Zip World is the award-winning adventure park operator which features the world’s fastest zip line and has eight locations in Wales and England.

Investing for growth

In 2018 Zip World secured a significant minority investment from LDC, supported by the company’s existing banking partner, HSBC. The transaction valued the business at £45m.

LDC backed Zip World’s management team, led by founder Sean Taylor, who kick-started a growth strategy to enhance its sites with new rides such as Quarry Karts, the UK’s only mountain cart experience, and Titan 2, a new and improved quarry tour and zip lining experience, based in Blaenau Ffestiniog, Snowdonia National Park.

UK expansion

In 2023, Andrew Hudson was promoted to Chief Executive Officer to continue to expand Zip World’s portfolio of sites and experiences.

Today, Zip World operates 33 different adventures, including the world’s fastest zip line, Velocity, and a variety of other zips, climbs, drops and coasters, at its eight sites.

In addition to its adventures, Zip World has also continued to invest in its people, systems, merchandising and food and beverage. This includes the launch of luxury forest lodges and the renovation of its Tyn-y-Coed Hotel, further expanding its accommodation offerings in the region.

The company is also preparing to welcome visitors to Zip World London at the Queen Elizabeth Park in February 2025 and has plans to open a new site in Elterwater, Cumbria, later in 2025.

Positive impact

In 2024, an independent report from North Wales Tourism revealed Zip World has contributed £941m to the Welsh economy over the last decade. Zip World also announced its B Corp Certification, placing the business among a group of only 18 other adventure tourism organisations worldwide and one of just 47 B Corp-certified companies in Wales.

Exceptional growth

During its six year partnership with LDC, Zip World more than doubled the number of sites from its original three in North Wales, launched new adventure attractions and diversified into accommodation, including a hotel and luxury forest lodges.

As a result, Zip World increased turnover by 95% and grew headcount by 200% over the period.

In January 2025, LDC exited its investment in Zip World to direct equity investor Dolphin Capital, in a transaction that valued the company at more than £100m.

HSL Compliance (HSL) is a market leading UK environmental testing, inspection, certification and compliance (TICC) company. It specialises in water hygiene, water treatment and other compliance activities.

Headquartered in Herefordshire and founded in 1976, the business operates nationwide with 19 offices across the UK and Ireland. It employs approximately 650 people and serves more than 370 customers across various private and public sectors, including food and beverage, manufacturing, facilities management, healthcare and education.

Backing an ambitious team

In May 2019, LDC invested £20m to back the carve-out of SGI Holdings Ltd (SGI Holdings) from global testing, inspection and certification group Kiwa. SGI Holdings comprised SGI Compliance and HSL Compliance.

In August 2023, SGI Holdings sold SGI Compliance, its continental European business, to CERTANIA. HSL Compliance remained separate from this transaction.

Led by CEO Gavin Hartley, HSL Compliance went on to deliver a growth strategy that focused on further investment in its portfolio of services and a targeted buy-and-build strategy to add complementary service lines in the UK.

Exceptional growth

During the six-year partnership with LDC, HSL quadrupled pro-forma revenues to £77m and doubled headcount to 650 employees. It established itself as a high-quality business capable of meeting the needs of nationally or regionally complex estates seeking a full-service provider for water hygiene and treatment services, alongside fire and air compliance services.

With LDC’s support and follow-on funding, HSL also delivered a successful M&A programme and completed 11 bolt-on acquisitions, significantly increasing the breadth of its UK coverage and client base.

Precisify (formerly Precise TV) is a cross-platform media intelligence pioneer redefining how brands and agencies maximize return on ad spend.

Founded in 2015, Precisify operates globally with offices in London, New York, Los Angeles, Sydney and Salzburg.

The business helps brands and agencies plan and optimize digital media and achieve superior digital advertising outcomes by leveraging proprietary panels, AI models, intent signals and contextual data to deliver zero-waste precision across YouTube, Mobile Gaming and Influencer. Its technology maps real customers to the exact content that influences them.

Precisify works with agencies including Dentsu, Havas, WPP, Omnicom and Starcom, and brands such as ASICS, Salesforce, Betterment, Breville, Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network.

Supporting US expansion

In January 2025, LDC made a £21m minority investment in Precisify, backing the existing management team, led by co-founders and co-CEOs Nadav Shmuel and Christian Dankl, Chief Commercial Officer Denis Crushell and Chief Technology Officer Peter Stöckl.

With LDC’s investment and support, Precisify plans to continue to build its AI capabilities and scale its presence in the US, as well as diversifying further into other markets, such as gaming.

Lomond is the UK’s leading network of sales and letting agents.

Unrivalled acquisitive growth

LDC invested in Yorkshire-based Linley & Simpson in 2018, before supporting its £100million merger with Lomond Capital to form Lomond in 2020.

Lomond is a leading property management services provider to the UK lettings and sales market and one of the fastest growing platforms in the UK. It has completed 65 acquisitions, growing from 22,000 to more than 70,000 properties.

From Aberdeen to Brighton Lomond’s impressive network of regional brands, estate agents, and lettings businesses span across the UK.

A workplace for its people

Lomond’s management team, led by CEO Ed Philips and Founder and Chairman Stuart Pender, has invested heavily in the business’ people, growing its team from 600 to 1,900 employees in three years.

With LDC’s support, Lomond was recognised in Sunday Times Best Workplace 2024 Awards for creating an inspiring and healthy workplace.

Power Saving Solutions provides high performance battery storage units and hybrid power systems for commercial use across the UK.

The Mansfield-based battery power specialist operates its Hussh Pod units in conjunction with a variety of power sources, including diesel generators, renewable energy and on-grid sources, to give customers a hybrid power solution that maximises site efficiency, reduces emissions, reduces noise pollution and cuts costs for fuel and maintenance.

Powering growth

In December 2024, LDC backed Power Savings Solutions’ management team, led by Andy Richardson and Tom Cummins.

LDC’s investment and support will help Power Saving Solutions to cement its leading position in the growing battery storage industry and deliver a growth strategy underpinned by product development and diversification into new end markets.

As part of the transaction, Gary Jacobson joined the board as Non-Executive Chairman, bringing with him more than 20 years of sector experience, and Mike Marrison, former CFO of equipment-as-a-service provider SRL Traffic Systems, joined as a Non-Executive Director.

LendingMetrics’ software and data solutions help hundreds of companies to make highly sophisticated automated and risk-based lending decisions.

Founded in 2010, the business’ client base includes building societies, online lenders, mortgage companies, credit card providers and commercial lenders.

In addition to its Auto Decision Platform (ADP), its cloud-based software suite includes LendingMetrics Exchange (LMX), a proprietary multi-bureau credit referencing product, OpenBankVision (OBV), a bank statement data platform which helps clients to build accurate affordability profiles in real time, and DeeJoop, a proprietary credit data deduplication tool to standardise high velocity multi-bureau credit files.

Powering smart finance

In November 2024, LDC backed LendingMetrics’ management team, led by co-founders CEO Neil Williams and Commercial Director David Wylie.

LDC’s investment and strategic support will help the business to accelerate new product development within its core financial services sector and expand its network of partners in its consultancy and data services division. It will also enable LendingMetrics to explore complementary acquisitions and diversify its presence in new industries, such as telecoms, utilities and insurance.

Croud is a full-service digital marketing company that operates from offices across the world, with a diverse client portfolio including Amazon Prime, Aston Martin, Coach, Nespresso, Timberland and the VF Group.

It uses its proprietary technology to support the planning, automation and execution of digital marketing campaigns – and then scales this capability via its global marketplace of 2,900 digital marketing domain experts, the Croudie Network.

A partnership for growth

In November 2019, LDC completed a £30m minority investment in Croud, backing Co-Founders Luke Smith and Ben Knight to accelerate global growth and M&A activity.

With the support of LDC, the management team completed five complementary acquisitions – VERB Brands (now Croud Luxe), impakt Advisors, Born Social, Metageni and Vert Digital – expanding both at home and overseas.

Investing in people and technology

Croud also invested heavily in talent and technology to support growth.

This included appointing the former Chief Executive of Dentsu Aegis Network, Jerry Buhlmann, as its Non-Executive Chairman, in addition to the expansion of its senior team with the appointments of Avinash Kaushik, the former Google senior executive, as Global Chief Strategy Officer; Rick Stallings as Croud’s first Global Chief Data Officer; Dean Gardner as Global Chief Operating Officer; Dani Jordan as its first Chief Marketing and Integration Officer and Richard Holmes as Chief Financial Officer.

LDC’s support also enabled Croud to invest heavily in technology through the development of Croud Control, a proprietary technology platform that delivers AI-powered planning, workflows, automation and execution of digital marketing campaigns.

Remarkable growth

During the five-year partnership, Croud grew its US business to account for almost a third of the company’s revenue, and overall revenue increased by more than 360% and headcount by more than 250%.

Today, the business employs more than 600 people across its offices in London, Shrewsbury, New York, Atlanta and Dubai.

In October 2024, LDC exited its investment in Croud to ECI Partners in a transaction that generated a return of 2.8x.

Medray Group (Medray) is a leading provider of diagnostic imaging equipment, including X-ray and CT, to customers across the healthcare, veterinary and dental markets in the UK and Ireland.

Employing 120 people – split between its Dublin base and a distribution centre in Hemel Hempstead – it supplies, installs and services equipment for c. 2,700 customers, in addition to providing complementary products and accessories.

Setting sights on growth

In July 2024, LDC backed Medray’s existing management team, led by CEO Siobhán Crowley, as it pursues an ambitious growth strategy underpinned by investment in its sales team, complementary acquisitions and expansion into further diagnostic imaging modalities and complementary product portfolios.

The Pace Group is a group of brands that maintain and repairs elevators, service lifts and stairlifts to improve their safety, performance and lifespan. The group has 20 brands in its portfolio including Deltron, Metro Lifts, Elevate UK Lifts, Elevator Group, A1 Lifts and Lift Control.

Based in Dudley, it employs 160 people and maintains ~13,000 units across the UK, with more around 5,000 customers across the public and private sectors, including associations, local authorities, hospitals and property and facilities management firms.

Rising to new heights 

In July 2024, LDC backed The Pace Group’s existing management team, led by Directors Scott Haywood and Lukas Schlenker, with a minority investment to support the business’ ambitious growth strategy.

LDC’s investment and strategic support will help the team to accelerate an ambitious growth strategy underpinned by investment in its market-leading services and complementary acquisitions.

Bramble Foods (Bramble) manufactures and supplies more than 2,000 high-quality products, ranging from preserves, pickles, chutneys and sauces to cakes, biscuits, confectionery, hampers and seasonal goods.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, the family-run business has an extensive portfolio of 1,400 customers and supplies to a national base of independent, local retailers, and garden centres, farm shops and holiday parks.

Bramble’s products are sourced from established external suppliers and an in-house manufacturing division which produces a range of award-winning preserves, chutneys, sauces and cakes.

Helping a specialist food manufacturer to grow

LDC backed Bramble in December 2021 to support its organic and acquisitive growth strategy.

The partnership is helping the management team, led by founder and CEO Tony Foster, to consolidate Bramble’s market-leading position by investing in the company’s product range and in-house manufacturing capabilities to drive further organic growth. LDC is also supporting acquisition opportunities to accelerate this strategy.

Headquartered in Nottingham, ENSEK is a leading provider of digital transformation services in the energy sector with an innovative billing and customer account management platform, Ignition.

Led by CEO Jon Slade, the business has grown rapidly since its launch in 2010 through continued investment in technology and a commitment to solving the issues faced by existing and new entrants to the UK energy market.

Capitalising on demand for data and analytics

In 2017, we backed Jon and his team in a management buyout of ENSEK with a minority investment.

The investment enabled the business to embark on the next stage of its growth journey, which included a continued focus on product and new proposition development.

With energy suppliers responding to the growing demand for data, ENSEK enhanced its analytics offering as an opportunity for growth.