Maven Capital Partners has sold its stake in education software provider iAM Compliant to The Key Group, following a five-fold increase in annual recurring revenue (ARR).
The deal, which was completed yesterday (4 November), concludes a holding period during which iAM grew its ARR from approximately £600,000 to £3.2m.
Maven invested a total of £3.5m in the company through the first Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, its VCTs and Maven Investor Partners.
The Key Group is a school management platform that provides software services to more than 20,000 schools across the UK. According to the group, this acquisition adds estate management and statutory compliance tools to its existing product suite.
Based in the UK, iAM develops cloud-based software for schools and multi-academy trusts to track statutory compliance, estate management and sustainability programmes. Over the past 18 months, contracted revenue increased by 88% while average revenue per customer more than doubled.
Luke Pargeter, chief executive of iAM Compliant, said: “Maven understood our vision from the outset and shared our belief in the opportunity to build a category-leading software platform for the education sector. Throughout our partnership Maven has provided constructive challenge, strategic support and access to their network that helped us scale the business and deliver value for our clients.
“We are incredibly proud of what the team has achieved and excited about the opportunities that lie ahead as part of The Key Group. The combination brings together complementary strengths and creates a powerful platform to support more schools across the UK.”
Karen de Meza, partner at Maven, added: “Luke and the team have built an outstanding business with a deep understanding of the challenges facing schools and academy trusts. What has impressed us most has been their willingness to evolve and execute at pace, sharpening the company’s focus, strengthening its commercial capabilities and creating a genuinely market-leading solution.
“This investment also demonstrates the breadth of Maven’s offering. We were able to support the business through successive stages of its development and enable management to partially de-risk through an equity release when key operational and financial targets had been achieved. We wish the team every success in the next stage of its journey.”
