Vivify Expands and Offers Route to Additional Revenue for 16 New Schools Across the UK

We are delighted to announce that we've made our first acquisition, following a £1 million funding injection, led by multi-family investment office, Arete, earlier this year.

Fellow school lettings business Community Hire's 16 schools across Luton, London and Bristol will now join the Vivify network, expanding our work in enabling schools to hire out their spaces. We're now working with over 90 schools throughout the country, giving them a platform to generate additional income and leverage their facilities for the benefit of the wider community.

This comes at a time when running costs are rising at alarming rates. Schools are facing increasing cost pressures due to rising inflation and energy bills, which could lead to them needing to cut teaching staff and increase classroom sizes*.  

Russell Teale, Vivify CEO & Co-founder said:

“Community Hire has achieved an impressive amount in such a short space of time. With the school lettings market so fragmented, this was a great opportunity to invest in a like-minded company to enable us to grow market share and help more schools and communities across the country. 

“Our social purpose drives us every day as we continue to scale quickly. This acquisition is a great geographic fit for Vivify and will help us generate vital incremental revenue for schools across Luton, London and Bristol. With over 39%** of sporting facilities locked behind school gates, we’re delighted to be opening more doors to local communities to provide access to facilities leading to a happier and healthier lifestyle.

The Arete team, led by Simon Lord, Andy Critchley and Briony Fagan, who have been working closely with Vivify since first investing in our business in 2020, said:

“Platforms such as Vivify and Community Hire have already proven that there is a latent market for school facilities to be more easily accessible by external groups to unlock benefits for the wider community, especially during this financially challenging time.

“Vivify’s acquisition of Community Hire is a strategic step in the company’s growth plan and now with this expanded presence in schools in the south of the country, we’re looking forward to working with them to develop this further.”

The deal was led by Arete Capital Partners, Simon Lord, Andy Critchley, Briony Fagan with legal advice from Hill Dickinson, Matt Noon and Elan Iorweth and tax advice from Claritas, Matt Hodgson and Peter Hully.

*Taken from The Independent

**Percentage taken from UK Active survey