FSP PE team advises BGF on £8m AND Digital follow-on
The private equity team at Field Seymour Parkes led by corporate partner Penelope Garden has advised BGF on an additional £8 million in equity investment into AND Digital, a fast growth British tech consultancy. This follows an initial £11 million worth of funding from BGF, which the team advised on at the start of 2020. Penelope was assisted by Alex Illingworth (legal director, banking).
The new funding will enable AND Digital to help more clients address their digital skills shortage by working with them on immediate challenges and helping them build their own internal capabilities long-term.
BGF’s fresh capital will be used to fast-track expansion in the Benelux region in Europe, as well as further offices (known as ‘clubs’) in Scotland and Manchester. In addition, the company will focus on growing existing clubs in Leeds and London. AND Digital will also invest heavily in increasing its cloud engineering capabilities, aiming to add 300-400 new high-paid digital jobs – including software engineers, product analysts, and UX/UI specialists – over the next 12 months.
Founded in 2014 by Paramjit Uppal, CEO, AND Digital seeks to contribute to closing the world’s digital skills gap by providing businesses with digital talent whilst simultaneously helping them accelerate their permanent digital delivery long-term. The company is now one of the largest independent providers of digital services in the UK – and, increasingly, in Europe. Headquartered in London, the company has 11 clubs across the UK, opening its first overseas club in Amsterdam this summer.
Paramjit Uppal, AND Digital CEO, said: “Since our inception, there’s been a pressing need for digital skills to become foundational to every organisation, regardless of sector or size. Now, as Covid-19 persists, we believe even more deeply that every business is now a digital business – with software and data at its core, powered by talent at the heart. I’m excited for AND Digital’s next chapter, powered by BGF; now, we can make essential investments that will fuel our growth further, enabling countless more companies to scale and grow in bold new ways.”
Alex Snodgrass, investor at BGF, said: “AND Digital is a brilliant business, leading the pack with its scalable approach to delivering matchless technology services, supporting some of Britain’s biggest enterprises as well as high-growth small businesses that are the backbone of our economy. Having worked with AND Digital as a strategic partner for over a year now, as an investor and board member, we are delighted to support the next stage of the company’s growth journey to further expand across the UK and internationally.”
AND Digital’s clients include industry giants like British Airways, Premier Inn, Costa Coffee, and People’s Postcode Lottery, as well as disruptive startups and scaleups like Gousto (a unicorn) and Splink – plus government departments including HM Courts & Tribunal Service.
With a strong people-first reputation and focus, the company’s rapid growth has been widely recognised, having been recently listed 24th in the Financial Times Top 1000 fastest growing companies in Europe. The company has also appeared on The Sunday Times Top 100 Best Companies list for several consecutive years and is currently ranked 10th best company to work for in the UK.
