Key facts
Initial Investment: 22/10/2020
Sector: Health & Education
Fund: Impact
Status: Current
Investment highlights to date
- Introduced a chairman with strong industry background.
- Strengthened the team with the recruitment of an experienced Operations Director, a Head of Quality and a Head of HR.
- Supported the diversification of the business into Traineeships to further support 16 – 24 year olds and provide young people with an opportunity to gain work experience and a pathway to an apprenticeship.
- Grown the impact of the business with an increase in learner numbers whilst maintaining the focus on quality and learner outcomes.
- Acquired Just IT Training, adding to its geographical presence in London and the South East.
Partnership motivation
Back2Work is an excellent business delivering a clear social impact by helping people return to work and gain new skills. We were impressed with Luke and his dynamic team and are excited to build on the company’s recent growth and support the continued focus on employment outcomes and career progression.
Back2Work is a compelling investment for the Impact Fund with a highly relevant proposition as the UK adjusts to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which, will inevitably create new requirements for retraining and upskilling.
With further devolution of adult education budgets on the horizon, we also see strong potential for further organic growth across all parts of the business. Given the scale of the opportunity in the training sector and our track record in buy and build, we are also keen to consider potential acquisition opportunities.
Luke Muscat, Co-Founder & Managing Director at Back2Work
After graduating, Luke thought about a career in finance, but decided instead to launch Back2Work with a family friend, as they saw an opportunity for a skills and training company that would work closely with employers to help them fill vacancies with good quality candidates.
The business has grown steadily over the last 10 years, and Luke and the Back2Work team have a clear organic growth plan based on winning more contracts and geographical expansion.
We are really pleased to be working with Palatine on this next chapter for Back2Work. We first met the team around two years ago, before we were ready for investment, and we’ve stayed in touch informally, a couple of times a year, since then.
I believe they will be an excellent partner for us – they have a strong track record of working with entrepreneurial businesses like ours and creating value over the long term. There is a really strong sense of shared values with the Impact Fund team alongside Palatine’s commitment to ESG across their business.
Co-Founder & Managing Director – Back2Work
