Gradwell - Chiltern Capital

The Business

Gradwell is a provider of hosted telephony (VoIP) and connectivity services to SMEs across the UK, with a current base of over 22,000 customers. The Company is one of the largest independent providers in the sector and has developed its own proprietary software as a service platform. Gradwell distributes through a combination of direct sales and channel partners.

The Deal

Chiltern backed an experienced management team to buy out the existing investors.

“I am extremely pleased to be working with the team from Chiltern and believe we can continue to scale this business applying our collective expertise in VoIP and SaaS for the SME market.”

John Whitty, Oval Chairman

The Plan

Gradwell is one of a limited number of focused providers of VoIP services to SMEs, offering high levels of service and support. Chiltern is supporting the management team to deliver their exciting growth plan by optimising current routes to market and improving customer service as the market transitions from on premise to cloud. Organic growth is being supplemented through strategic M&A, with the acquisition of The Technology Group (TTG) in March 2021, adding further scale and enabling Gradwell to service larger customers with more sophisticated requirements.

The Team

Jon Rawlings

Portfolio Director

Andrew Reid

Investment Manager

Back to Team

Jon Rawlings

Jon joined was previously an Investment Director at a mid-market private equity fund where he focused on supporting portfolio companies in delivering their growth strategies.

Since joining Chiltern, Jon has been involved in supporting Rapid Repair Network in building out its value creation plan as well as providing portfolio support to a number of Chiltern’s investments.

Outside of work, Jon enjoys spending time with his family as well as keeping fit, cycling and watching a wide variety of sports.

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Andrew Reid

Andrew focuses on new investments, primarily in the Industrials and Business Services sectors, as well as supporting a number of our portfolio companies with value creation, M&A, and refinancings.

Previously he was a Senior Manager at HMT in the Transaction Services team, where he managed financial due diligence assignments for private equity firms in the lower mid-market. Andrew started his career at EY, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant.

Away from the office, Andrew enjoys all things sporting and is a keen golfer and long-suffering Scottish rugby fan. Outside of sport, Andrew likes getting out into countryside.