Grant Thornton makes multimillion-pound investment in London tech startup Geniac
Grant Thornton has made a multimillion-pound investment in a startup which manages services such as HR and compliance for small businesses.
The advisory firm has splashed £22m on London-based Geniac, its first investment in a tech startup.
"The Geniac proposition to fast growing small businesses is exciting," said Grant Thornton’s head of audit Mark Cardiff.
“When you’re a business founder with a big idea, the last thing you need is distraction. Many entrepreneurs don’t know what's required in establishing and running a business and have to resort to bringing in individual specialists, which is time-consuming, expensive and rarely joined up,” said Eduardo Martinez who co-founded the company with Michael Galvin.
”We created Geniac to integrate all the specialists and tools a growing business needs, giving business owners complete visibility, peace of mind and the time to get back to doing what they love.”
The former consultants at Accenture will use the investment for rapid expansion, including growing its staff numbers at offices in London and Glasgow.
"Mike and Eduardo have really identified what can hold back small businesses. They have ambitious intentions to level the playing field between large and small businesses, in terms of the quality of support and tools available to small businesses. We got the Geniac idea immediately and just wanted to work with the team, because it helps create a vibrant, dynamic economy,” added Cardiff.
It’s the second disclosed round of investment for Geniac after landing $1.7m (£1.09m) in seed funding in 2014.