London investor Inflexion backs £405m cloud hosting firm UKFast

Inflexion Private Equity has completed a minority investment in cloud hosting provider UKFast.

The deal, made through London-based Inflexion’s dedicated minority investment fund, Partnership Capital, has valued UKFast at £405m.

Following the investment, Manchester-based UKFast will continue to be majority owned and led by its founder management team.

Establish in 1998 by Lawrence Jones MBE and Gail Jones, today the company employs 350 people across its campus in Manchester and London sales office and data centres.

Inflexion managing partner Simon Turner said: “UKFast has proven itself as a market leader, with its 350 strong team providing exemplary levels of customer service alongside superior technical performance.

“Acknowledging the industry’s increasing appetite for public cloud, UKFast’s management launched ClearCloud in 2018, thereby enhancing its offering to existing clients as well as opening the door to new ones.”

He added: “We look forward to working with management to support them to accelerate growth.”

Lawrence Jones, chief exec and co-founder of UKFast, commented: “It has been widely reported about our ambitions to IPO. After spending time meeting fund managers I learned that it is incredibly important to align yourself with people who’ve got experience in areas that you don’t.

“When Inflexion threw their hat into the ring, there was an immediate connection. The Inflexion team have got an incredible reputation when they have invested pre-IPO. That reputation, coupled with their team, is something that gives us great confidence for the future.”

He continued: “Growing a successful business is all about people. I am so proud of my management team and everyone who works at UKFast.”