Member Article

Lyceum Capital cashes in on UK startup linked to the Cabinet Office

Growth investor Lyceum Capital has announced it has sold infrastructure services and cloud integration firm Adapt to Goldman Sachs-backed US firm Datapipe.

The deal, which is for an undisclosed amount, sees Lyceum dispose of its majority stake in the London-headquartered tech firm which it acquired for £30m back in September 2011, after it achieved double digit growth in the last five years.

In that time the investment firm has transformed the startup, which also boasts offices in Cardiff, Ipswich and Leeds, from a reseller of data centre connectivity to a high growth company which provides hosting and cloud integration and boasts clients including The Cabinet Office and the National Trust.

Current Chief Executive, Stewart Smythe, will remain at the business and lead Datapipe’s newly-formed European Operations.

Commenting on the acquisition, Stewart said: “Together with Lyceum we have achieved a phenomenal amount over a short space of time to truly transform Adapt into the market leader it is today.”

“Coming together with Datapipe will accelerate our strategy to develop into a truly global business,” he added.

The acquisition is part of Datapipe’s maneuvering into the European market and Chief Executive Robb Allen, believes the two firms are a ‘good fit’, coming off the back of a similar acquisition of cloud business DualSpark in the US last year.

He added: “Our similar approach to guiding clients on their cloud journey makes the acquisition a natural fit for us and will increase our scale and service capabilities in the United Kingdom, and the broader European market.”