Souter Investment's porfolio business, DivideBuy, has been ranked third in the 2019 Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 – one of the UK’s most prolific technology awards, celebrating the fastest growing technology companies across the region.
DivideBuy was recognised by Deloitte – one of the "Big Four" accounting organisations – for its revolutionary approach to the interest-free credit model, allowing for an easier and more attractive form of lending technology than its competitors.
“Making the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 is a testament to a company’s commitment to technology,” said Deloitte’s technology partner for the North West. “With its 23,878% growth rate over four years, DivideBuy has proven that its leadership has the vision and determination to grow in competitive conditions.”
With DivideBuy, founder and CEO Robert Flowers, aims to challenge the negative perception of interest-free credit that typical lending companies have fuelled. Stressing the importance of “responsible lending”, he believes that consumers should be able to buy whatever they want, when they want, without worrying about hidden fees and complex sign-up processes.
Based in Stoke-on-Trent, DivideBuy has grown substantially since it was established in 2012. Starting with only a handful of employees and an initial angel investment of £130,000 to work on the prototype, the company quickly gained interest from a wide range of investors. In late 2014, DivideBuy raised £3.5m from Jon Moulton, through his family office. Last year, they closed a further £60m round – a mixture of equity funding and debt financing. Jon Moulton invested, alongside Souter Investments, the family investment office of Sir Brian Souter.
DivideBuy is now a major fintech player, employing over 50 people and partnering with over 500 UK businesses.
"We’ve taken what was a complicated process and made it simple," says Flowers. "DivideBuy purchases the item, undertakes its own credit checks and manages the repayment options with the customer – and this all happens in 60 seconds or less.”
“The process is simple because DivideBuy is both the money lender and the tech provider. When a customer uses DivideBuy, there are no complicated forms to fill out or long waiting periods for approval from a lender. Our custom-made system can perform credit checks near-instantly and it only requires a few basic details from the customer,” he continued.
This ease of use, Flowers claims, has made DivideBuy very appealing to retailers and customers, allowing it to grow at the rate it has. Flowers added: “Making it onto the Fast 50 list is a major achievement and a testament to the hard work of the team – and coming third is a huge honour.”
For 22 years, the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 has acknowledged countless high-profile business’, such as Checkout.com, Deliveroo and Square Enix, and DivideBuy is honoured to be among this prestigious crowd. Deloitte not only factors in the speed of success but also a company’s innovation in the market and entrepreneurial achievements.
“The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 shines a spotlight on the UK’s fast-growing technology companies and is internationally revered as one of the most importance business awards in the industry” Duncan Down, lead partner for the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50.
For the full Deloitte Technology Fast 50 ranking, go to: http://www.deloitte.co.uk/fast50/winners/2019/index.html.
DivideBuy aims to dominate the LendTech space. The technology solution will soon be white labelled to enable small and medium-sized businesses to offer interest-free credit for the first time, supporting the growth of these SMBs. Once he has achieved his goals for the UK, Flowers will also look to expand DivideBuy into other European markets.
To find out more on how DivideBuy can help your business, go to: www.dividebuy.co.uk.
About DivideBuy
Founded in 2012 and based in Stoke-on-Trent, DivideBuy has provided interest free credit to over 300,000 account holders and, following this investment round, aims to increase this significantly over the next three years. The company currently has partnerships with over 500 retailers.
For more details please visit www.dividebuy.co.uk.
About Souter Investments
Souter Investments is one of the UK’s leading family investment offices specialising in private equity. Founded in 2006, Souter has invested in over 50 unquoted companies and currently has significant investments in approximately 25 businesses, acting either as the lead investor or as a co-investor with other financial sponsors.
Souter’s portfolio includes FinTech online and ecommerce interest-free-only credit provider, DivideBuy; Pet Network International, the leading pet supplies retailer in South East Europe; the national accident claims specialist Winn Solicitors; Global Risk Partners, the UK insurance intermediary group; and Coretrax, an independent wellbore clean-up and abandonment specialist to the oil & gas industry.
During 2019 Souter Investments also announced the sale of Alexander Dennis as well as a new investment in Eaton Gate, a managing general agent in the insurance sector.
For more information please visit www.souterinvestments.com.