News
E-commerce fulfilment specialist James and James secures £11m investment from LDC
16 Mar 2020
James and James Fulfilment has secured an £11million investment from mid-market private equity investor LDC, part of Lloyds Banking Group, to further enhance its market-leading, software-enabled e-fulfilment proposition.
James and James provides online order fulfilment to e-retailers, storing products, packing and shipping orders, and handling any returns. This enables clients to increase order volumes, enhance customer experience, and improve stock and inventory management. The business supports its clients from its operating bases in the UK, USA and New Zealand.
Through its award-winning cloud-based software platform, ControlPort, James and James’s clients can fulfil orders from multiple channels and countries in one place and also provide live order tracking. In addition, clients benefit from data-rich reporting on inventory and SKU performance – insights that help business owners run and grow their businesses more effectively.
In the last three years, revenue at James and James has grown by 50% pa to £17.4million, and the firm currently employs more than 100 people worldwide. LDC is partnering with the management team led by Founder and CEO James Hyde, COO Neil Sant and CFO Simon Lisser. LDC’s investment will support the management team to invest in a new larger UK fulfilment centre, further enhance its technology proposition, and expand the business’ client service and commercial functions.
The deal was led by LDC Investment Director Chris Baker and Investment Manager James Garland. As part of the transaction, Chris Baker and LDC’s Lawrence Dean will join the board of the business as Non-Executive Directors.
James Hyde, Co-Founder of James and James Fulfilment, said: “James and I created the business to challenge the industry and create technology-led solutions which are fit for today’s rapidly-evolving online retail market. The logistics industry has generally been behind in its adoption of technology, but the demand for more modern systems is greater than ever.
Over the last few years, we’ve been on a strong growth trajectory and are investing more than ever in our in-house fulfilment platform. With LDC’s experience in the tech space and confidence in our business plan, they will be a great partner to help us deliver even more value to even more brands and retailers.”
Chris Baker, Investment Director at LDC, added: “The rapid growth of James and James is down to its highly ambitious and committed management team who have built a market-leading online and digital presence to attract a loyal and international customer base. The business’s software offering is central to the overall proposition and provides both clients, and their end customers, with an excellent user experience and highly reliable and accurate service. We are very excited to be backing James and the team and look forward to supporting the business on its path to further growth.”
ControlPort won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the field of Innovation.
LDC was advised by Grant Thornton, PMSI (Commercial), Crowe (Financial), Silxo (IT) and Osborne Clarke (Legal).
James and James Fulfilment was advised by HMT.