Search Opportunity? UK Martech Business Nearing Profitability
February 23, 2025
by a searcher from University of Edinburgh in Shaftesbury SP7, UK
Hi everyone,
Not sure if this is the right space for this, but keen to get your thoughts regardless.
A friend runs a successful UK-based martech business that connects brands and influencers. They’ve scaled to ~£1.5M ARR through multiple investment rounds from HNWs and have built a self-serve platform ready for global deployment.
After a period of fast growth, they pivoted towards profitability to reduce reliance on further capital investment. They’re still growing double-digit, but for now, that growth is focused solely on the UK. From what I understand, they’re now close to breakeven.
One of their key challenges is that the founders feel a fresh perspective could make a real impact. With that in mind, I wondered if this could be an interesting search opportunity? I suspect they’d be open to a creative deal structure to bring in the right person to drive execution.
I appreciate that search is typically about acquiring profitable businesses, but this one felt a little different, so I thought I’d put it out there.
Would love to hear any thoughts or feedback!
in Cambridge, UK
If they've raised equity using EIS their existing investors may want to hold for 3+ years to get the tax benefit so maybe there is a chance to turn this into a form of deferred payment (you'd need advice).
It may be tricky to negotiate a deal if there are many investor shareholders to please (but drag along clauses should take care of this).
Have you looked into venture debt and would this help bridge an equity gap.?
from KEDGE Business School in London, UK
However I think most searchers would want an element of leverage in the the structure. And it'll be hard to raise debt against a business that isn't profitable...
Also, by experience the valuations expected in tech are not attractive to searchers, who will often pay 1-7x EBITDA.