Having built his company into the leading brand in its sector, Andy decided that in order to make the transition from being a “big small business” to a “small big business”, he wanted to raise equity funding from investors that he believed in, and who believed in him. He chose to partner first with Pentland Ventures, and then later with Rinkelberg Capital, which is the investment office of the founders of TomTom. 

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After choosing the right investors, Andy was then able to create a peerless C-suite and Senior Leadership team, invest money and focus on making the brand even better, and then implementing an ambitious digital transformation programme that would dramatically improve Vanarama’s ability to scale and defend itself from competitors.

 

Those decisions led to Auto Trader, the UK’s largest car buying platform (attracting just under 70m visits a month) identifying Vanarama as the company that it wanted to buy in order to enhance its online sales capability for its sellers and improve the overall experience of its buyers.

 

Recognised for his entrepreneurial achievements, Andy was named Tech Entrepreneur of the Year at the Go Tech Awards in 2022 and he was honoured as a Sunday Times Leader of the Year, highlighting his commitment to excellence and leadership.

 

As a born entrepreneur, Andy is insatiably passionate about building businesses. He thrives on mentoring others and wanting to play a central part in their success. 

 

Now with his Partners, all of whom he has worked with very closely before, and who each played a role in Vanarama’s success, Andy could not be more excited to dedicate his time and money to investing in businesses to build Britain's Critical Power Platform.