Hello Rainmakers,
As far back as I can remember, someone, somewhere has tried to work out a technological solution to the age-old problem of how to make buying and selling a company simpler.
Paul Griffiths and Andrew Botham insist that their new platform, Valius, rather than replacing intermediaries, is designed to provide them with greater access to relevant, engaged buyers while making it easier for acquirers to discover and evaluate opportunities from across the market.
Rainmakers met with Paul Griffiths in the Campfield smart workspace in Manchester.
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Put yourself in the position of a small business owner, hungry to grow the company, with a broad view of who might be in play.
Further up the food chain it’s pretty obvious who the main players are in a particular market segment, but for many smaller businesses it can look overwhelming.
Plenty of people have said there has to be a better way of putting the word on the street that they might be up for buying a business, something better than trawling through broker websites and hoping the advisers, if they have one, turn up with something suitable, effectively it’s a pay and spray approach.
Paul Griffiths, founder of Valius, admits that the process can be frustrating and as a veteran of business sales through his own business Auxilium, has seen first hand some of the inefficiencies: “Buying an established business can be one of the most effective routes into entrepreneurship, business ownership and growth through acquisition, yet the process itself has changed remarkably little.”
He describes his potential solution, Valius, as a technology-enabled marketplace designed to make buying and selling UK SMEs simpler and more efficient. He’s hopeful that Valius can address a market that remains highly fragmented, with buyers often required to search across multiple brokers, listing platforms and other sources to identify suitable acquisition opportunities.
He says that by bringing opportunities together within a single digital marketplace, giving serious buyers access to hundreds of UK businesses for sale and enabling them to identify opportunities that more closely match their acquisition criteria.
“Buyers still have to navigate a fragmented market to find suitable opportunities, while sellers, brokers and advisers often rely on disconnected platforms and manual processes.
“We created Valius because we believe technology can make this market significantly easier to navigate. Our ambition is to build a platform that connects serious buyers with quality acquisition opportunities while creating a more efficient route to market for sellers and intermediaries.”
With his business partner Andrew Botham he’s just secured a six-figure investment to accelerate the development and growth of the platform via Growth Capital Ventures (GCV) through its private investor network and will support Valius as it develops its technology, expands its network of buyers and intermediaries, and builds the digital infrastructure required to modernise the SME acquisitions market.
“Securing this investment is an important milestone for Valius and gives us the resources and support to accelerate the development of the platform and the growth of our network,” Griffiths says.
GCV seems like a good fit. It’s an investment and venture-building business based in the North East of England, and through GCV Invest and GCV Labs, the business combines access to private investment capital with hands-on venture-building expertise to support ambitious businesses through their development and growth.
The backing will support Valius’ efforts to develop relationships with business brokers, corporate finance firms and other business sale intermediaries across the UK, enabling acquisition opportunities to be brought together through a single platform.
An experienced business acquisition specialist himself Griffiths worked on the idea with Andrew Botham, an experienced accountant from Lancashire.
The platform already features hundreds of UK businesses for sale, with continued development focused on enhanced search and matching, richer business information and functionality that makes engagement between buyers, sellers and intermediaries easier.
He says future development will also explore how technology and automation can simplify other elements of the acquisition journey, from opportunity discovery and matching through to enquiry, engagement and transaction progression.
Botham says he sees Valius as much more than another business-for-sale listing platform.
“Our objective is to build the digital infrastructure that better connects the SME acquisitions ecosystem – buyers, sellers, brokers, corporate finance advisers and other professionals involved in transactions,” he says.
“There is a significant opportunity to make the market more connected, transparent and efficient. Our focus now is on growing the marketplace, expanding our intermediary relationships and continuing to develop technology that makes acquiring a business easier to navigate.”
The backing from GCV will give Griffiths and Botham access to additional expertise across technology, product development, operations, strategy and growth.
Norm Peterson, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Growth Capital Ventures, repeats the mission statement that Valius is addressing a genuine and significant market opportunity.
“The SME acquisitions market remains highly fragmented, and we believe there is considerable potential for technology to improve how buyers discover opportunities and how intermediaries connect with potential acquirers.
“We were pleased to support the investment into Valius through our private investor network and look forward to working alongside Paul, Andrew and the wider team as they continue to develop and scale the business.”
Craig Peterson, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Growth Capital Ventures, added: “What particularly interests us about Valius is the opportunity to build infrastructure around what remains a largely fragmented and manually driven market.
“There is significant scope to use technology, data and automation to improve the experience across the acquisition journey.
“Valius has an opportunity to become an important part of that ecosystem, and through the combination of investment and hands-on venture-building support, we are looking forward to helping the team realise that potential.”
It’s a bold move, for sure. But the founders hope that Valius will use the investment to accelerate platform development, expand its network of acquisition opportunities and intermediary partners, grow its buyer community and continue building technology designed to make the UK SME acquisitions market easier to access and navigate.
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