SmartSearch, a leading UK provider of digital compliance and anti-money laundering (AML) software, today announced the signing of an agreement to receive a significant equity investment from Triple Private Equity.
With its investment, Triple will now take majority ownership of the company and will work with existing management to drive the company’s next phase of growth, with SmartSearch’s founders and existing shareholders also retaining a minority interest in the company.
Founded in 2011, SmartSearch has grown rapidly from start-up to scale-up and is widely recognized as a leader in digital compliance. Its innovative platform and technology enables companies to address ever-increasing regulatory requirements, including AML compliance, customer due diligence, Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) procedures.
It is trusted by more than 7,000 client firms and 60,000 users across a wide range of regulated markets, including legal, accounting, real estate and financial services. His customer base includes over 1,000 real estate companies, every second of the 100 largest accounting firms and every third of the 200 largest law firms.
To support both its core markets and further expansion into enterprise customers, SmartSearch launched its next-generation platform last year. These continued investments in innovation have resulted in annual growth of approximately 20% between 2020 and 2023.
The investment from Triple Private Equity will allow the company to build on the foundation of innovation and sound governance that has made it one of the UK’s leading regtech companies.
Guy Harrison, CEO of SmartSearch, said: “Triple is an excellent fit for SmartSearch in its ambitious next phase of growth. The company is particularly excited to draw on its extensive expertise in scaling mission-critical B2B risk and compliance software.”
Martin Cheek, co-founder and managing director of SmartSearch, said: “Having founded the company with John Dobson, I am incredibly proud of what we have built at SmartSearch, the world-class technology we have developed and the talent Team we created.” In just over a decade, SmartSearch has grown from a regtech start-up to a groundbreaking technology company driving the digital compliance revolution. This major investment from Triple is a true testament to the hard work of our nearly 200-strong team who, together with Triple, will be instrumental in this next phase of growth.”
Mads Hansen, Head of Investments and Managing & Founding Partner at Triple, said: “We are pleased to announce Triple Private Equity’s first investment in SmartSearch. SmartSearch is the market leader in GRC in the UK, a key area of investment for Triple. The company demonstrates consistent growth and profitability and offers its customers a high-quality software platform. We look forward to working with the SmartSearch team to drive the company’s next phase of growth.”
Ben Shepherd, Head of Value and Founding Partner at Triple, added: “We are excited to work with SmartSearch, its exceptional team and its customers to continue their strong growth and high-quality products and services.” By leveraging their expertise and network With Triple, we are confident we can support SmartSearch’s growth opportunities as the UK’s leading compliance platform.”
SmartSearch was advised on the transaction by Rothschild (corporate finance), Squire Patton Boggs (legal), KPMG (finance and tax), Park Place (foundation advisory) and Liberty (management advisory).