Great Hill Invests In Mobile Workforce Platform BigChange

U.K.-based BigChange said private equity firm Great Hill Partners has invested over 75 million pounds (about $102.4 million) in the company so it can build out its mobile workforce platform, per a Thursday (Feb. 4) press release.

The investment brings BigChange’s valuation to 100 million pounds. The company said a substantial tranche of the funding will be channeled toward product development as the company looks to expand beyond the U.K. into the U.S., Europe and Asia.

BigChange’s management team, which is headed by Founder Martin Port, will retain a “significant minority stake” and continue to run the company, it said. In addition to BigChange, Great Hill Partners has also invested in Wayfair, Zoominfo and Reward Gateway.

The company’s technology includes tools for job scheduling, customer invoicing, mobile workforce management, client engagement and payments automation. Its platform serves approximately 50,000 mobile workers from 1,500 organizations, including Sunbelt Rentals, Silentnight, Recycling Lives, HSS and EDF. Clients range from small teams to enterprise organizations.

“Unlike niche players that focus on smaller customers and specific sub-verticals, Martin and his accomplished team have built a flexible, all-in-one platform for field service professionals and operators,” said Drew Loucks, partner at Great Hill Partners.

“BigChange’s technology is differentiated not only by its ability to serve commercial and residential clients of nearly any scale or vertical, but also by its award-winning product development and customer service capabilities,” Loucks added.

Based in Leeds, BigChange received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2020 for its contribution to business innovation. The company said it signed over 20 million pounds in new contracts last year. It employs about 170 people.

The Great Hill investment comes as companies grapple with transitioning to a mobile workforce amid the ongoing pandemic and increasing employee demand for work-at-home options.

“The trend toward hybrid work ecosystems will increase rapidly, and by 2025 we predict a world characterized by a dispersed, digitally enabled, liquid workforce,” Marie Puybaraud, global head of corporate solutions research at commercial real estate firm JLL, told the Davos Agenda in late January.

“There is no roadmap to follow. Instead, we need to navigate the future of work with the agility to adapt to changes throughout 2021 and beyond,” Puybaraud said, adding that the nature of work, the workforce and the workplace will all “shift radically” in the next few years.