HCR advises YFM on multi-million-pound investment into Vuealta Group

The corporate team at Harrison Clark Rickerbys (HCR) in Reading, led by Rachel Turner, acted for YFM Equity Partners on their multi-million-pound investment into London-based planning and forecasting software and services business, Vuealta. As part of this investment, private technology investor, Dominic Ely, invested alongside YFM and became non-executive chair.

YFM are specialist, independently owned, private equity investors with over 30 years’ experience helping companies unlock value and growth by providing up to £10m of equity to fuel UK businesses. Ian Stone, CEO of Vuealta, said: “YFM’s track record with similar sized ambitious technology businesses was a key factor in our decision to partner with them.”

Vuealta was founded in 2017 by Ian Stone and Adam Bimson (CCO) and delivers scenario planning and forecasting solutions for a range of company sectors, including customers like Glossier and NewDay. The business has grown rapidly and is a key partner to leading cloud-native planning platform Anaplan, which itself is seeing huge traction. The funds provided by YFM and Dominic Ely will ensure the opportunity to grow alongside the Anaplan business and scale globally within the UK, US, and Asia-Pacific.

Rachel Turner, head of the Thames Valley corporate team, said: “Since working with YFM this deal has been the smoothest so far, entirely down to the shared vision and perfect fit between YFM‘s portfolio investment strategy and the Vuealta leadership team. Once again, we have thoroughly enjoyed working with David, Jamie and Tiffany. It has also been great getting to know the Vuealta team and my personal thanks to Stephen Fuller, corporate partner at IGD, for his collaborative approach to the investment.”

David Wrench, partner at YFM, commented: “It was really great to be able to work again with Rachel and the team at HCR on the investment into Vuealta. Vuealta is a really exciting UK technology business with a global reach led by a dynamic team and we’re delighted to be involved in their next phase of growth. Rachel and the team supported us through a complex process with the level of expertise, attention to detail and project management that we’ve come to expect – as well as their usual personable approach. We look forward to the next time.”

Harrison Clark Rickerbys has more than 800 staff and partners based at offices in Thames Valley, Birmingham, Cambridge, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Hereford, London, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Worcester and the Wye Valley, providing a complete spectrum of legal services to both business and private clients regionally and nationwide.

The firm has a number of highly successful teams specialising in individual sectors, including health and social care, education, technology, agricultural and rural affairs, finance and financial services, defence, security and the forces, and construction.