The investment is accompanied by a significant commitment by ECI to support XLN’s ongoing business development and acquisition programme. As a result, XLN will have the funds available to more than double the size of the business through acquisitions.
XLN’s award winning management team, led by founder and Group CEO, Christian Nellemann, will continue to lead the business following the transaction.
Founded in 2002, XLN specialises in providing small businesses in the UK with high quality, low cost fixed line, mobile and internet services. In the last three years, XLN’s revenues have grown substantially from £27 million in 2006/2007 to over £54 million in 2009/2010. In the last year, the company successfully acquired and integrated One Bill into its operations.
Key drivers in XLN’s growth have been the management team’s successful development of an industry leading proprietary technology platform that allows new services to be smoothly integrated into the business, combined with the management team’s highly focused approach to marketing, product development and customer service innovation. Today, the company has over 115,000 business customers across Britain, XLN now operating two non-competing brands in the market, XLN Telecom and One Bill.
Nellemann commented: “By taking a completely fresh approach, we have been able to transform a niche and historically overlooked sector of the market. We have been able to achieve this by combining best quality products with best value pricing and industry leading customer service standards. As a result, we now have a highly profitable and scalable business that will allow us to rapidly expand the range of services we deliver to the small business market. We are delighted that ECI will be a key part of the business’s exciting next chapter given the opportunities for consolidation within our sector.”