A consultancy providing specialist supply chain, procurement and data services to customers such as NATO and the MoD is set for rapid expansion after securing new investment.
Bristol-based Squarcle helps governments and infrastructure organisations improve their supply chain resilience, programme delivery and operational performance through consulting, digitisation and proprietary software.
The six-year-old firm has a team of 140 consultants operating in mission-critical environments.
The undisclosed investment has come from Phoenix Equity Partners, with Bristol boutique advosry firm Momentum acting as lead financial adviser to Squarcle’s shareholders.
Founded by Gavin Emmerson MBE and Simon Perks in 2020, and joined by Nigel Allison CBE in 2022, Squarcle has scaled rapidly since its inception, supported by strong margins, recurring activity and multi-year customer relationships.
Phoenix Equity Partners, which specialises in working alongside founder-entrepreneurs, said its partnership with Squarcle would help the firm deepen its talent base, scale its technology offering and extend its reach across UK defence and wider public sector, international markets and adjacent regulated sectors.
This would take place while “preserving the excellent culture and high standards of delivery that have underpinned Squarcle’s success to date”, it added.
Gavin Emmerson MBE, founder & CEO, Squarcle, said: “We were looking for a partner who would back our plans to scale and grow without asking us to compromise the very cultural values and tested methods that powered our success to date.
“From the first meeting, Phoenix fitted the bill. They asked the right questions, and clearly understood the immense opportunity in the specialist supply chain and procurement sectors.”
“We put a long-term plan in place for Squarcle back in 2020, and with the combined resource of our expert teams and Phoenix’s steadfast support, we are in a strong strategic position to become a global leader in specialist consulting to highly regulated markets.”
Matt Stafford, director, Momentum, added: “Congratulations to Gavin, Simon and Nigel on the completion of this transaction. Their achievements in a short space of time are hugely impressive, and it is fantastic to have helped this impressive local business secure this investment to further accelerate growth.
“With such a relevant, targeted and differentiated capability set, Squarcle is perfectly placed to continue to scale and we believe Phoenix are the ideal partner to help the team achieve their ambitions.”
Richard Hill, investment director, Phoenix Equity Partners, said: “Backing the right people is at the heart of what we do, and in Gavin, Nigel and the broader Squarcle leadership team we have found exactly that – a founder and group of operators who have built something genuinely differentiated from the ground up.
“This investment is the 12 from the Phoenix Insight Fund II and reinforces our strategy of backing dynamic, founder-led businesses with high growth potential in regulated, mission-critical end markets.”
Among the Bristol-based teams working in the deal were:
