STRATA PARTNERS - Key Persons
Anthony joined Strata in May of 2o23 from Ardent Advisors, where he was a Director for over 14 years, advising high growth technology companies on capital raising and M&A. Transactions that Anthony originated and worked on in recent years included fundraises for Arkk Solutions, Energy Helpline, Infinity Tracking, MatchesFashion.com, My-wardrobe.com, Tictrac, Wetsuit Outlet and Woodhouse Clothing, as well as the trade sales of SeeQuestor and FSN.net to Moneysupermarket.com. Previously, while at Canaccord Genuity, Anthony provided equity research on ASOS, Moneysupermarket.com, Rightmove, Tradedoubler, YouGov and a number of online gaming and payment businesses including Neteller and Playtech. Prior to his role at Canaccord Genuity, Anthony worked at ING Barings both in the IT department as a project manager as well as in the equity research departments in Tokyo and Hong Kong where he worked for the Chief Asian Strategist.
Anthony completed an MBA at Oxford University and an undergraduate degree in Computer Science at the University of British Columbia and has lived in Canada, Tokyo and Hong Kong as well as London.
"I've spent more money on Strata than on anything else in my life, and it was worth every penny! You guys were awesome!"
Alistair has been with Strata since early 2008 and focuses on all aspects of M&A and growth capital raising transactions.
During this time Alistair has worked on buyside and sellside M&A including transactions in healthcare software, fin-tech, mar-tech and small business software. On the buyside, Alistair has worked on long-term engagements with mid-sized and multinational corporations seeking to grow through domestic and cross border acquisitions. For sellside and capital raising transactions, Alistair works closely with companies with recurring or highly repeatable revenue streams to extract and present key metrics and growth drivers.
Alistair has completed over 20 transactions at Strata including in healthcare software (five acquisitions by Allocate Software while AiM listed), mar-tech (sale of SEP backed Pure360 to Spotler), fin-tech (sale of SpeedInvest backed Holvi to BBVA), and small business software (sale of HgCapital backed debitoor to SumUp).
Prior to joining Strata, Alistair obtained his PhD in Condensed Matter Physics from McGill University in Montreal as a Commonwealth Scholar.
"Strata did a great job finding us the right investors. When the pandemic disrupted our fundraising, they remained committed to helping us succeed - and eventually we closed with SEP. Had Strata not been there to guide us through the process, our deal would almost certainly have failed."
"Strata assisted us in a lengthy process involving preparing the company for investment, putting us in front of the right parties, and ultimately completing a transaction. Their advice was invaluable throughout, but moreover, they went above and beyond to ensure a brilliant result. We would not hesitate to engage them in the future and would wholeheartedly recommend them to other founders and CEOs."
Mark co-founded Strata in 2002.
Mark began his career with Coopers & Lybrand where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. In 1997, Mark joined Robert Fleming & Co. (now part of JPMorgan) as an investment banker where he was involved in the execution of a wide variety of transactions with an emphasis on public and private M&A and capital raising transactions in the UK mid-market.
Mark has an impressive track record in trade sales by way of competitive auction process and the execution of acquisition-led growth strategies. He has particular expertise in the laboratory testing, life science and outsourced research services sectors where he has acted on numerous buy side and sell side transactions. Mark's clients have included private equity firms such as Albion Capital, Bridgepoint Development Capital, CBPE Capital, Inflexion and Maven Capital, global corporates such as Eurofins Scientific, LGC and Carclo plc and founder-owned businesses such as Crawford Scientific, CgMs, Melbourn Scientific, M-Scan and Simbec Research.
Mark graduated from Pembroke College, Cambridge University in 1992 with an MA degree in Economics.
"Thanks to the team at Strata - It was a pleasure working with the excellent Robert Lees and his team as they helped us explore our options, and secure a great result for the future of Company Watch."
Robert joined Strata at the start of 2009 and became Managing Partner in 2014. Robert focuses primarily on the software, IT services & e-commerce sectors. At Strata, he has advised companies such as Adaptive Financial Consulting, Amadeus IT Group, Aurix, Averroes Capital, Billing Services Group, Billomat, Branchspace, Company Watch, Dohop, Fits.me, Joyful, Luxoft, Oxatis, Pure360, Quintel, Roomex, Sage, thetrainline.com, VitalFields, Warburg Pincus and WorldOne on buy side transactions, sell side transactions, disposals and capital raises.
Prior to Strata, from 1996 to 2008, Robert acted on a variety of buy side and sell side M&A transactions, LBOs, privatisations, and IPOs and other equity capital markets transactions at Barclays de Zoete Wedd, Robert Fleming & Co, Dresdner Kleinwort and Credit Suisse. During that time, his technology clients included Amadeus IT Group, Electronic Data Systems, Hellman & Friedman, Misys, PayPoint, Robert Bosch, Staffware and Vista Equity.
Robert studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Oxford University. He speaks English, French and German and has lived and worked in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US.
"A fantastic outcome for Novatus, whereby Strata guided our leadership team through their first round of funding. Strata were instrumental in us securing an excellent investor and we are incredibly excited for the future knowing we have the right partner for our business. Strata were excellent throughout and we hope to work with them again. We would not hesitate to recommend Khilan and the Strata team."