The products and services available in the market are growing in complexity—niches continue to evolve, and firms are keen to capitalise on the changing market. Data can be applied to a diverse range of categories where private equity firms may not have the necessary expertise. As a result, more firms are seeking the services of data-driven consultants to conduct commercial due diligence. In addition, as new specialisations emerge, firms require assets to be rigorously assessed to determine consumer demand and growth potential. One of the most effective ways to do this is to utilise digital data. Data tells firms the whole story in a way that expert opinion does not—there are minimal biases and only factual data to interpret.
However, many organisations struggle to utilise digital data in-house effectively. For example, a survey by Forbes found that more than 95 per cent of businesses face a need to manage unstructured data. Making the data make sense can be intimidating—that is where a data-led consultancy firm can help. The onefourzero team has the knowledge and experience to source and interpret data to swiftly answer specific commercial questions. As a result, firms, investors, and brands can also understand the value creation opportunities post-acquisition.
onefourzero: Data-driven Commercial Consultancy
onefourzero supports investors and brands throughout the entire M&A lifecycle. Our data-led, tech-enabled approach to commercial and digital diligence allows us to deliver low-latency, robust and reliable diligence on both the buy and sell sides. Combining more than 1,500 data sources and a team of expert consultants, we deliver commercially-focused reports and diligence. We work on all deal stages, including origination, early stage diligence from outside to in as well as full diligence and ongoing consulting.
We provide client-centric outputs, including dashboards or in-depth reports—all work delivered contains commercial and strategic implications and recommendations. Our team of expert consultants contextualise findings against macro and category insights, allowing you to understand the scale of the opportunity and steps you need to take with an asset.
Onefourzero’s Scalable Diligence Solutions
We offer three tiers of commercial due diligence: A market snapshot report, an Early-Stage Commercial Market Map Report and A Full Commercial Diligence Report, all of which blend high-volume alternative data with traditional consulting to validate commercial aspects of potential investments.
Market snapshot report
Our market snapshot report does just that—it gives you a valuable glimpse into the market of interest rather than a deep dive. The report is light touch and pre-approach, providing a general overview of an asset covering market share and demand, sales and marketing and sentiment and reputation.
The report spans five pages and can be delivered by our experienced team in five days.
Early-Stage Commercial Market Map Report
The only way to accurately track your competitors and assess your brand’s market is with data. A market map allows firms and investors to determine the viability of an asset through the analysis of a particular industry or market using commercial data. Early-stage commercial market maps highlight the actions of competitors, reveal market share and identify gaps in the market, allowing firms and brands to make informed, data-driven decisions.
The Market Map will span 15 pages and has a 14-day turnaround time.
Full Commercial Due Diligence
Firms looking to conduct a deep dive into a target asset or industry would benefit greatly from a Full Commercial Due Diligence Report. The Full Commercial Due Diligence Report provides firms and investors with commercially actionable insights based on over 1,500 data sets and our consultants’ many years of experience in a range of industries. This report will provide firms with a comprehensive assessment of:
- Commercial performance
- Market share and demand
- Sales and marketing
- Customer cohorts and loyalty
- Platform engagement
- Sentiment and reputation
- Digital capabilities audit
- Headroom and growth
- Tech and IT
The turnaround time for a report of this nature is between four to five weeks. Our expert team of consultants, who will be producing the commercial due diligence report, have experience working in various industries, including private equity, marketing, banking and finance, healthcare, retail, insurance, online gaming, leisure and more. Their many years of experience allow them to translate unstructured digital data into clear, actionable commercial insights.
The Importance of Robust Data Modules
Whether you commission a market snapshot, Early-Stage Commercial Market Map Report or Full Commercial Due Diligence, we will use various robust data modules to give you a clear picture of your industry. We provide a range of insights, such as market size, share and growth, commercial performance and benchmarking, marketing efficiencies and positioning, audience and sentiment, commercial modelling and user experience and engagement data.
Market size, share and growth
Our consultants will layer commercial data sets upon demand, footfall and brand recall indicators, which are correlated to use as proxies for live tracking of market size, share and growth. This data will help firms answer questions such as:
- What is the size of the addressable market, and how has it evolved?
- How has the company’s share across multiple metrics changed over time?
- Are there trends in sector demand which represent threats or opportunities?
Commercial performance and benchmarking
Our consultants will use asset, sector and brand-specific commercial data sets to empower clients and portfolio companies to understand current and future value propositions relative to competitors. This data will help firms answer questions such as:
- How has the company’s growth indexed against the sector?
- Does commercial performance in each Geography reflect equivalent strength based on market conditions?
Sales and marketing
Our consultants will explore the effectiveness of firms’ sales and marketing strategies. This data will help firms answer questions such as:
- How does the company perform compared to competitors on key channels and metrics?
- How efficient is the company’s activity over time?
- What are the opportunity channels?
Audience and sentiment
Our consultants utilise cohort tracking and social listening tools, alongside custom scraping code, to provide insight into brand affinity, strength and reputation across multiple platforms and review websites. This data will help firms answer questions such as:
- How is the company considered holistically versus peers, and are there key areas in which it has an advantage?
- What are the buying considerations that trigger the most conversations in reviews, comparison platforms and social media?
Platform engagement
Our consultants analyse various metrics across technology performance, user behaviour, audience demographics and marketing channels to map and understand customers’ digital journeys. This data will help firms answer questions such as:
- What does observed engagement indicate, for example, conversion rates vs. competitors?
- Which content is informing decisions in this sector?
- What is the importance of apps in this space, and how does the asset perform?
Tech and IT
Our consultants will determine the effectiveness of a company’s tech and IT infrastructure. This analysis will help firms answer questions such as:
- Is the asset’s software and technology infrastructure appropriate to deliver on the growth ambitions?
- Are there any compliance or cybersecurity risks?
- Is the development roadmap appropriate to growth ambitions?
Headroom and growth
Our consultants will assess an asset’s available headroom for growth. This analysis will help firms answer questions such as:
- What is the available headroom for growth per channel? What is the level of challenge and investment required to achieve it?
- What are strategic and tactical recommendations in the short, medium and long term?
Our Commercial Due Diligence Services in Practice
Since onefourzero was founded in 2014, our team of consultants have worked with organisations in various industries, including travel and leisure, education, tech-enabled, healthcare, e-commerce and consumer, business services, pharmaceuticals and industrials, to provide them with robust, reliable data that answers key commercial questions. Below are a few examples of our commercial due diligence work for a private equity firm and a venture capital firm:
Private equity: Charterhouse
onefourzero recently assisted Charterhouse – one of the longest established private equity firms in Europe – with their investment in accredited certification provider Amtivo. Founded in 2017, Amtivo provides accredited certification, training and tech-enabled services with a specialisation in management system certification. The company has seen rapid year-on-year growth alongside 12 acquisitions to strengthen its position as a globally-recognised leader in the market.
onefourzero conducted an early-stage commercial diligence exercise examining the competitive landscape across multiple geographies throughout EMEA and APAC, the historical and projected trajectory of product demand and brand sentiment across global and local online platforms.
This work provided insight into how and where customers source information in the space and uncovered key criteria that drive decision-making. These findings allowed Charterhouse to shape digital strategy and understand the potential for achievable growth in this market.
About the acquisition, James Cocker, Partner at Charterhouse, said: “Amtivo is one of the most exciting and distinctive businesses in the certification space and benefits from an attractive market, highly effective operating model and an exceptional management team. We look forward to working with Mike and the team to support Amtivo’s continued growth during the next several years.”
Venture Capital: Octopus
onefourzero assisted Octopus Ventures with its investment in Fergus, a NZ-founded job management software platform for plumbers, electricians and other tradespeople to manage their businesses. Following impressive growth, the company, together with Octopus Ventures, is eyeing ambitious expansion through product investment and further education, training and resources in its global markets.
With the benefit of onefourzero’s commercial due diligence, Octopus Ventures gained insight into market share, penetration and growth per geography and a deep-dive examination of user acquisition, retention and growth. This assisted the identification of key value creation and expansion opportunities.
Ben Martin, Managing Director at onefourzero, said: “It was a pleasure assisting Octopus Ventures on the investment in this unique business and we wish the team every success in further growing its tech-enabled solutions in this sector.”
Our Commercial Diligence Process
We have a bespoke, dynamic and collaborative approach to each project, with regular interim consultations to facilitate client-led feedback throughout the process:
- We start with a collaborative brief to ensure the project is fully tailored to the client’s individual needs.
- We collect relevant data from over 1,500 sources, which are then processed and analysed by our expert consultants.
- The data findings are created into commercially actionable insights.
- We deliver the project and hold interim catch-ups to ensure all objectives have been met.
Onefourzero is a data-led digital consulting firm offering diligence and value creation services, as well as the one-stop monitoring threesixty platform. If you would like to learn more about our services, get in touch with our team today.
