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Celebrating four years of ClearCourse: reflections on growth

Oct 04, 2022

It’s true what they say about time flying by. 

 

In October 2018, ClearCourse was founded by our CEO Gerry Gualtieri and Head of M&A, Joshua Rowe, as an ambitious business prospect with potential: an idea that won the faith of an experienced executive team and the initial investment of Aquiline Capital Partners in the US. 

 

Four years later, our group has seen significant growth. We have active regional offices, over 900 employees and almost 40 businesses – and we fully expect to reach new heights in 2023 and beyond.

 

Our achievements to date are worth celebrating far and wide. Those stem directly from our core philosophy of ‘working better together’, which we value most. Indeed, the last four years have been full of change and growth – and it’s worth taking some time to consider the biggest steps in our journey to become a unified group and a growing influence in business software.

ClearCourse named as Business Leader Scale-Up Awards 2022 finalist

 

In addition to reaching our own milestones, it’s equally gratifying to be recognised by the industry this year.

 

We were delighted to hear that we’d been named as one of the finalists in two categories of the Business Leader Scale-Up Awards 2022: Technology Scale-Up and Overall Scale-Up Business. 

 

It’s the first time we’ve entered awards like these, and to be named as a finalist from more than 500 fantastic entrants is a great accolade for everyone who’s played a part in the ClearCourse story. 

 

Earning external recognition is always a rewarding feeling. Indeed, being told by a panel of impartial industry experts (including Touker Suleyman from Dragon’s Den and PensionBee Co-founder Jonathan Lister Parsons) that our journey is impressive is, we hope, an encouraging sign of our positive impact.

Finding new milestones

 

In moments of reflection, it’s sometimes staggering to see just how much we’ve done in a relatively short period, which was made even shorter – and infinitely more challenging – by the global pandemic. 

 

But scaling so quickly isn’t easy, and there remains much to achieve as we move forward. It’s important for everyone – from our team to our future business prospects – to continue to see and embrace progress. ClearCourse thrives on the absolute commitment and dedication to excellence that our teams work hard to foster. 

 

Indeed, our commitments to integration, collaboration and investing in great people, as well as great businesses, will remain as grounding values we take forward as we embark on further growth. 

 

That’s what ‘working better together’ is all about.


In the years to come, here’s to breaking new records and celebrating new wins. 

a man and a woman are playing tennis on a tennis court at night.
07 Feb, 2024
London, 7 February 2024 – ClearCourse, a leading provider of industry-specific software and embedded payments for SMEs and targeted enterprises, announces the acquisition of ThinkSmart Software (“ThinkSmart”), an independent software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) provider delivering an innovative technology for businesses that offer clubs and classes in the UK and Australia as well as other global markets. This strategic acquisition will be integrated as part of ClearCourse’s growing Business Services division. Founded in 2008, ThinkSmart is a scheduling and customer management platform for businesses that conduct classes and take bookings. Today, ThinkSmart serves approximately 2,500 customers predominately within the children’s activities sector, offering a user-friendly, intuitive product which helps “class-based” businesses with managing all day-to-day administration. Its award-winning software helps clients across the tennis, swimming, gymnastics, dance, music and sports sectors automate processes so that they can spend more time managing their business and working with their customers. ThinkSmart’s innovative technology streamlines several business admin tasks, including class scheduling, customer management and communications as well as invoicing and payments systems. Christina Hamilton, Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are extremely pleased to announce ThinkSmart as the latest software business to join our group. We look forward to welcoming the ThinkSmart team, led by founder Andy Leigh and UK Managing Director George Bentley, and working with them to enhance their offering across the growing, class-led activities sector. This investment is a further milestone in the growth of ClearCourse which continues to expand in the UK market as well as internationally.” Andrew (Andy) Leigh, Founder and Managing Director of ThinkSmart, commented: “In ClearCourse we have found a likeminded, customer-focused partner that will support a new phase of growth for ThinkSmart. As part of ClearCourse, we will be focused on continuously improving the industry-specific software solutions we offer our customers across the world, as well as looking for opportunities to expand our services.” George Bentley, UK Managing Director said: “ClearCourse has built a unique and compelling group of software companies and payments capabilities, and we are excited to continue growing our business supported by the rich experience and infrastructure now available to us. In particular, working with ClearCourse will enable us to offer our UK growing customer base market-leading, embedded Direct Debit and card payment solutions which will make accepting and managing payments quicker and easier.” Established in London in 2018, ClearCourse is a leading software and embedded payment specialist servicing SMEs and targeted enterprise customers. The group’s vertical software solutions provide essential, market-leading technology to help their customers manage and grow their businesses. Since inception, the company has undergone rapid growth by acquiring 40 leading software and payments solutions in the market verticals in which it operates: Retail & Hospitality, Golf & Leisure, Business Services and Membership Services. Christina Hamilton added: “ClearCourse is a growth company with a clear ambition to help our customers build great businesses with our industry-specific software and embedded payments solutions. We acquire small- and medium-sized businesses and integrate them into the ClearCourse group of companies to benefit their growth and development, while delivering the same for our customers with their own growth aspirations. Our acquisition of ThinkSmart is our first investment in 2024 and marks a successful start to what we expect to be a year of continued growth for ClearCourse.” The terms of the deal are undisclosed.
Nathan Best ClearCourse Chief Operating Officer
04 Jul, 2023
ClearCourse, a leading provider of industry-specific software and payments for UK SMEs, announces the appointment of FinTech veteran Nathan Best as Chief Operating Officer.
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