Luxury yacht software firm secures PE backing and makes acquisition

Voly Group, a Greater Manchester-headquartered luxury yacht industry software specialist, has secured a £2 million loan from Palatine’s Growth Credit Fund. The deal includes funding for the group’s acquisition of specialist maritime payroll provider Voyonic and supports the ongoing development of its fintech platform.

Voly Group’s financial management software is used across the global luxury yacht industry for managing operational expenditure and maintenance. The company’s platform enables superyacht captains, crew, owners, management firms and family offices to conduct global transactions, supported by real-time reporting.

The group was established by former pro tennis player Ian Flanagan in 2016 and has grown to establish itself as a multi-asset financial management platform serving the yachting sector. In 2021, the group secured private equity investment from Magenta Partners.

Voly employs around 100 staff at its Cheadle HQ and across locations in the UK and Europe. The acquisition of Voyonic adds multi-jurisdiction payroll capabilities to the group’s Software as a Service (SaaS) offering.

Voly Group Chief Executive Ian Flanagan said that “the acquisition and integration of Voyonic into Voly Group will create more benefits for superyacht owners, further cementing our position as the leading management platform in the sector.”

According to Flanagan, the group has “a very clear strategy [...] to create the market leading and industry standard ERP solution in the yachting industry which will always involve building new product”.

However, he continued that the company was “always on the constant look for best in class solutions also that we can buy and integrate to our growing dashboard and Voyonic is just that.”

He added: "This acquisition is not just a business move; it’s a commitment to the future of the maritime industry, setting the stage for a new standard in payroll and crew management services.”

Palatine’s Growth Credit Fund was raised to support maturing, high growth businesses in regions of the UK that are seeing sustained double-digit year-on-year revenue growth.

Flanagan stated that the fund “has provided us with genuine growth capital at a much earlier point than most traditional debt providers are willing to, providing us with the opportunity to increase value for all of our stakeholders.”

Ryan Sorby, Partner at Palatine Growth Credit, commented: “Voly is a genuine market leader with a unique product, a highly impressive founder, and strong backing from its equity sponsors. Ian and his team have achieved very exciting growth to date and the acquisition of Voyonic adds yet more value to Voly’s best-in-class proposition.”

"The Growth Credit fund was raised to address an imbalance in the availability of growth capital in the UK regions and it’s particularly pleasing that its first deal in the North is supporting such a stellar example of Manchester’s tech community. We’re excited by the potential for the Fund to be able support future growth at Voly as it continues to develop.”


UK private equity investment is expected to increase over the coming months, following a dip during the first half of the year

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