Alantra advised ECI on its investment in Send For Help

Nov 2018

Buy-side advisory

Alantra has advised ECI on its investment in Send For Help, the global leading provider of lone worker protection. ECI’s investment will support the company’s growth strategy including internationalisation.

Send For Help was founded in 2010 and operates under three subsidiary brands, Skyguard, Peoplesafe and Guardian 24. The company protects more than 150,000 lone workers in the UK and Ireland with its personal safety devices and mobile phone apps, all linked to a dedicated Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC), staffed 24 hours a day. Users can request help at the touch of a button through their device or app’s ‘SOS’ function. Highly trained ARC staff will offer them assistance and escalate to the appropriate emergency service, providing a faster response than 999. Customers include NHS trusts, local authorities, utilities and major corporations.

The lone worker safety market is growing rapidly, underpinned by increased corporate responsibility towards employee safety. There are an estimated 8 million lone workers in the UK, 23 million in the US and 30 million in Europe. The lone worker protection market in Europe and America is forecast to double from £105m per annum to £226m by 2021. The Alantra team advising ECI comprised of Paul Vanstone, Alex Silk, Jamie Dickson, Andrew Lynn, Guy Taylor and Luke Parvin.

Paul Vanstone, Director, Alantra, commented: “Send For Help is an excellent example of a business that plays to multiple investment themes. At its core, it is a market leading technology-enabled business that helps employers meet their Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) obligations, an area of increased focus for Board members. There is a huge opportunity for the business, both in terms of global market and technology evolution, the latter playing on the increasingly prominent internet of things connectivity narrative. I have no doubt that the business will flourish under ECI, a private equity house with a proven reputation for growing companies such as this.”

Tom Wrenn, Partner at ECI Partners, said: “Send For Help is just the type of business that ECI wants to work with. It offers an excellent service to clients, enjoys a leading position in a growing market and has a highly effective management team. We look forward to working with James and his team to help them realise the next stage of their growth plan.”

James Murray, CEO of Send For Help, said: “ECI has a strong track record of partnering with technology-enabled support service providers and we’re delighted to be working with Tom and the broader ECI team. We have ambitious growth plans to build on our number one market position by reaching ever more customers in the UK and abroad”

Send For Help has achieved rapid growth and success, becoming one of only a handful of businesses to be named in The Sunday Times Fast Track 100 list on three consecutive occasions and gaining recognition from the Financial Times as one of Europe’s fastest growing businesses.