As active supporters of ambitious growth companies, we recognise that some look to raise the capital they require through private fundraisings from a variety of sources including high-net-worth individuals, family offices and private equity firms.
As a result, whilst our core business continues to be Broking for our AIM admitted clients, we are also increasingly active in the private fundraising and pre-IPO space.
Recent successes
We continue to build on early successes for Gravity Fitness Limited, and are proud to share two more recent success stories below:
Pure Cremation is the UK’s only business to specialise in direct cremations. WHIreland recently raised £7.5m for the company through securing funding from Puma Investments. The investment will fund the construction of a state of the art new build crematorium in Andover which will begin serving direct cremation clients in October 2018 and be open for traditional funerals in Spring 2019. This first external investment in Pure Cremation has been secured as direct cremation becomes a more widely accepted option, replicating its popularity in the US and Australia. Direct cremations account for approximately 5% of all cremations in the UK (The Royal London National Funeral Cost Index Report 2016) – and Pure Cremation served more than a thousand families last year, demonstrating significant growth from 18 cremations in its first month of business, three years ago. Pure Cremation is well positioned to take advantage of the growing demand for simplified cremations, and with its potentially market disruptive business model, the business has a great opportunity to expand quickly.
Bryan Powell, Co-founder of Pure Cremation said: “We hugely appreciated WHIreland’s advice and support throughout the raise, both in terms of the guidance through a very well run process, introducing Puma and advising upon the terms of the deal”.
The WHIreland Investor Forum was launched earlier this year. The Forum enables professional investors to build partnerships with unquoted growth companies looking for capital through private placements of equity and debt. Since launch it has grown to a membership of 90 investors, and is currently supporting and raising funds for over 12 quality, UK based companies.
Albert is an innovative, fast growing technology company disrupting Business Finance Management for freelancers and small businesses. WHIreland recently secured funding for Albert from members of their Investor Forum. Albert participated in the highly successful launch event of this relatively new venture for WHIreland’s Corporate & Institutional Broking Division. Albert launched their platform early 2016 publicly.
Ivo Weevers, CEO and Co-Founder of Albert said: “Having worked with multiple fundraising networks and companies, we found the quality of WHIreland’s investor base to be exceptional and the Investor Forum process itself to be very user friendly and professional.”
On the recent successes, Adam Pollock, Head of Corporate & Institutional Broking commented: “We’re delighted to have supported two more private companies with their fundraising requirements. Our fundraising capabilities for private companies is a natural addition to our IPO advisory offering, and we’re greatly encouraged to see the pipeline of companies seeking funding increasing. These deals prove that WHIreland is becoming a ‘go-to’ adviser for growth companies in both the public and private domain.”