BVCA announces winners of Yorkshire & North East Management Team Awards 2017

Leading businesses in Yorkshire and the North East will be celebrated this evening at the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) Management Team Awards 2017, our annual celebration of UK companies supported by private equity and venture capital funds, produced in association with Grant Thornton UK LLP.
Now in their ninth year, the BVCA Management Team Awards recognise and reward brilliant businesses up and down the country that have been backed by UK private equity and venture capital investors.
The regional winners will be announced and presented with their prizes tonight, as part of the BVCA National Dinner Series – the premier annual gatherings of regional private equity and venture capital professionals in the UK. They will then go forward into the national final to compete against our other regions, before the national winners are announced at the BVCA Gala Dinner on 30 November in London.
The full list of winners for the BVCA Yorkshire and North East Management Team Awards 2017:
Winner |
Backed by |
Category |
Zenith Vehicle Contracts | Bridgepoint | Large Company Team |
Sumo Digital | NorthEdge Capital, and now Perwyn | Mid-Market Team |
Team17 | LDC | Growth Management Team |
Zerolight | Northstar Ventures | Venture-backed Management Team |
icelolly.com | Palatine | Business Transformation Management Team |
Peter Armitage, Chair of the Yorkshire & North East judging panel and Founding Partner of Key Capital Partners LLP: “2016 was another exceptional year for UK investment, particularly in our region. The BVCA Management Team Awards showcase some of the teams contributing to the country’s most successful companies, and recognise the excellence that private equity and venture capital supports. Congratulations to our winners this evening, and good luck to them in the national final.”
Richard Goldsack, who leads Grant Thornton’s Corporate Finance Team in Yorkshire and was a member of the judging panel, said: “Grant Thornton is proud of our ongoing association with the BVCA awards as we continue to work towards shaping a Vibrant Economy in Yorkshire and the North East.
“We have once again been hugely impressed with the standard of entries from this year’s nominees.
“All the entries were worthy winners given their individual growth stories and strengths of their management teams and backers and selecting this year’s champions has been a difficult process.”
The winners are:
Large Company Management Team
Zenith Vehicle Contracts
Backed by Bridgepoint
Zenith Vehicle Contracts provides a range of fleet management and vehicle leasing solutions to large corporate companies.
Established 28 years ago, the company is headquartered in Leeds, employing 650 staff members across three sites, including Solihull and Wokingham. Zenith has plans to move its headquarters to a new development, Kirkstall Forge, later on in 2017.
The business has recently completed its sixth MBO in 28 years, by Bridgepoint in January 2017. This supported its acquisition of CVL in February, which will allow them to exploit the HGV lease market.
Judges’ comments: “The judges applauded the team at Zenith for delivering consistent 30% growth through 6 MBO transactions, most recently the transfer from HgCapital to Bridgepoint. Behind the deals is consistent quality of execution in building the business, which aspires to become the Apple of the vehicle leasing industry.”
Mid-Market Team
Sumo Digital
Backed by NorthEdge Capital, and now Perwyn
Sumo Digital is a game development studio, based in Sheffield.
Founded in March 2003, the company aims to offer a full game development solutions to blue chip clients, such as Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo and Sega. As the company evolved it was bought by American games developer, Foundation9, which had issues elsewhere with a knock-on effect which limited Sumo Digital’s growth capabilities. This lead to an MBO, supported by NorthEdge, in November 2014.
NorthEdge’s investment led to impressive growth over the subsequent two years, leading to Perwyn LLP supporting a secondary buy-out in 2016.
Judges’ comments: “Sumo is led by a founding team who have built an impressive, globally recognised games development business. The judges were impressed with their ability to stay at the leading edge of a very competitive, fast-moving industry, evidenced by growing importance to clients such as Microsoft and Sony.”
Growth Management Team of the Year
Team17 Digital
Backed by LDC
Team17 is a video games publisher and developer, best known for a high quality product range including The Escapists, Yooka Laylee, Worms, Overcooked and many others.
In its current form since a 2011 MBO, Team17 has in fact been developing games for over 26 years, since 1991. It is considered to be one of the leading indie game publishers.
LDC initially provided funding in September 2016, with a view to aiding Team17’s international growth and development. The company is currently working to expand its geographical cover in Asian territories and in the US, as well as further expanding its publication activities and taking advantage of new tech platforms.
Judges’ comments: “Debbie Bestwick and Paul Bray have built a globally successful business publishing games from small indie creators, combining astute selection with a strong reputation for fair dealing and impressive execution. Having successfully established a US presence, the outlook for the business is bright.”
Venture-backed Management Team
Zerolight
Backed by Northstar Ventures
As a retail and online visualisation platform, ZeroLight works to enhance customer experience in the automotive sector.
After starting in the summer of 2014, the company worked to capitalise on the technological advancements now available to target and disrupt the automotive market, offering time and cost savings to customers.
Northstar Ventures invested in July 2014, to help ZeroLight grow the business from one customer at a time to the growing customer base it has to date. This investment also allowed the company to expand into the US, China and Europe.
Judges’ comments: “The judges were impressed with the success this team had achieved since starting the business in 2014, building a disruptive technology which has broken through where others have tried and then building a very high quality roster of large clients as a platform for rapid revenue growth.”
Business Transformation Management Team
icelolly.com
Backed by Palatine
Founded in 2005, icelolly.com is an online travel agency.
Over time, the company dropped their own travel agent division and become a purely price comparison provider, with an aim to be the UK number one in its industry.
In September 2013, Palatine invested in the travel firm, with a view to facilitate the development of icelolly.com as a brand. It often collaborates with other portfolio companies of the brand, such as Character World and Alchemist – contributing to competitions and sharing ideas.
Judges’ comments: “Andrew Latham and his team have fundamentally repositioned this business since 2014 and are now showing strong, profitable growth, whilst continuing to invest heavily in their platform. Their vision to become the UK’s No.1 holiday price comparison provider is very ambitious but the judges felt they were on the way to achieving it.”
Notes to editor
- The BVCA Management Team Awards, produced in association with Grant Thornton UK LLP, are the only awards to celebrate the achievements of private equity and venture capital-backed management teams. There are eight regions in total, each with their own judging panel, and all winners are automatically forwarded to the national final, the results of which will be presented at the BVCA Annual Gala Dinner on 30 November in London. Please click here for more information..
- The Yorkshire & North East judging panel consists of: John Garner, LDC; Nigel Owens, YFM Equity Partners; James Titmuss, Living Bridge EP LLP; Peter Armitage, Key Capital Partners; Andrew Ross, Endless LLP; Andrew Cope, FMG; Andy Ducker, Chaucer Foods..
- The British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) is the industry body for the UK private equity and venture capital industry. The BVCA has over 600 member firms, representing the vast majority of UK-based private equity and venture capital firms and their advisers..
- Grant Thornton is one of the world’s leading organisations of independent assurance, tax and advisory firms. These firms help dynamic organisations unlock their potential for growth by providing meaningful, forward-thinking advice. Proactive teams, led by approachable partners in these firms, use insights, experience and instinct to understand complex issues for privately owned, publicly listed and public sector clients and help them to find solutions. More than 35,000 Grant Thornton people, across over 100 countries, are focused on making a difference to clients, colleagues and the communities in which we live and work. The UK Grant Thornton member firm provides services to over 40,000 privately held businesses, public interest entities and individuals. It is led by more than 185 partners and employs more than 4,200 of the profession's brightest minds. Find out more at www.grant-thornton.co.uk.