We are delighted to announce that one of Europe’s leading mid-market private equity investors, Equistone, has agreed to acquire a majority stake in MMC’s portfolio company Small World. Equistone is an independent investment firm wholly-owned and managed by it’s executives aiming to invest between €25m and €125m of equity in businesses. The financial terms of the deal are undisclosed and, as Small World is regulated in multiple countries, completion of the transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals.

Founded by CEO Nick Day in 2005, Small World’s technology-driven platform allows customers to make cross-border payments via its physical network of over 6,000 third-party send-side agents and 80 branches. With millions of customers worldwide, Small World currently employs c.680 people across 16 countries and generates revenues in excess of £110m.

Nick Day, Chief Executive of Small World, said: “Our partnership with Equistone will help accelerate the achievement of our goals and provide the funding to drive growth. We believe we are well-positioned to grow and are continuing to extend our multi-channel service proposition into new territories, as well as pursuing bolt-on acquisitions and launching new payment corridors. Our innovative new app will also support the increasingly digitalised needs of our customers through convenient alternative payment solutions. We look forward to working closely with the Equistone team.”

MMC Ventures chairman, and Small World board member, Alan Morgan had the following to say:

“MMC Ventures backed Small World from seed through several follow-on rounds and we’re delighted to have seen Nick and the team deliver the consistent steady growth to build a very profitable business.

We believed the money transfer market was ripe for new approaches to low cost transactions and we have long maintained that a multi-channel approach, which includes digital and mobile, was the way to become a leader in this space. Small World has now grown to c. 60 million transactions, processing more than £3 billion of payments each year. We wish management and the new owner every success with their future growth”.

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