A Hull-based data storage specialist has been heavily backed by an investment house to help it accelerate growth and performance.
Bridges Fund Management has taken a majority stake in Storetec, and will work with the existing management team to drive it forward. It focuses on digitisation, document management and allied solutions, helping secure critical data and tackle one of the biggest governance challenges businesses now face.
Almost 100 staff are employed, with the company operating from what it describes as its state-of-the-art scanning bureau on Sidings Business Park, off Freightliner Road. Launched in 2003, the past two decades have seen several expansion phases as demand has soared, and it is now looking internationally.
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Neil Robson, founder and chief executive, said: “We’re excited to be partnering with Bridges at this critical stage of the business’s growth journey. We wanted an investor who understood our market, shared our values, and had a strong track record of helping businesses like ours to harness their growth and impact potential. Bridges fitted the bill perfectly.”
Storetec provided outsourced document scanning, archive storage and cloud-based document management solutions to more than 400 organisations in both the public and private sectors, including NHS Trusts, councils, FTSE 100 companies, professional services firms and SMEs. Over the past decade it has digitised more than 333 million paper records. FreeDocs, its proprietary digital platform, now stores more than 8,000GB of data.
London-headquartered Bridges, described as a specialist sustainable and impact investor, has bought in with the market forecast to grow at 15 per cent a year, with the undisclosed backing to help maximise the share it takes. The B-Corp, founded a year before Storetec in 2002, sees the service it has bought into as a solution to a significant environmental, social, and corporate governance issue that has heightened with the advances in remote and digital working post-Covid.
Simon Braham, partner at Bridges, said: “In the last few years, the digitisation trend has accelerated rapidly. Protecting sensitive corporate and personal information has to be a priority for every organisation. We identified Storetec as a best-in-class operator in this sector, and we believe it has a really compelling market opportunity. We’re looking forward to partnering with Neil and the team to help accelerate Storetec’s growth and establish it as an ESG champion in the sector – drawing on our extensive experience of impact-driven value creation.”
Bridges also backs Hull-headquartered turbine blade repairer GEV Wind Power, having invested in 2019.
The company has multiple gold standard accreditations and has won numerous industry awards for the quality and security of its services, including Business of the Year and Records Management Product of the Year at the Document Management Awards.
Bridges was advised by KPMG Corporate Finance, Gateley Legal, Cowgills FDD, Graph CDD, Intechnica ITDD, PWC Tax and Stratton HR. In addition, HSBC provided an acquisition debt package to support the transaction. Storetec shareholders were advised by KBS Corporate, while TLT provided legal advice.
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