Press Announcement: The gold standard in jewellery retail

Aug 02, 2022

London | 02 August 2022 – ClearCourse, a leading group of innovative technology brands providing software solutions and an integrated payments platform, today announces a deal to acquire Pursuit Software, an established provider of jewellery management and point-of-sale (POS) software. The acquisition sees the Company join ClearCourse’s Retail division.

Founded in 2008 and based in Norwich, Pursuit Software provides bespoke software solutions for high-end, multi-store jewellery businesses, including London-based Fraser Hart and Edinburgh’s Hamilton & Inches. The company’s services include stock management platforms, POS integration, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and repairs and manufacturing functions — all of which help jewellery brands efficiently manage their stock and customer transactions. In addition, Pursuit Software offers a payment function, a click-and-collect service and website development and integration. Its software connects to existing instore and online sales systems, creating interoperable stock management across platforms that are tailored to customers all over the UK and Ireland.

This is the first jewellery software business that ClearCourse has acquired, broadening the range of sectors served by the group’s Retail division and taking its overall customer base to over 20,000. Pursuit Software also becomes ClearCourse’s most easterly business within East Anglia, presenting new opportunities to tap into an active local economy and a strong pool of entrepreneurial talent – both of which have benefitted from substantial regional investment that has nearly doubled in recent years.

Following the acquisition, Pursuit Software will harness ClearCourse’s significant investment to transition into its next growth stage, offering up its back- and front-office solutions to bigger businesses. New and existing customers will benefit from the company’s integration with ClearCourse’s spectrum of software businesses and proprietary payments platform, ClearAccept, which is designed to allow individual businesses to tailor their users’ payment experience while easing the burden of security and compliance.

The company’s Managing Director, Mike Burns, will continue to lead Pursuit Software on a full-time basis.

Gerry Gualtieri, CEO of ClearCourse, said: “We are very pleased that Pursuit Software will be joining ClearCourse at what continues to be a challenging and crucial time for the UK high street and its independent brands. As we welcome another great team and thriving customer base, we look forward to an expansion with two exciting elements: investing further in the vibrant East of England, an area with serious potential, and the opportunity to penetrate the jewellery management software sector: an industry with a projected value of £3.3bn this year and clear synergies across point-of-sale and payments software.”

Mike Burns, Managing Director of Pursuit Software, said: “The majority of today’s retail sectors benefit from the support of big, industry-specific software businesses and the fit-for-purpose solutions that these companies develop. Yet in the jewellery space – a powerful sector that handles large transactions and creates meaningful customer relationships – technological investment is critically lacking. Working with ClearCourse, our team looks forward to building out a new league of specialised providers in the retail software mid-market, with ambitions to grow as a company that top-tier businesses can trust.”

The financial terms of the deal are undisclosed.

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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.