Envestors company Ebury sells a majority stake in their business to Santander for £350m
We are delighted to announce that the banking giant Santander has acquired a 50.1% controlling stake in Ebury for £350m. This has provided several members of the Envestors private network huge returns on their original investments and placed Ebury firmly on the path to becoming the first Envestors unicorn portfolio company.
Founded in 2009 by Juan Lobato and Salvador Garcia, Ebury first approached Envestors in 2013. ‘We instantly recognised the fact that this was a great business’, says Scott Haughton, COO of Envestors. ‘The business model was clear and they presented as a fantastic team, so we were delighted to help them through this phase of their growth. Through seven of our sophisticated angels and one investment group, we introduced £1.2m in August 2013. They then followed on from their original investment with a further £230k in May 2015. We are delighted that these members of the Envestors investor community have enjoyed such great returns on their investment into Ebury; it’s also worth noting that Ebury was founded in 2009, at the height of the recession and these investors parted with their cash when our economic future was still highly uncertain, showing us that start-ups can be hugely successful and bring their shareholders great returns, whether in good times or bad’.
‘I first heard about Ebury through Envestors’ regular company updates email’, says Caerwyn Prothero, an Envestors private angel and partner at Midsummer Capital, who has enjoyed a significant double digit return on his investment. ‘I am familiar with this sector of fintech and arranged to meet with their management team. I was extremely impressed with their work ethic, their proven business model and the fact that they were very, very clear about what they would do with any funds raised. Fundamentally, they needed money to speed the business up and it really was the easiest investment decision I ever made’.
Ebury also presented to Envestors Channel Islands (C.I.) in 2013. Ed Daubeney, Managing Director of Envestors C.I. stated, ‘I recall Juan and Salvador presenting Ebury at our Jersey event that June. The feedback was that their proposition was very strong as was the team, but on the evening certain investors thought the business overvalued! Having seen their subsequent progress, it is clear Ebury have spectacularly delivered on their 2013 business plan. I am very pleased for both Ebury and the Jersey based investors who backed the team and invested £700,000 in the company at that early stage and have continued supporting them’. One very happy Envestors C.I. angel continues, ‘Venture Capital and Private Equity investing is not easy. There are winners and losers. However, sometimes you come across one which is so compelling that you just know it is likely to succeed and that is how I felt about Ebury. I missed the initial pitch which Envestors put on but shortly after I received a call from a friend who attended, they encouraged me to read the deck. I was ‘hooked‘. Subsequent meetings with the founders, Juan and Salvador, demonstrated that they had identified a real gap in the market. Crucially, they also showed the skills needed to be able to execute and deliver on the opportunity. The investment growth in Ebury has been exceptional in six short years and hopefully will continue, following the partnership with Banco Santander. I am grateful to Envestors for introducing me to Ebury (and others, which I hope will be as successful…).’