March 28th – Airangel, the Warrington-based company which is the leading provider of guest WiFi solutions to the hospitality sector - has secured a £1.7m funding package from Santander Corporate & Commercial to support its further growth.
Dow Schofield Watts Transaction Services advised Santander on the deal.
Airangel, which has recently opened a new office in Dubai, is expanding rapidly across Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia. Its software platform MyAirangel is now the number one solution in the hotel industry, with clients including IHG, Malmaison, Hotel du Vin, the Eden Project, Movenpick Hotels and Resorts.
MyAirangel is also widely used in private rental sector apartment buildings with large-scale deployments in several prestigious developments in London. The cloud-based platform enables guests to access fast, high quality WiFi connections, in addition to providing hoteliers and property owners with valuable data insights to enable them to engage more with customers and personalise the guest experience.
Airangel, which employs around 40 staff, was set up by Mike Gardner, the current Chairman and founder of Claremont Group Interiors, in 2002. It now manages WiFi connections to over 100,000 hotel rooms or apartments in 27 countries, and has 18 million registered users.
The funding from Santander Growth Capital will enable Airangel to reach more overseas organisations, helping support the company’s ever growing demand. Santander Corporate & Commercial aims to help business owners prosper by providing tailored support at every stage of their development.
Dean Wilkinson, the company’s CEO, said: “In the digital age, connectivity is central to the guest experience and a key factor in people’s choice of hotel. MyAirangel offers a high-quality solution and not surprisingly, is in growing demand from leading hotel chains and venues around the world.”
Philip Mason, Director Santander Growth Capital and Richard Hennity, Relationship Director, Santander Corporate, arranged the transaction, and said: “Airangel is an established and popular brand worldwide, with a strong management team and clear aspirations to become even more successful. Airangel have developed strong relationships with many leading names in the market, and we’re delighted to be supporting the company in its next phase of growth.”
Ed Brentnall of Dow Schofield Watts Transaction Services provided due diligence on behalf of Santander. Ed said: “Airangel is an exciting business with a first-class product and dynamic management team. We look forward to seeing the business continuing to grow into different territories and sectors.”
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Notes to Editors
About Dow Schofield Watts Group
Dow Schofield Watts is a prominent independent advisory business which for over a decade has delivered a partner-led corporate finance service across diverse industries. A talented team of 51 professionals, based in offices in the North West and North East of England. Established in 2002, the firm serves clients across diverse industries and provides a broad range of professional services, including corporate finance, transaction services, business recovery, management and strategy, VAT and tax advisory, forensic services and wealth management.
www.dswcf.com
About Airangel
Our aim is to provide safe and secure WiFi that is easy to deploy, simple to manage, and allows guests to get online quickly with the minimum amount of effort. Everything we do is driven by a passion for innovation and to help our customers to improve their guest’s experience, visitor satisfaction, and loyalty.
MyAirangel is the cloud-based platform at the heart of our solution. It enables easy internet access, with a complete branded experience, and real-time customer engagement. It allows the hotel managers to deliver relevant and useful information directly to their customers whilst they are in the hotel enjoying their stay.
www.airangel.com
Santander UK is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. It has brought real competition to the UK, through its innovative products for retail customers and relationship banking model for UK SMEs. At 31 December 2016, the bank serves around 14 million active customers with c20,000 employees and operates through 841 branches (which includes 60 university branches) and 67 regional Corporate Business Centres. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in the UK. Santander UK plc customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK.
https://www.santandercb.co.uk
Press enquiries – matt.smith@airangel.com, +44 (0) 1925 611061