always on the constant look for best in class solutions also that we can buy and integrate to our growing dashboard and Voyonic is just that.”
The Palatine Growth Credit Fund has been raised to support maturing, high growth companies in the UK regions which are seeing sustained double-digit year-on-year revenue growth.
Ryan Sorby, partner at Palatine Growth Credit, added: “Voly is a genuine market leader with a unique product, a highly impressive founder, and strong backing from its equity sponsors. Ian and his team have achieved very exciting growth to date and the acquisition of Voyonic adds yet more value to Voly’s best-in-class proposition.
“The Growth Credit fund was raised to address an imbalance in the availability of growth capital in the UK regions and it’s particularly pleasing that its first deal in the North is supporting such a stellar example of Manchester’s tech community. We’re excited by the potential for the Fund to be able support future growth at Voly as it continues to develop.”
Palatine is a UK mid-market private equity investor focused on delivering returns through sustainable growth by building on solid foundations with a commitment to the environment and society. It is headquartered in Manchester with offices in London and Birmingham.
