SHERPA
Israel Sotonwa
Israel is honoured to be a Sherpa at activpayroll. He is the second Sherpa there following Anna Jackson who was promoted to be Chief Commercial Officer.
In this video, shot a few months after investment, CEO Paul Templar and former COO Stewart Williams share VIPR’s journey of transformation from a family-owned lifestyle business to a small-medium enterprise. They reveal what it was like to complete the investment in the midst of a pandemic and the characteristics that made Tenzing stand out against other bidders.
Founded by brothers Richard and Bob Brown in 2009, VIPR was set up to provide a critical service for insurers, brokers and managing general agents, saving costs, improving analysis and increasing profitability. Richard and Bob previously co-founded price comparison site Moneynet, which they sold in 2010. The brothers remain shareholders of VIPR and are ready to pursue other interests.
The launch of VIPR also called for a CTO – Paul Templar, who was promoted to CEO in 2019. Previously Head of IT at Moneynet, Paul has been a driving force in the creation and acceleration of VIPR’s suite of secure, future-focused technology solutions, designed to make the complex simple. He is now well-placed to take it into its next phase as the go-to business for delegated underwriting software – where insurers give third parties the rights to underwrite insurance on their behalf – powered by sophisticated data and analytics.
With Richard and Bob Brown ready to move on from their journey as Founders and realise the value of what they’d created, the time came to define what that next step would look like. Despite several attractive trade purchase options presenting themselves, the desire for continued growth made private equity the right choice.
After a competitive sales process, it came down to the right fit – both on a business and personal level. The Tenzing support offering, such as the Entrepreneurs Panel, Subject Specialists, and Sherpa Programme, was also incredibly appealing to the VIPR team.
Paul Templar
CEO of VIPR
Now, it’s about defining how we work together. “We’ve got good communication lines open,” says Paul. “And I think it will evolve as we go.”
Even after racking up a strong 12 years in business, growing from startup to market leader with a 30% revenue growth in the past 12 months, Paul believes there’s still a long way to go. “We’re operating in a niche sector of the global insurance market, so there’s an awful lot to play for,” he explains. “With assistance from Tenzing and the experts they’ve got on hand, we have the injection we need for significant growth.”
Tenzing has supported VIPR in completing its Leadership Team and Advisory Board. “We now have the right people in place to support our market expansion. With more people working remotely, there’s more of a need for systems with automation efficiences, which we can bring to the insurance industry, globally”.
Entrepreneur-in-Residence Glenn Elliott and Tenzing’s Sales Specialist Shelley Lavery have helped review VIPR’s sales process. “We need to make some sales hires and we’re just making sure we’ve got the right processes in place first, so that’s been really useful,” adds Paul.
Paul is also looking forward to Tenzing connecting VIPR with some other specialist experts to maximise growth potential, through investment in marketing, product development and internationalisation.
Heddon House,
149-151 Regent Street,
London, W1B 4JD
Mindspace (2nd Floor)
Salvatorplatz 3
80333 München
