UK ISP Origin Broadband Boosted by £2m Private Investment

Calculus Capital, which specialises in Enterprise Investment Schemes and Venture Capital Trusts, has made a second investment of £2 million into Doncaster-based ISP Origin Broadband. The new money will be used to help grow the business (i.e. attracting more customers and adding extra UK staff).

The same Private Equity fund put £3 million into Origin at the end of December 2016 (here) and since then the ISP claims to have been “extremely successful” at acquiring new residential customers, surpassing its projected numbers by more than 300%. The company has also increased its headcount by over 100% since December (no solid base figures have been provided to give this context).

Oliver Bryssau, Managing Director of Origin, said:

“We continue to work closely with Calculus Capital who are helping us to reach our growth ambitions. We are using this funding to invest heavily in providing UK based jobs and in turn focusing on providing the best service to our broadband customers at a great price.”

Richard Moore, Head of New Investments at Calculus Capital, said:

“We are pleased to be supporting Origin in this latest round of fundraising. The company has achieved significant growth since our last investment, particularly in the residential market. This second round of funding will enable to Origin to support its enlarged customer base and focus on growing the SME (leased line) side of the business.”

One downside of Origin’s rapid expansion appears to be that the level of customer gripes about the service have also increased, which is something that we’ve noticed quite a bit since the start of this year. Hopefully the extra investment will be used to tackle some of those weaker points so that quality isn’t sacrificed too much for the sake of growth.