Lightyear, provider of finance automation solutions

Lightyear was founded at the end of 2017. By the time of acquisition, it had been operating for approximately seven years. The business had grown to employ around 65 staff and had a customer base in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US.

Founder Chris Gregg shared his experience

"The decision to sell was a combination of creating a new strategic direction for Lightyear to continue momentum, the desire to inject some rocket fuel to take us to the next level and releasing equity for our shareholders.

On a personal level, I had a young family with five children. On many levels, the time was right to sell and allow our business and people to benefit from the support a bigger organisation, such as Access, can bring.

Once we decided to sell, our priority was to make sure we were going to a good home in terms of culture. Our people needed to be treated well in the transition and beyond, and I'm delighted to say that. to date, we haven't had anyone leave. Career progression and opportunities for our team were important to us. With the Access strategic growth pattern, we felt confident that this was an environment where our people would thrive.

Deal certainty was also fundamental in choosing to sell to Access. We needed to sell to a company with good cash flow and the financial infrastructure to make the acquisition happen smoothly, which it did. At the time, we discounted a few interested parties on that basis. The Access M&A team gave us total confidence, no games, and total transparency. We were satisfied that Access was a business that cared about people and customers and aligned with our values.

We also liked Access's flexibility, which equally accommodated a management team that still wanted to run the business day-to-day. At the same time, it could also facilitate if founders chose to step back - that was an option, too.

To anyone in the process of selling to Access – evaluate all your options, and for candid, honest feedback, tap into the extensive founder network at Access."

Chris has over ten years' experience in the Fintech sector. He has led successful teams in fast paced startup environments and corporate Fortune 500 companies in APAC, North America and Europe. Chris was part of the founding team at Invitbox (purchased by Intuit in 2014) where he led an award winning sales and marketing team.