Aliter acquires Sponge

Aliter Capital I funds were drawn for the acquisition of Sponge, with the current shareholders reinvesting in the newco that was initially set up to acquire Bolt Learning.

The firm has made the acquisition with the intention of combining the company with portfolio company Bolt Learning. Aliter acquired Bolt Learning in May 2019 and concurrently provided financing for the acquisition of IT consultancy Mercurytide. The firm drew equity from its Aliter Capital I fund, which makes majority investments of up to £20m per target company, with enterprise values in the £10-50m range.

Bolt Learning generates £2m in revenues and employs 40 people.

Sponge was previously a family-owned business.

Company
Sponge designs and develops bespoke digital learning services, including learning games, motion graphics, interactive video and virtual- and augmented-reality programmes. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Plymouth, the company operates offices in Bristol, London, Dublin, Brighton and Sheffield. It employs 101 people.

People
Aliter Capital – Billy Allan (managing partner).
Bolt Learning – Tamlin Roberts (CEO).
Sponge UK – Louise Pasterfield (founder, managing director).

Advisers
Equity - BDO (financial due diligence); DWF (legal); Latitude Consulting (commercial due diligence); Jelf Insurance (insurance due diligence).

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• Topics
• Expansion
• UK / Ireland
• Support services
• Build-up
• Buy-and-build
• United Kingdom
• Aliter Capital