Private equity investment in heating industry disruptor
NPIF – Maven Equity Finance, part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund and managed by Maven Capital Partners, has invested £250,000 in Boiler Plan to support the firm’s growth and training centre in Featherstone.
The transaction also includes a £500,000 investment from the North East Development Capital Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund also managed by Maven. A further £750,000 was invested on behalf of the Government’s Future Fund.
Today’s funding will support Boiler Plan’s long-term strategy to invest in its new operating platform to streamline efficiencies and infrastructure.
This will allow the business to rapidly scale and continue to expand its customer reach. The backing will also support its new technical training centre in Featherstone, Wakefield and allow the platform to maximise its growth potential.
Maven has invested £3.9m to date in Boiler Plan to fuel a number of growth opportunities and support the business as it achieved key milestones including the creation of over 60 jobs and a significant increase in turnover.
Boiler Plan’s online platform (boilerplanuk.com) supports the entire boiler sales process, handling everything from the choice of appliance, the initial home survey, finance payment options, installation by a qualified engineer, and the ongoing maintenance and aftercare service.
Gas-fuelled boilers remain the dominant source of domestic heating in the UK. Today there are 22 million households in the country that are heated by natural gas boilers compared to 17 million in 2000.
Alex Rothwell, investment manager at Maven, said: “We’re delighted to back Boiler Plan at such an exciting point in the company’s journey.
“The new training centre in Featherstone will create new skilled jobs as the platform embarks on a programme of growth. We look forward to working with Ian and the team to help this disruptive platform scale up.”
Ian Henderson, managing director and founder of Boiler Plan, said: “Both myself, our directors and the whole team at Boiler Plan are delighted to receive this additional funding from Maven Capital Partners.
“The Maven team have been extremely supportive since their first investment in 2018 and they’ve been there for us when we have needed them to further support our ambitious growth targets, both with follow on capital investment and strategic business decisions.
“This latest investment round will allow us to develop our software platform as well as create further jobs, which in turn will drive further efficiencies in our operating model and allow us to scale even faster.”
The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.
