Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) has invested £25m in Redwood Technologies Group, acquiring a minority stake in the UK-headquartered international provider of communications technology and cloud contact centre services.
The investment will be used to support expansion in the Asia-Pacific region, led by the opening of a regional office in Tokyo in the next few months.
Redwood owns the cloud communications provider Content Guru, which in 2016 received a Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation. Content Guru operates primarily in the $2.8bn contact centre technology market, a sector set to grow by 22% in 2018.
Originally founded in 1993 by brothers Sean and Martin Taylor in Bracknell, Berkshire, the company has provided communications services in more than 50 countries to clients in utilities, travel, financial services, retail, and government and public sector organisations.
Andrew Davison, a partner at SEP and who is joining the company’s board, said: “We first met Redwood over three years ago and have tracked their impressive increase in market share which now sees them firmly placed amongst the leading global cloud based contact centre infrastructure vendors.
“Redwood is a fantastic addition to our enterprise software investment portfolio and we are looking forward to working with the founders and wider team to further scale the business internationally.”
Sean Taylor, co-founder and chief executive of Redwood, added: “[The] group has enjoyed tremendous growth in recent years, driven by the increasing adoption of cloud services by enterprise and public sector.
“This investment will ensure we continue to grow strongly, both in existing markets and new territories. We selected our investment partner very carefully and SEP’s strong financial track record and the culture of its team really impressed us.”