Global benefits providers Vivup and Perkbox are set to merge as the pair announced they had secured a strategic majority investment.
Investment, from equity firm Great Hill Partners, will help the merged firms scale up operations, develop more innovative products and identify more growth opportunities.
Combined, the two benefits providers support more than 4 million employees across almost 7,500 organisations. This includes more than 85 percent of the NHS. Following the merger, the plan is to expand the business in Europe and Asia Pacific.
Vivup CEO Simon Moyle will become group CEO and Perkbox CEO Doug Butler will become group executive chairman.
Moyle said it was “rare” to find two companies where “between us, we have the leading products needed across voluntary benefits, wellbeing and recognition and reward, yet very little overlap in the areas in which we currently operate”.
“When I joined Vivup over five years ago, our team consisted of 17 people. Since then, our team has expanded significantly to almost 400 and with the addition of our Perkbox colleagues, we will now be over 500 strong. I am so proud of every member of our team and cannot wait to welcome our new Perkbox colleagues and support over 4,500 organisations.”
Butler said the combined resources and technical product and support capabilities of the two providers “will be a boon to the thousands of public and private sector clients and millions of employee users who rely on our solutions”.
“I’ve always admired Vivup’s mission and growth under Simon’s leadership and, now supported by Great Hill as an investor, our complementary technology, service offerings and people centric cultures create a perfect combination to support HR professionals and their people.”
Great Hill managing director Drew Loucks added: “Today’s exciting milestone creates a new industry player that is well-positioned to capitalise on a large and growing market opportunity. “Doug and Simon both have strong track records of scaling industry-leading businesses by creating successful, client-centric cultures and innovative product offerings. We are excited to support the teams and bring Vivup and Perkbox together to deliver a more powerful employee wellbeing, benefits and engagement platform in the UK.”
Omni Partners, which invested in Vivup in 2022, will retain a minority stake after the merger.
