1. finance
2. investing
3. venture capital

Bridges Sustainable Growth Funds
We invest in high growth, high impact businesses where financial
returns can go hand-in-hand with positive impacts for society
Bridges Sustainable Growth Funds invest in high-growth,
high-impact businesses. Our approach allows us to look at
businesses in a different way, to find and create investment
opportunities and to invest in a broad range of sectors such
as healthcare, education, leisure, consumer, manufacturing
and business and financial services.
COMPANY CRITERIA
We are looking to invest £2m - £15m in businesses pursuing organic growth, buy
and build and multi-site roll out strategies across any of our impact themes. In
particular:
WHAT WE OFFER
•
£125m Sustainable Growth Fund III
closed October 2013
•
Hands-on support from an
outstanding team with investment
and entrepreneurial expertise
•
Skills include building consumer
brands, execution of multi-site roll
outs, marketing, corporate finance
and debt raising
•
A superior network of contacts
who can help and add value to
our portfolio companies postinvestment
•
10 year track record in realising
growth and returns
GROWTH BUSINESSES Typically with revenues of £5m - £50m, run by strong
management teams and looking for investment to fund further growth, change of
ownership (MBOs/MBIs) or an acquisition strategy.
EARLIER STAGE BUSINESSES Earlier stage businesses targeting a large addressable market that have already achieved significant sales traction, requiring investment to scale.
FUND III INVESTMENTS TO DATE
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Orla Healthcare
Qbic
The Vet
Clothing Sites
Alina Homecare
Wholebake
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Sector:
Healthcare
Leisure
Pet Care
E-Commerce
Healthcare
Services
Consumer
Domiciliary
services
Healthy snack
food manufacturer
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Medically-led
hospital care
in the home
Design-led
value for
money hotel
Value for money
veterinary services
Date of
Investment:
Apr-12
Jun-12
Feb-13
Stage:
Start-Up
Description:
Online menswear
retailer
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Mar-14
Apr-14
Jul-14
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Start-Up
Start-Up
Growth Capital
Growth Capital
Replacement and
Growth Capital
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Impact Thesis:
Health &
Well-being
Regeneration and Regeneration of
employment in
underserved areas
underserved areas
Employment in
Health &
underserved areas Well-being
Employment in
underserved areas
The Gym - Experts in building growth
Opportunity
facilities - 35% of members are first-time users
• Bridges identified an opportunity to launch a low-cost
gym concept in the UK, similar to those launched in the
US and Germany
Investment
• June 2013 - The Gym had over 200k members and a run
rate EBITDA of £10.8m
• Bridges sold our majority stake in June 2013
• The deal represented a 50% IRR and 3.7x MM
• Bridges incubated the idea, wrote the business plan and
built the financial model
• We identified John Treharne via our network to be a
compelling leader for the business
• We retained a 25% stake in the company
• Transaction won ‘Exit of the Year’ award at the Unquote
British Private Equity Awards 2013
• The Gym’s first site was launched in 2008 in Hounslow
Impact
• Today the group operates over 40 sites offering state-ofthe-art facilities
• The new model offers far greater accessibility to gym
COMPANY CRITERIA
With social and environmental factors increasingly influencing long-term business performance, Bridges believes that companies who
make social and environmental factors a core part of their businesses are the companies that succeed. We have an established track record for investing in companies across different sectors with the potential to thrive commercially precisely because they generate positive
impact on society.
We focus on businesses in sectors such as education and skills, health and well-being or sustainable living. We also focus on ‘consumer
champion’ businesses serving underserved markets or companies building economic dynamism in under-invested parts of the UK and
Continental Europe.
We also work in partnership with the companies we back, utilising our team’s specialist expertise and the outstanding network of contacts
of Bridges and its advisory board, to give our investee companies the best chance of realising their potential.
THE TEAM
Philip Newborough
Co-Founder &
Managing Partner
AIWA, MWB Business
Exchange, Apax
Ian Taylor
Investment Director Citigroup, FL Group
Steve Morrison
Anne-Marie Harris
Alistair Tillen
Garret Turley
Oliver Wyncoll
Mark Blower
Partner
Partner
Partner
Investment Director
Arthur Andersen, Close
Brothers, McQueen
Co-CEO, Simply
Switch
CEO, Pet Doctors
HSBC, BZW,
Rabobank, Langholm
NM Rothschild, Lloyds
Banking Group, Gresham
David Cockcroft Associate Khidhr Shafiq
Alison Price
Will Fell
Dimithri Gunasinghe
Associate
Deloitte
Associate
Deutsche Bank
Analyst
Baird Capital Partners
Analyst
LDC
Partner, COO
Partner
Bank of Scotland,
Lloyds Banking Group
James Hurrell
Investment Manager DC Advisory, ISIS
JP Morgan
About Bridges Ventures
Bridges Ventures is a specialist fund manager, dedicated to using an impactdriven investment approach to deliver superior returns for both investors and
society at-large.
Founded in 2002, the firm currently manages almost £500m across three types
of funds: Property Funds, Sustainable Growth Funds and Social Sector Funds.
Bridges Ventures’ funds are only available to persons categorised as professional clients. Bridges Ventures acts only for the funds it manages and it does not act for,
or offer advice to, any other persons, nor provide them with the protection it offers its client funds. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.
Bridges Ventures LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England No OC367510.
Bridges Ventures LLP
38 Seymour Street,
London, W1H 7BP
Tel: 020 7262 5566
[email protected]
www.bridgesventures.com