Vivup, renowned for its top-tier health and wellbeing benefits, and Perkbox, celebrated for its global benefits and rewards platform, have announced a strategic merger, backed by a significant investment from Great Hill Partners, a private equity firm focused on investing in high-growth, innovative companies.
This merger unites their strengths, aiming to create a leading-edge solution for both the UK’s public and private employee benefits sectors. The investment from Great Hill Partners will enable the newly fortified company to enhance its market presence, develop new products, and pursue both organic and inorganic growth strategies. Omni Partners, a UK-focused investment firm that previously invested in Vivup in 2022, will maintain a minority stake, supporting the company’s ongoing expansion. The completion of this deal is contingent upon approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Collectively, Vivup and Perkbox boast a global team of experts, supporting over 4 million employees in nearly 7,500 organizations, including over 85% of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). Their combined offerings aim to improve employee wellbeing, benefits, engagement, and rewards across Europe and APAC. Vivup’s expertise lies in public sector wellbeing and Salary Sacrifice Benefits, while Perkbox excels in Employee Discount Schemes and Reward and Recognition technology. This merger brings together two organizations with shared missions and values, focused on enhancing employer-employee connections and wellbeing.
The leadership structure will remain stable post-merger, with Simon Moyle, Vivup’s CEO, taking on the role of Group CEO of the new entity, and Doug Butler, Perkbox’s CEO, becoming the Group Executive Chairman. Moyle has a successful track record in transforming Vivup into a leading employee benefits provider, while Butler brings over 30 years of leadership experience across various sectors, including a previous role as CEO of Reward Gateway. Drew Loucks, Chris Busby, and Mats Heimes from Great Hill Partners will join the company’s Board of Directors.
Simon 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!”
“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,” added Doug Butler. “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.”
Great Hill Managing Director Drew Loucks noted: “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 added: “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.”
The investment from Great Hill Partners has also enabled Vivup to complete the acquisition of The Employee Resilience Company (TERC Ltd), providers of specialist counselling, psychotherapy and employee assistance provision, and Work & Life Partners, specialists in childcare, eldercare and petcare. Both transactions further support Vivup and Perkbox’s focus on becoming the leading provider in the mental health, wellbeing and family care space.
Great Hill Partners’ investment in Vivup and Perkbox builds upon the firm’s significant expertise in the employee benefits space, including investments in Reward Gateway, bswift, RxBenefits, Retiree First, ParetoHealth, PlanSource, and more. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
About Vivup
Since 2005, Vivup has been providing world-class health and wellbeing benefits to employees across the public and private sectors while arming employers with the tools to cultivate resilient workforces, retain great staff and win the war on talent. Vivup partners with almost 4,000 clients and supports 3.3 million+ employees throughout the UK.
Vivup was awarded UK Employer of the Year at the Investors in People Awards in 2022 and won Best Supplier to Work for at the Employee Benefits Awards in 2023. Simon Moyle, CEO was awarded UK Leader of the Year at the Investor in People Awards in 2022 and won Scale up Entrepreneur of the Year (North East) at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards in 2023. Vivup has also just been awarded Number One SME in the UK by Elite Business.
About Perkbox
Perkbox is the global benefits and rewards platform that allows companies to care for, connect with and celebrate their employees, no matter where they are and what they want. With over 10 years’ experience, Perkbox is trusted by thousands of companies with users across the globe. Its location agnostic globally available platform helps companies with diverse and dispersed workforces harmonise their Employee Value Proposition (EVP) — keeping each employee happy, healthy, and motivated.
About Great Hill Partners
Founded in 1998, Great Hill Partners is a private equity firm targeting investments in high-growth companies across the software, digital commerce, financial technology, healthcare, and digital infrastructure sectors. With offices in Boston and London, Great Hill has invested in more than 95 companies, establishing an extensive track record of building long-term partnerships with entrepreneurs and providing flexible resources to help middle-market companies scale. Great Hill has been recognized for its industry leadership, being ranked #4 in the 2023 HEC Paris-Dow Jones Mid-Market Buyout Performance Ranking on March 6, 2024, which evaluated fund performance of 632 leading private equity firms between 2010-2019[1]. For more information, including a list of all Great Hill investments, visit www.greathillpartners.com.
About Omni
Omni invests in mission-led, fast-growing and profitable businesses that are looking for their first external capital. These are typically high-margin, UK-based companies that dominate their niche, are driven by culture-focused management teams and make at least £2m EBITDA. Omni approaches investing from a different angle. With a unique team make-up and approach, Omni focuses on shifting the odds in favour of success to turbocharge its investments and ensure that everyone wins together. Omni is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. For more information, please visit www.omni.co.uk
