The ClearCourse approach to acquisition

• We help the business grow through strategic direction, investment and cross-selling across the ClearCourse portfolio.
• We transition back-office functions, including finance, HR, recruitment and legal, to shared services, allowing the business to focus on product and technology innovation and people development.
• Migrating payments to our in-house credit card and direct debit payment processing solution ClearAccept.

Our approach to acquiring a business and bringing it into the ClearCourse family is highly collaborative. As a team, we work with the business owners from the initial conversation to the deal's completion.

We understand that this could be the first (and last) time an owner will sell their business, and we work closely with them to ensure the best outcome for them and their team. The majority of founders, having joined ClearCourse through acquisition, remain with us today - often changing or expanding their roles within our organisation - which is another key benefit to working at ClearCourse.

From the point of completion, we integrate the businesses into one of our four divisions and provide support to ensure as smooth (as possible) transition into ClearCourse.  

Providing a payment solution that seamlessly combines with proprietary software adds value for customers in a variety of ways. 

An excellent payment experience reduces supplier and integration complexity, helps businesses track revenues through integrated reporting more closely, and can often help increase revenue by enabling different types of payments, such as direct debit or mobile transactions.

ClearCourse launched in 2018, and since then, we have bought businesses across various sectors, including membership, not-for-profit, retail and hospitality, sports, events, clinics, veterinary practices, and garages (to name a few).  

We love to work with businesses that own intellectual property (IP), are profitable, and are growing – and could be made even better by enhanced payment experiences. 

Merging and managing different cultures takes time. Businesses we acquire often have an established culture and value system which we respect, endorse, and help maintain wherever possible. Our ClearCourse values are centred around fairness and working better together, and it's like-minded businesses that we seek to work alongside.