Oakley Capital Investments (OCI) is to acquire Assured Data Protection from Soho Square Capital, an investment firm focused on financing established and growing UK and European SMEs, through its Fund V.
Assured is a Leeds-based managed services provider (MSP) focused on backup, disaster recovery and cyber resiliency as a service.
Assured Data Protection was founded in Leeds, UK and Virginia, US in 2016 by serial tech entrepreneur Simon Chappell and four co-founders.
Oakley will support Assured’s management team to capitalise on strong growth in its underlying markets, including the US.
The five co-founders, including Chappell, will remain invested in Assured and will continue to manage the business.
OCI’s indirect contribution to Fund V is expected to be about £26m, which relates to OCI’s share of Oakley’s investment in Assured.
Oakley Capital co-founder and managing partner Peter Dubens said: “This is a rare opportunity to invest behind a proven team that has built a business that will benefit from several structural tailwinds and has an attractive business model that is differentiated and scalable. Assured is an IT services business with strong organic growth and recurring revenues, genuine IP, and led by exceptional founders.
“We’re pleased to be partnering with Simon and his team as they leverage the significant opportunities in a fast-growing market.”
Assured chief executive and founder Simon Chappell added: “More and more companies are having to strengthen their IT and data systems in the face of increased cyber and ransomware attacks that can cripple operations. Assured is well-placed to help mitigate these risks as the partner of choice for small and medium-sized enterprises.
“We were looking for a genuine partner that could help us scale our business and were impressed by Oakley’s track record of helping build €1bn-plus global industry leaders and equally the firm’s entrepreneurial ethos and approach. We look forward to working with the team to further strengthen Assured’s market-leading position.”
Soho Square backed Assured with capital and expertise in 2023 to support an acceleration of the company’s growth plans.
