HMT acted as lead advisors to the shareholders of James and James, an e-commerce fulfilment solutions provider, on their £11 million investment from LDC.
James & James was founded in 2010 by University of Cambridge graduates, James Hyde and James Strachan. Having been unable to find a suitable order fulfilment service for an eCommerce business, they built their own proprietary, cloud-based order fulfilment software platform. Their market leading platform bridges the gap between high-tech eCommerce platforms and traditional delivery networks and combines the features usually found in separate systems and integrates with top eCommerce platforms, such as Shopify and Magento, helping customers to run their business more efficiently.
Headquartered in Northampton, with fulfilment centres in the UK, the USA and New Zealand, James & James offer end-to-end order fulfilment solutions to hundreds of online retailers, from disruptive start-ups to household names. In 2016, James & James were awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the field of innovation, recognising their unique, technology-focused approach to eCommerce. The business was ranked #54 in the prestigious league table for the UK’s private companies Sunday Times Fast Track 100 in 2018 and ranked #736 on the FT1000 – the Financial Times’ list of Europe’s fastest-growing companies in 2019.
HMT were mandated to find an investment partner who would support the management team in delivering its ambitious growth plans and fully exploit the market leading technology in the fast-growing eCommerce sector. LDC’s investment has both enabled the founders to realise part of the value that they have built in the business and provide additional capital to allow the business to continue its impressive growth trajectory.
Following the transaction, Chris Baker, Investment Director and Lawrence Dean, Head of South, at LDC have joined James Hyde, Neil Sant and Simon Lisser on the Board of James & James.
“HMT were mandated to find the right investment partner to support the continued growth of the business over the next five years. HMT spent time to understand our unique value proposition and used their extensive market knowledge to run a competitive process which involved the right investors. During the process, they provided invaluable support and practical advice throughout.
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 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.”– James Hyde, Co-founder and CEO of James & James
“We are delighted to have advised on such a high-quality transaction and we are delighted at the outcome that has been achieved for the stakeholders of the business. James and James has an enviable market position with a strong management team, market leading technology and the additional fire power provided by LDC will enable it to realise its huge growth ambitions. We look forward to working with them in the future on the next stage of their exciting journey.”
– Andrew Thomson
