Ethos Partners LLP, one of Europe’s most active lower-mid market private equity investors, is pleased to announce its investment in Strata Creative Holdings Ltd, one of the UK’s leading brand experience and events agencies. The investment was made alongside new debt facilities and an equity investment from Beechbrook Capital LLP (“Beechbrook”) to accelerate its buy-and-build strategy.
Strata was formed in 2018 through the merger of two agencies, led by CEO Simon Hambley and Client Services Director Cole Mulkerrins. The two founders are both 30-year industry veterans with deep sector experience in branding and events. The vision for Strata is to build a vertically integrated global brand experience operator, with the ability to deliver a full suite of live, virtual, and hybrid events, content and digital solutions, to both consumer and corporate markets.
Since launch, Strata has begun to acquire other businesses with complementary and additive service offerings, including event production business ON, venue sourcing provider Trinity, and prize rewards and incentive agency Element. The Ethos and Beechbrook investment will provide capital to support this strategy and facilitate growth in service offerings, as well as supporting a push into new sectors and new markets.
Strata has shown dynamic growth of 23% a year on average over the last five years. The events industry as a whole is experiencing 20% year-on-year growth and attracting a greater share of marketing budgets.
The Ethos investment was led by CEO Julian Carr, Partner Ben Kirby, and Investment Associate Hugo Browne.
Julian Carr, Ethos CEO, said, “We first met Simon a year ago and were immediately impressed with his entrepreneurialism and deep sector knowledge, having started his first business at the age of 22. We have tracked the continued growth of the business organically and by acquisition and experienced at first hand the quality of their client offer, which was more than reinforced by those customers to whom we spoke. We look forward to supporting the team in making further acquisitions to expand their proposition in terms of service, geography and sector verticals.”
Simon Hambley, Strata CEO, said, “We are delighted to welcome Ethos as our investment partner. The team have demonstrated a ready grasp of our strategic ambitions and their support enables us to move ahead with our acquisition plans to develop the business. We have thrived to date on delivering exceptional service to our clients, ensuring we nurture long-term partnerships that give winning value to them while enhancing their brands. We look forward to building on this with the team at Ethos.”
With a core focus in the automotive, pharmaceutical and technology sectors, Strata provides experiential brand events and product demonstrations, as well as employee and customer engagement programmes. Its top 10 clients have worked with Strata and its antecedents for over 11 years on average, and 90% of revenues are from repeat or recurring clients.
Featured Photo by Cytonn Photography on Unsplash.