ClearCourse Partnership Announces Board and Senior Management Appointments

Nov 12, 2018

ClearCourse Partnership LLP, a new partnership of innovative technology companies providing membership software and services to groups, organisations and businesses, today announced the launch of its platform and the hiring of two senior executives, Gerry Gualtieri as Chief Executive Officer and Joshua Rowe as Head of Mergers & Acquisitions. The company also has appointed Stephen Wolff as NonExecutive Director. ClearCourse has received capital backing from Aquiline Capital Partners, a New York and London-based private equity firm investing in financial services and technology.

ClearCourse operates as a holding company with a mission to acquire primarily UK-based group and event management software companies and drive increased growth and profitability through more efficient payments, capital investment and operational support. The platform prioritises retention of existing leadership teams and is focused on creating an environment for talented entrepreneurs and their businesses to thrive.

Gerry Gualtieri, ClearCourse’s Chief Executive Officer, is an accomplished C-level fintech executive, with over 25 years of experience leading and growing businesses in the sector. Mr. Gualtieri recently served as Senior Managing Director and executive management team member at Eze Software Group. Prior to joining Eze via acquisition, Mr. Gualtieri was the Chief Executive Officer of Tradar, a provider of hedge fund portfolio management software, as well as the Chief Operating Officer of Fidessa LatentZero, a provider of front office technology to asset managers.

“Over the course of my career, I’ve had the privilege of leading and building many companies in the fintech and software space. I’m excited to have this opportunity to create a new platform focused on the UK software market that will bring together best-in-class membership management and payments solutions,” said Mr. Gualtieri.

I’m excited to have this opportunity to create a new platform focused on the UK software market that will bring together best-in-class membership management and payments solutions.

Gerry Gualtieri – CEO

Joshua Rowe, Head of Mergers & Acquisitions for ClearCourse, has spent 10 years working as the head of mergers & acquisitions for a variety of organisations in Europe including Callcredit Information Group (now known as TransUnion UK), IHSMarkit, KPMG UK, and Capgemini.

“My goal at ClearCourse is to seek out and bring together market-leading companies where we see an opportunity to further optimise their operations and drive value,” said Mr. Rowe. “We look forward to bringing these companies onto our platform and helping them to grow and evolve.”

Stephen Wolff, currently an Executive in Residence at Aquiline Capital Partners, will join the ClearCourse board as Non-Executive Director. Mr. Wolff most recently served as the Head of Corporate Strategy and a member of the executive management team of Markit Group, a financial information and technology company. Prior to Markit, Mr. Wolff was the Head of Strategic Investments at Deutsche Bank.

“ClearCourse has the right leadership team in place with Gerry and Josh, and I look forward to leveraging my experience developing and implementing growth strategies in financial technology to help them build ClearCourse and its family of companies,” Mr. Wolff said.

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a man and a woman are playing tennis on a tennis court at night.

Software and Payments Specialist ClearCourse Acquires Award Winning Club Scheduling SaaS Business, ThinkSmart Software

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

Software and Payments Specialist ClearCourse appoints Nathan Best as 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.