BGF – the UK’s most active growth capital investor – has taken a 25% stake in award-winning mobile data specialist and eSIM Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), Jola Cloud Solutions Ltd for £10.25m.
The Nottinghamshire-headquartered company is a channel only supplier of business communications, specialising in mobile data SIMs. Jola is a global eSIM MVNO, providing innovative IoT and mobile data solutions to managed service providers, internet service providers, IT support companies and telecom resellers, who provision, manage and support thousands of SIMs through Jola’s own Mobile Manager self-serve platform.
BGF’s backing will support continued growth of the channel partner base and the introduction of new products and capabilities to existing and new channel partners.
Commenting on the deal, co-founder and CEO Andrew Dickinson said: “BGF has a fantastic track record of investment overall and it was their references and reputation in the ICT space that made them a clear choice for Jola.
“With BGF’s support, we have an opportunity to build on what we have achieved over the last seven years, helping even more Jola partners to win large high margin IoT and M2M projects. BGF has a proven track record in acting as a catalyst for strategic, fast growth in ambitious businesses and their support so far has proved vital in helping us refine our expansion plans. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank our 900+ partners and the entire Jola team for their relentless pursuit of excellence, which has driven Jola to this latest milestone in our story.”
Seb Saywood, investor at BGF, led the deal with support from Subi Inayat. He said: “Jola’s growth and innovation continues to impress. We are backing a very experienced, proven team. They are continuing to innovate and deliver very high service levels to their channel partners through automation. Jola has clearly differentiated product capabilities, with a specialism in eSIM provision, a very high growth part of the market. The projected growth of the global mobile data market is considerable, with demand for such services expected to accelerate with the anticipated roll out of 5G.”