Oakley Capital Investments (OCI) has announced that Oakley Capital Fund V has agreed to acquire Assured Data Protection, which it describes as a managed services provider (MSP) focused on backup, disaster recovery and cyber resiliency as a service. OCI’s indirect contribution to Fund V is anticipated to be c. £26m, which relates to OCI’s share of Oakley’s investment in Assured. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.
The acquisition of Assured Data Protection will be Oakley’s seventh new investment announced or completed in 2024, extending a period of significant activity for the firm. It follows recent investments in software businesses including cybersecurity provider I-TRACING (Fund V), logistics and transport SaaS provider Alerce (Origin I), medical software business Horizons Optical (Origin I) and broadband open access platform vitroconnect (Origin II).
Who is Assured Data Protection?
Assured was founded in Leeds in UK and Virginia in the US in 2016 by tech entrepreneur Simon Chappell and four co-founders. Assured uses Rubrik software and its own proprietary software platform to provide “mission-critical backup and disaster recovery services for companies globally”. Assured enhances its customers’ cyber resilience by protecting their data and ensuring business continuity, with near-zero server recovery time in the event of a significant IT failure or cyber-attack.
OCI says that Assured operates in a high growth segment of the disaster recovery space which is expected to expand almost 5x over the next five years, as companies’ data architecture becomes more complex and as the prevalence and severity of cyber threats grows. It adds that Rubrik, the technology Assured leverages, provides a next generation software solution that is growing rapidly as it displaces legacy providers.
OCI comments that Assured has generated consistently high double-digit growth with almost 100% recurring revenues and low customer churn thanks to growing demand for its products and services. Oakley says that it will support Assured’s management team to capitalise on the strong growth in its underlying markets including the US, with a focus on providing the required capital and organisational structures to enable sustained organic growth. OCI says that, given Assured’s significant hosting infrastructure, there is also an opportunity to leverage Oakley’s extensive hosting experience. The five co-founders including Simon Chappell will remain invested in Assured and will continue to manage the business.
Comments from Peter Dubens, Oakley Capital co-founder and managing partner:
“This is a rare opportunity to invest behind a proven team that has built a business that will benefit from several structural tailwinds and has an attractive business model that is differentiated and scalable. Assured is an IT services business with strong organic growth and recurring revenues, genuine IP, and led by exceptional founders. We’re pleased to be partnering with Simon and his team as they leverage the significant opportunities in a fast-growing market.”
Comments from Simon Chappell, Assured CEO and Founder:
“More and more companies are having to strengthen their IT and data systems in the face of increased cyber and ransomware attacks that can cripple operations. Assured is well-placed to help mitigate these risks as the partner of choice for small and medium-sized enterprises. We were looking for a genuine partner that could help us scale our business and were impressed by Oakley’s track record of helping build €1bn+ global industry leaders and equally the firm’s entrepreneurial ethos and approach. We look forward to working with the team to further strengthen Assured’s market-leading position.”
