Livingbridge-backed Metronet (UK) has secured an immediate foothold in London's vibrant super-fast connectivity market following the acquisition of fibre network provider Venus Business Communications. The deal follows Metronet (UK)'s £47.5m purchase of Internet infrastructure and hosting company M247 in October 2016.
The acquisition adds £7.8m revenues and advances Metronet (UK)'s ambitions to build a national platform with last mile control as well as a transit network across Europe.
The addition of Venus brings six new data centres to the Group's network that now connects to the key UK data centre locations and 14 global Internet Exchanges.
The combined entity employs 230 people across six sites including Manchester, Newcastle, London and Bucharest, and supports almost 34,000 customers across 92 countries, delivering revenues of circa £50m.
Venus was founded in 2005 by Brian Iddon and Justin Keery and serves central London and the City with high high speed fibre at up to 10 gigabit/sec.
Livingbridge first invested in Metronet (UK) in June 2014 as part of a £45m secondary buyout of the firm.
Follow on funding to support the Group's acquisition strategy and the investment in Venus has been made by the Livingbridge 5 fund.
Matthew Caffrey, Partner at Livingbridge, said: "The neatly complements Metronet's existing capabilities and will enable the business to build a wireless network in London on top of Venus' core transit and last mile fibre capability.
"Metronet's national services now include connectivity applications across the wireless and fibre spectrums as well as voice, security and hosting and we are very excited about the Group's continued growth prospects."
Lee Perkins, Chief Executive at Metronet (UK), added: "Venus has the same entrepreneurial and customer-centric culture as us so I have no doubt that it will be an excellent fit with our business."
Brian Iddon, Director and Founder at Venus, noted: "I have known Lee and the team for a number of years and feel that Metronet is the perfect fit for us as we look to build on the strong momentum we have generated to date."