Email management business receives £1.5m investment from GLE's equity finance service, YFM Equity Partners.

Cloud-based email management software

Background

KnowledgeMill, which is London-based, was founded by content management experts Hisham Anis, James Allchin and Marcus Lambert in 2009 to address the problem of filing, archiving and document management of email and attachments.

KnowledgeMill’s clients include legal and other professional services firms, construction and leisure companies. Their business partners include EMC, Oracle, Microsoft, Fujitsu and Union Solutions.

How we helped

YFM Equity Partners (through its managed fund Seraphim Capital) and MMC Ventures have co-invested on a £1.5m growth capital investment into KnowledgeMill, a company that has developed a cloud-based email management software platform that could revolutionise the way businesses and individuals manage their emails.

Peter Norman, former board director at Sophos plc, will join KnowledgeMill’s board as Executive Chairman.

Recent surveys have suggested that 50% of business users now spend more than 10 hours a week processing emails*. Intelligently assigning a ‘context’ to each email, KnowledgeMill enables automated filing of emails, relating to specific work streams and projects, and collaborative working, allowing all relevant people to view the email. Emails and related documents are only stored once which saves significant email infrastructure and storage costs.

Current customers have indicated time savings in the region of 45 minutes per user per day and over 50% savings in infrastructure and email back-up time. It is fully integrated with Microsoft Outlook and through its cloud-based platform is also easily integrated with customer relationship software such as Salesforce.com and NetSuite.

The impact of this help

KnowledgeMill Chief Executive Officer Hisham Anis, says: “Email management is a huge headache for businesses. Our solution enables companies to save considerable time and money on IT infrastructure and staff and improve productivity levels. We are excited to partner with YFM Equity Partners and MMC Ventures as we expand our team and invest in marketing our products to a wider number of potential clients”.

Mark Boggett, Investment Director at YFM Equity Partners and Managing Director of Seraphim Capital added: “We’re delighted to be investing in KnowledgeMill. Their disruptively priced product offers the potential to democratise email management. We have introduced Peter Norman as Executive Chairman who brings a wealth of experience in growing software businesses. We look forward to working with the team and their partners as they transform the business into a market leading provider of email and content management solutions.”

Jon Coker, Investment Director, MMC Ventures comments: “Content management and efficiency of collaboration, especially across email, is a major issue for organisations and the problem is only getting bigger. KnowledgeMill has developed an innovative solution that is disruptive both in function and price. We have been impressed by the team and their early success with large customers and partners and we are excited about working with them to help realise the large opportunity they have.”

YFM Equity Partners / Seraphim team included: James Bruegger and Mark Boggett Investment Directors and Iain Darroch, Investment Manager. MMC Ventures team included Jon Coker, Investment Director and Simon Menashy, Investment Associate. Advisors to investors were MBM Commercial LLP. Advisors to management were: Orrick, Hetherington and Sutcliffe LLP and Gatehouse Capital.

-Ends-

For further information, visit www.yfmep.com or contact Ingrid Tighe on 07962 276580, ingridmtighe@yahoo.co.uk.

Notes to Editors:

*According to research by AIIM in 2009. AIIM is a global, non-profit organization that provides independent research, education and certification programs to information professionals.

About KnowledgeMill

KnowledgeMill’s (www.knowledgemill.com) OnePlace software provides a unique level of email management for collaborative workers in large and medium size enterprises. Designed to cope with today’s high volume email-centric style of working, OnePlace automatically files emails and documents in folders that are shared between users, all from within Outlook in order not to disrupt established working habits. OnePlace separates key business data from disposable emails, directly addressing the many problems of email bloat.

About MMC Ventures

MMC Ventures (www.mmcventures.com) is an active investor, dedicated to backing entrepreneurs to create valuable companies. Founded in 2000, they currently have £80 million under management and a fast growth portfolio that includes Alex and Alexa, Base79, Interactive Investor and Love Home Swap. MMC Ventures invests £0.5-5m in early stage, high growth companies headquartered in the UK. It looks at investment opportunities across a broad range of sectors within technology, media and telecoms, financial and business services and healthcare.

About Seraphim Capital

Seraphim (www.seraphimcapital.co.uk) is a £30m venture capital fund that invests in companies with highly scaleable, disruptive technology that are addressing large global markets. Seraphim invests across all sectors and all stages. The fund is backed by a consortium of business angel networks and corporate venturers from across the UK and the US.

About YFM Equity Partners

YFM Equity Partners (www.yfmep.com) is celebrating 30 years of investing in Britain’s smaller businesses, 1982 - 2012.

YFM Equity Partners invests up to £10m of equity into fast growing businesses across the UK. It has an experienced team of investors with a strong track record of working alongside management teams to create transformational growth and build great British businesses.

Its portfolio includes: cyber security firm, Deep Secure, medical communications company, Fishawack, kitchen manufacturer and retailer, Harvey Jones and outdoor equipment and clothing retailer Go Outdoors. Recent investments include: Castlerock Recruitment Group, PowerOasis and Bagel Nash.

YFM Equity Partners has two wholly owned subsidiary companies which are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. YFM Private Equity Limited (122120) and YFM Venture Finance Limited (224728) have been managing funds specialising in transforming small businesses for almost 30 years.

YFM Equity Partners, through its regulated subsidiaries, manages a number of investment funds. This release may not be taken as an invitation to invest in any company or any fund. Before taking any investment decision, independent advice should be taken and this may vary according to individual circumstances.

For more information ...

For more information about YFM Equity Partners' services visit www.yfmep.com.