Charles Russell Speechlys advises on the investment into TrustedHousesitters by Rockpool
Charles Russell Speechlys has advised the management team of TrustedHousesitters on a significant investment into the company by private equity firm Rockpool Investments.
Founded by Andy Peck and Rachel Martin in 2010, TrustedHousesitters, based in Brighton, is the world’s largest house and pet sitting community operating in over 130 countries. Since launch, the platform has facilitated more than two million nights of house sitting, saving its members over GBP170 million in accommodation and pet care costs. The pet services industry, which is estimated to be worth USD180 billion globally, is experiencing unprecedented growth.
The investment comes at a time of significant growth for the company. This year TrustedHousesitters launched their first commercial partnership with low cost carrier easyJet, as well as continuing their expansion across the USA and Australia. Further technology improvements include launching an iOS app in June which has had over 20,000 downloads to date. This success has enabled the company to double from 25 to 50 staff in 12 months, recently moving into their fifth new premises in Brighton, with their sights set much higher now the inward investment is secured.
Tim Lyons, CEO of TrustedHousesitters said “We were incredibly impressed with the support of the Charles Russell Speechlys team. Through exceptional diligence and specialist advice, they helped us to progress into this next stage of our business with Rockpool as an investor, all the while being thoroughly great people to work with.
This is an exciting development in the TrustedHousesitters journey. We solve the problems of pet owners worldwide who want their pets to have the best care when they can't be there and, with Rockpool's support, everyone on the board is excited about the prospect of taking the TrustedHousesitters solution to the next level. We would of course recommend Rebecca, Richard and team at Charles Russell Speechlys to any business looking for representation in an investment or sale process."
The investment sees Rockpool retain a major stake in the business, with the current TrustedHousesitters executive team continuing to run the business while the founders Andy Peck and Rachel Martin each take a non-executive director role.
Rebecca Burford commented that “it was an absolute pleasure to assist Tim and the team on this management buyout. We look forward to working with the team as they take TrustedHousesitters to the next stage of growth supported by this investment.”
The Charles Russell Speechlys deal team was led by Corporate Parter Rebecca Burford and included Corporate Associates Samuel Milne, Matthew Carter and Sydney Lee, with Becky Lawton advising on Employment and Andrew Priestley advising on Tax.
