Health and wellbeing benefits provider Vivup, will merge with benefits and reward platform Perkbox, via a majority investment from US-based growth equity firm Great Hill Partners, it was announced today.
“This brings together combined strengths with the goal of offering a truly market leading solution for the UK’s public and private employee benefits sectors,” according to a joint statement.
With a global team of employees, Vivup and Perkbox together support more than 4 million employees across almost 7,500 organisations.
That includes more than 85% of the NHS, with employee wellbeing, benefits, engagement, and recognition and reward solutions.
The statement said: “Vivup and Perkbox brings together two like minded organisations with an aligned mission and set of values that will help employers to better care for, connect with and celebrate their employees.
“Great Hill Partners’ investment will help the newly strengthened organisation scale its go-to-market capabilities, innovate product offerings, and accelerate organic and inorganic growth opportunities.”
Meanwhile, investor firm Omni Partners, which invested in Vivup in 2022, will retain a minority stake to continue supporting the combined company’s growth.
The agreed transaction is subject to Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) authorisation.
Leadership
Day-to-day executive leadership will remain consistent across the combined businesses with Vivup CEO Simon Moyle serving as the newly formed company’s group CEO, and Perkbox CEO Doug Butler serving as group executive chairman.
After 20 years in management and leadership roles delivering innovation and development in the UK retail services market, Moyle has spent the past five years leading the transformation and rapid growth of Vivup .
Butler, who became Perkbox’s CEO in December 2023, brings over 30 years of leadership experience, having run businesses across the technology, telecommunications and the employment engagement sectors.
Butler is a long-time executive working with Great Hill, most recently as CEO of former Great Hill portfolio company Reward Gateway, a global HR technology and employee engagement company.
Great Hill partners’ Drew Loucks, Chris Busby and Mats Heimes will join the company’s board of directors.
Moyle said: “It is amazing to bring these two great organisations together.
“Pending FCA approval, we will be in the best possible position to support people and organisations across the UK in a very special and unique way.
“It is rare to find a combination such as Vivup and Perkbox where between us, we have the leading products needed across voluntary benefits, wellbeing and recognition and reward, yet very little overlap in the areas in which we currently operate.
“When I joined Vivup over five years ago, our team consisted of 17 people. Since then, our team has expanded significantly to almost 400 and with the addition of our Perkbox colleagues, we will now be over 500 strong.
“I am so proud of every member of our team and cannot wait to welcome our new Perkbox colleagues and support over 4,500 organisations. These last five years have been amazing but our future as a combined company is going to be even better!”
Butler said: “Bringing the combined resources and technical product and support capabilities of Vivup and Perkbox together will be boon to the thousands of public and private sector clients and millions of employee users who rely on our solutions to meet their needs and challenges.
“I’ve always admired Vivup’s mission and growth under Simon’s leadership and, now supported by Great Hill as an investor, our complementary technology, service offerings and people centric cultures create a perfect combination to support HR professionals and their people.”
Milestone
Great Hill managing director Drew Loucks said: “Today’s exciting milestone creates a new industry player that is well-positioned to capitalise on a large and growing market opportunity.
“Doug and Simon both have strong track records of scaling industry-leading businesses by creating successful, client-centric cultures and innovative product offerings.
“We are excited to support the teams and bring Vivup and Perkbox together to deliver a more powerful employee wellbeing, benefits and engagement platform in the UK.”
Charles Gallagher-Powell, partner at Omni, said: “This deal validates our strategy of partnering with mission-led, fast-growing businesses to help push them to greater heights.
“Recognising these attributes in Vivup, plus a shared ambition and culture, drove our decision to invest in 2022.
“We’ve loved every minute of working with Simon and the team since then.
“We couldn’t be prouder of what Vivup has achieved and are excited to support the new combined entity as a minority shareholder.”