2017 in review: What was hot, what was not, and our predictions for 2018
2017 has been a record-breaking year for the private equity world, and valuations have risen ever higher, despite geopolitical instability. PE Firms break new records Preqin and Barr data reveals 2017 was a record-breaking year for private equity fundraising. As of November, private equity vehicles closed in 2017 to date have raised $406bn, already more […]
Lessons from payday lending for other financial service providers
Consumer credit is booming in the UK, topping £200 billion for the first time since the financial crisis. Almost half of men and women under 30 regularly use credit to stretch their finances until payday. And a quarter of them are constantly in debt. One in ten have used a payday loan company. The sector has […]
Why care about branding?
Branding is a key identifier for many consumers that differentiates you from your competitors. A brand comprises of more than the logo, colour, font and imagery – though these act as the key initial psychological recognition trigger – it is also about the product or service value, quality and performance. Brands represent all the positive […]
Land of opportunity: Central and Eastern Europe Private Equity Trends
Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has rapidly risen since the fall of communism, as denoted by the chart below. CEE GDP per capita Even more interesting is that at 3.16%, the growth rate of CEE GDP per capita is nearly double that of the EU. This is a market that has […]
Who is looking at Digital Due Diligence and why?
Without meaning to be too self-aggrandising, we do think digital data is the bees knees. Digital data is useful for consumer-facing businesses for obvious reasons. To better your offer as a B2C company, you want to know what your consumers think about you, your competitors and their preferences. The beauty of ‘big data’, specifically online […]
HealthTech: a public health and investor’s dream, or regulatory nightmare?
Ten years on from the launch of the iPhone, the rise of the smartphone is the most significant technological development in a generation. Today the average iPhone is unlocked 80 times per day, with the average user spending 145 minutes interacting with their device, generating reams of personal data that has propelled a handful of […]
Private Equity: a victim of its own success?
Looking back: our reflections on the financial year 2016-2017 in the mid-market private equity market. “The continued fall out of the financial crisis combined with a year of political uncertainty across some of the biggest markets in the developed world have altered the characteristics of M&A activity. The political change we have seen worldwide over […]
Cyber Security: Turning Rhetoric into Action
The recent NHS cyber-attack, that infected over 300,000 computers worldwide, caused a huge spike in Google searches of the term ‘cyber security’ as seen below. Described as the “biggest ransomware attack in history”, the ‘WannaCry’ software debilitated 48 NHS trusts for 24 hours and caused further disruption for at least a week. Cyber security is […]
RealDeals: Q&A with Fleur Hicks, onefourzero
Fleur Hicks, onefourzero‘s MD, is a strategic Marketing and Operations professional with over 16 years’ experience managing blue chip digital and broadcast brands with 7 figure commercial success in the B2C and B2B2C sectors. With key experience across web, mobile, TV and print, Fleur has delivered industry-leading marketing and operations analysis strategy at board level in […]
How has the announcement of a snap General Election affected the financial and investment community so far and how will its outcome affect them?
In the immediate aftermath of Theresa May’s announcement of a snap general election, markets moved considerably: in the world of finance, uncertainty breeds volatility. Markets have now reconciled with the widely anticipated outcome of a landslide Tory win and the expected Brexit route. Both traditional polls and our own sentiment analysis support this prediction. The […]
