Investcorp to invest $20m in Calligo

Investcorp, a global provider and manager of alternative investment products, yesterday announced that it has reached an agreement to invest $20m in Calligo Limited, a fast growing provider of cloud solutions focused on serving the global mid-tier enterprise segment.

Founded in 2012, with the aim of leveraging jurisdictions across the globe that offer a robust data protection framework, Calligo provides a trusted cloud platform for hosting mid-tier enterprises, their data and applications.

The company’s proprietary cloud platform offers the highest levels of data privacy along with application performance guarantees, commercial flexibility and a personalised support service.

Calligo services hundreds of clients all over the world from its locations in Jersey, Guernsey, Switzerland, Singapore and Bermuda. The investment by Investcorp is expected to accelerate Calligo’s international expansion with new office locations in North America and the UK.

Calligo is well positioned in the fast growing public cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) market which grew 51 percent in 2015 and is expected to more than triple in size by 2020. Mid-size enterprises represent the fastest growing, most underserved business segment with a cloud adoption rate of only 5 percent. In the first nine months of 2016, Calligo grew its revenues by approximately 100 percent year-on-year.

“Calligo is a natural fit for Investcorp’s investment portfolio, with us having extensive experience of successfully investing in similar growth companies as well as in the technology sector. We believe we are the ideal partner to support Calligo’s ambitious plans to grow into North America and the United Kingdom and we look forward to working with the strong management team to help Calligo in the next phase of its growth,” said Johannes Glas (pictured), Managing Director at Investcorp in Qatar.

Investcorp has established a market leading position of investing in lower mid-market technology companies with a particular focus on Data,  Analytics, IT Security and Fintech,  Payments and has raised more than $1bn in funding for technology investments.

Other recent Investcorp technology transactions include the sale of CSIdentity to Experian, the sale of TDX Group to Equifax Inc; the partial exit of Fishnet through a merger with Accuvant; the ultimate full sale of Skrill Group to Optimal Payments; and the flotation of Sophos Group on the London Stock Exchange. “We are extremely pleased to have found the right partner in Investcorp during this exciting period of growth for the business. I believe Investcorp’s proven track record, global presence and extensive network will support the company’s continued international expansion and product innovation," said Julian Box, Chief Executive Officer, Calligo.

 "Our ability to attract this investment is a fantastic validation of the business we’ve managed to build so far and we believe the ongoing support from Investcorp will enable us to continue our exponential growth,” he added.The company has recently recruited two new investment team members, Georg Knoflach and Julian Bennet as Vice Presidents.

Georg Knoflach joins Investcorp from technology-focused private equity firm, Silver Lake where he worked for four years. Julian Bennet joined Investcorp following three years in the technology team of HG Capital in London.

© The Peninsula 2016