Umbra advises, improves
and invests in mid-market companies.

Deals

We help clients achieve their goals by delivering exceptional results.

HotelMap™

Simplifying hotel bookings for conference delegates.

HotelMap™ is a leading technology platform focused on simplifying hotel bookings at the complex end of the market, group bookings and hotel stays for events, conference and trade shows.

They operate in 512 cities worldwide and are used by the world’s largest event organisers, associations and destination management companies. HotelMap™ customers include: Reed Exhibitions, UBM, Informa, Knect365, Clarion, FT and other organisers such as Cisco, EA Sports and Amazon Web Services.

Over $128bn is spent on hotel bookings for conference attendees every year and HotelMap™ is the largest platform in the space.

#1

delegate hotel booking technology platform in the world.

Transaction

Umbra met the founder of HotelMap™ during their initial capital raising efforts and were so impressed by the quality of the team and their ability to tackle the opportunity that they decided to invest personally in the business.

Following impressive growth, Umbra helped the founder determine a fair valuation for the latest round and introduced the transaction to members of the Umbra family, who invested alongside them and added value by offering their expertise and network. The raise was oversubscribed and Umbra is now a significant minority shareholder.

Xynteo

Xynteo is a strategic advisory firm dedicated to providing sustainability and energy transition services to some of the world’s largest companies.

Umbra provided debt advisory services to Leon Capital for their majority investment into Xynteo. In addition to providing strategic financial and debt advisory, we are a co-investor in the equity alongside Leon Capital and will be a minority shareholder in the business going forward. See press release here.

This transaction builds on Umbra's capital raising credentials, following the successful exit of Noden Pharma

Zilch

Innovative buy-now-pay-later fintech.

Zilch developed the world's first 'over the top' BNPL model, bypassing the need for integration with the merchant and relies on affiliate marketing and interchange fees. No fees and no interest charged to the customers.

Over $8 billion

global BNPL platform estimated market size and growing at over 20% CAGR between 2020 and 2027.

Transaction

Umbra helped advise on Zilch's debt facility for customer advances and also participated in its pre-Series B equity raise. Series B was ultimately led by Gauss Ventures and M&F Fund, raising $80m at a $500m valuation.

Philip Belamant, Founder and CEO at Zilch explains: “This funding is a demonstration of the confidence and strength of Zilch’s mission and products. By putting the customer first and building direct relationships with each of them, we are doing something no one else in the industry has done before. Zilch is far more than a BNPL company. We will very soon be launching in a number of new countries and continue the testing and rapid rollout of alternate ways for our customers to spend with Zilch". 

Typs

Leading Spanish Earnings on Demand company.

Typs is the leading Spanish Earnings on Demand company and was founded in Barcelona in early 2019 by Jaime Jiménez, Gabriel Rosiñol, Ernesto Bernado, Juanjo Domínguez and Marc Rubiño. Typs brings financial wellness to employees, allowing them to have real-time access to their earned salaries anytime, anywhere; building a happier, more engaged and productive workforce.

$300 billion

the annual cost to employers in loss of productivity as a result of employee financial stress.

Transaction

Umbra funded and advised their portfolio company Hastee on its acquisition of Typs, the leading Spanish Earnings on Demand company. This is an important step forward on Hastee's mission to improve people’s financial health, productivity and liquidity on a global scale and one that Umbra are very excited about.

James Herbert, Founder and CEO of Hastee, explains: "In Typs, we have found a great team who share both our values and mission, and a complementary organisation that provides a foothold in Southern Europe to accelerate our expansion across Europe and beyond".

Jaime Jimenez, CEO and Co-Founder of Typs, stated that “Joining forces with Hastee will truly benefit our clients and their employees. We are now positioned to implement our leading financial wellbeing solutions internationally, providing employees with access to the most comprehensive set of tools and resources to help avoid financial stress, and provide the most value to their organisations".

Normedica

Leading medical supplies company.

Based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Normedica is a one-stop shop for quality medical supplies for health professionals and individuals with home medical supply requirements. Formerly known as Northumbrian Medical Supplies, Normedica is led by directors Joanne and Ross Tomkins who took ownership of the business in late 2019.

With years of experience in the healthcare industry and as owners of a group of successful healthcare businesses, including Balmoral Physio and Therapy Direct Healthcare, both Joanne and Ross are looking forward to growing the 40-year-old business nationally whilst staying true to their North East roots.

Normedica’s medical consumables and equipment are suitable for GP surgeries, dentists, nursing homes and other healthcare settings as well as individuals with home medical supply requirements.

1 million

items of PPE delivered across the globe.

Transaction

Umbra are delighted to announce the successful conclusion of the first phase of their trade finance program with Northumbrian Medical Supplies. Ross Tomkins and his team have been working hard to provide healthcare services across the globe with critical supplies, and it has been Umbra's pleasure to have partnered with him to finance them. The first phase of the program provided over 1,000,000 items of PPE and we look forward to working together going forward to supply many more.

Ross Tomkins said "We make a great team Umbra Capital Partners. Looking forward to helping even more people over the coming months and years". 

Noden

Specialty pharma platform for buy and build.

Noden Pharma DAC is a global specialty pharmaceutical company that is focused on acquiring prescription medicines across a range of therapeutic areas.  Noden Pharma DAC holds exclusive worldwide rights to manufacture, market and sell Tekturna® and Tekturna HCT® (or Rasilez® and Rasilez HTC® outside of the United States), which contain aliskiren, a direct renin inhibitor, for the treatment of hypertension.

In March 2019, Noden announced the U.S commercial launch of an authorized generic form of Tekturna, aliskiren hemifumarate 150 mg and 300 mg tablets with the same drug formulation as Tekturna.  Noden Pharma DAC is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland and Noden Pharma USA Inc. is incorporated in Delaware.

$48.3m

acquisition of Noden Pharma.

Transaction

Umbra was mandated by Stanley Capital to arrange a bespoke financing facility to facilitate their acquisition of Noden Pharma DAC from its US-listed parent PDL Biopharma. This was the first acquisition by Stanley Capital as part of a thematic buy-and-build in the specialty pharma space, so the focus was on achieving a financing that was flexible and scalable enough to allow for future acquisitions. Alongside their debt advisory work, Umbra also provided Stanley with strategic transaction advice.

Through Umbra's work with the Stanley team, they developed a strong conviction in the investment thesis and so rolled their fees and co-invested in the equity, becoming a significant minority shareholder in the business.

Simon Cottle, Partner at Stanley Capital, said: “The acquisition of Noden is the culmination of years of thematic research into the specialty pharmaceuticals sector, which identified the company as a strong buy and build platform. We look forward to working with Noden’s excellent management team and our industry advisors to build the company into a leading pharma platform, providing essential treatments for patients with unique and difficult to treat conditions.”

Signifier Medical

Daytime therapy for snoring & mild sleep apnoea.

Signifier Medical Technologies (SMT) is a medical technology company focussed on the development and commercialisation of innovative non-invasive solutions for sleep disordered breathing conditions.

Snoring is the most common cause of sleep deprivation and it affects not just snorers, but also their partners and family members, and loud heavy snoring could be an indicator of a more serious condition called obstructive sleep apnoea (intermittent complete blockage of the airway causing breathing to stop and start during sleep). It is estimated that 64% of men and 45% of women suffer from snoring.

eXciteOSA® is the world’s first daytime therapy, proven to strengthen weak tongue muscles known to be the root cause of sleep apnoea and snoring. 98% of patients using eXciteOSA® reported reduction in snoring time.

1 billion

adults aged 30 to 69 years are estimated to have obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) globally.

Transaction

Umbra has participated in the Signifier Medical Technologies (SMT) $10m Series C Funding Round led by Alan Howard, VC investor and co-founder of Brevan Howard. SMT has designed the first non-surgical, non-invasive and day-time treatment for snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea, which affects the daily lives of over 200 million people in the US and Europe alone. The Umbra team is extremely excited to be part of the journey to commercialise the product that should improve the lives of millions of people globally.

Hastee

Revolutionising the way people get paid. Forever.

Hastee is an award-winning employee benefit which empowers employees to receive their earned pay immediately via our mobile app, increasing their choice and financial wellbeing. Workers can choose to receive up to 50% of their gross pay for the work they have completed; it is income smoothing of their earned pay, not a loan. Companies may choose to restrict the availability for their staff to below 50% should they wish/need. Hastee does not charge interest, just a low and simple fee.

Companies profit from the improved recruitment, retention, engagement and productivity of their workforce. This is at no cost to the employer (unless they wish to contribute as a paid benefit) and has no impact to company cash flow (Hastee funds the advances, with the company reimbursing them when they pay their staff as normal).

Giving access to earned pay only, Hastee is a meaningful benefit that can be made available to all staff, including salaried, temporary, variable and gig workers.

£208m

bespoke debt facility and equity investment.

Transaction

Umbra was mandated to arrange a +£100m debt facility for Hastee to allow registered employers to advance their employee's earned pay, on demand.

Umbra ran a competitive process and there was significant interest from debt funds and banks. However, in order achieve maximum flexibility, 100% LTV and minimal dilution, Umbra created a £200m dedicated Hastee debt fund, which entered into a bespoke, flexible revolver credit facility to fund the salary advances. The facility is short duration, insured and secured against payroll receivables. Umbra invested alongside a private bank, families and multi-family offices.

Additionally, Umbra invested a significant minority stake in the business via a combination of own funds and value added members of the Umbra family (with connections to large employers) and rolled the majority of their advisory fees into equity.

Umbra are very excited about the economic and social impact of this transaction and believe every employee should – and will – have access to their earned pay as soon as they earn it, and avoid expensive payday loan providers.

When You Move

A tech conveyancer that streamlines home-moving process.

When You Move is the UK’s first technology-led conveyancer. It aims to revolutionise the process of buying and selling property, for consumers and industry alike. Its proprietary cloud software platform and mobile app give estate agents, brokers and consumers full visibility of conveyancing status in real time.

PinLocal

A major online lead generator for removal and conveyancing firms.

PinLocal is the UK’s leading lead generation company for live customer leads to businesses. They source thousands of live customer leads every month in a small number of key industries and are the UK’s #1 supplier of leads to removals and conveyancing firms.

Transaction

When You Move approached Umbra to provide acquisition financing for their purchase of PinLocal. With deal terms already agreed, they needed a partner who could move quickly and structure a bespoke and flexible facility.

Umbra Capital Partners completed due-diligence and negotiated long-form documentation within six weeks to enable the acquisition to take place in a timely manner. As part of their desire to partner with clients and participate in the upside, Umbra took their arrangement fees as equity and will sit on the board of the combined business going forward.

Child & Child

A specialist law firm in wealth, property and dispute resolution.

Founded in 1850, by John Child and Henry Bailey, Child & Child is a specialist law firm with specific expertise in HNW individuals, residential property and dispute resolution.

Est. 1850

Transaction

Umbra was approached by an equity investor to help structure and arrange a particularly complex MBO under intense time pressure. Umbra structured and arranged a deal to allow five existing partners of the firm to take ownership alongside the external equity investor and ensure incentives are aligned going forward.

Umbra continues to provide support and strategic advisory to the management team and equity investor on an ad-hoc basis.

hearO™

A portable speaker housed in a repurposed championship tennis ball.

Rogue projects is an experimental product design studio founded by Richard Moss. The studio developed hearO™ in 2016 - a portable speaker housed in a championship tennis ball. They discovered a method to repurpose tennis balls, and in doing so unlock a potential for environmental awareness and upcycling.

The Company sources used championship tennis balls from professional tennis tournaments. Each ball is cut in Northampton, England by weaving innovative and traditional press-cutting techniques. The tennis ball is then pressed over hearO™’s custom wireless electronic, creating an icon of reuse and sustainability.

300m

tennis balls are produced each year, equating to 18k tons industrial rubber and felt.

Transaction

Umbra was approached to provide strategic advisory to Rogue projects. Umbra helped develop hearO™’s business model and leverage their network to help negotiate exclusive partnerships with the likes of Wilson.

Umbra's mandate provides ongoing, strategic business advice, oversight and governance for Rogue projects. Umbra's advisory fees are rolled into equity and they have aligned with the founders' ambitious plan to build special design projects from the studio.

Umbra are enthusiastic about the social impact space.