Jenson EIS & SEIS Fund announce a successful exit from Voneus, a rural broadband provider, following a commitment of up to £30m investment by Macquarie Capital.
Sarah Barber, CEO of Jenson Funding Partners said, “This investment epitomises the importance of SEIS and EIS Funding and the effect that it can have on growth businesses.”
Voneus has seen growth in its customer base and employees from the initial three Founders to employing over 80 people with further expansion plans for 2021.
Voneus started out as Dice Networks providing a VOIP solution and soon pivoted to become a rural broadband provider and aims to be the market leader in superfast broadband for hard to reach areas.
The Jenson Seed EIS Fund 1 initially invested £150,000 in October 2013 and invested over £420,000 via the EIS Funds across various tranches every year between 2015 and 2019.
In January 2018 Voneus announced it had acquired SugarNet, the superfast internet provider. The acquisition increased Voneus’ customer base to almost 50 rural communities across the UK.
The deal came just three months after Voneus’ acquisition of Cotswold Wireless, and formed part of the company’s ongoing strategy to become the UK’s leading rural broadband provider.
Steve Leighton, CEO of Voneus said, “We would not be where we are without Jenson. Their team have been a constant source of support, advice and guidance for the last seven years or so.”
Macquarie Capital’s Infrastructure Principal and Projects business has now taken a majority shareholding in Voneus. The partnership has led to some restructuring and provided an opportunity for Jenson’s funds and other investors to exit.
Leighton continued, “Although we are absolutely thrilled to be rewarding Jenson’s faith in us with this excellent exit, we’ll also miss them as an investor and as an ally. We can’t thank them enough – they’ve been an integral part of the Voneus success story.”
