Origin Broadband Raises £3m Investment to Grow UK ISP

Doncaster-based ISP Origin Broadband, which tends to focus on the budget side of the market, has managed to raise an extra £3 million of investment via Calculus Capital, which is a Private Equity fund manager and specialist in the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Venture Capital Trust (VCT). Expect more sales staff to be hired.

According to the press release, Origin boldly claims to have “developed its own infrastructure and now has the sixth largest broadband network in the UK based on ‘premises passed’“, although it’s unclear exactly what part of their network that reflects and how far outside of their South Yorkshire base it extends (they also work with some other ISPs).

Otherwise the new investment will be used to help Origin hire new staff and expand their sales team in order to “develop new business” across the United Kingdom.

Oliver Bryssau, CEO of Origin Broadband, said:

“Our company was born in part out of my own frustration with the poor broadband and service I received at home and we never lose sight of the importance of providing a first-class service.

Our customers have an account manager as a single point of contact, we can tailor packages to their individual or business needs and we offer UK-based technical support 24/7, 365 days of the year.

This focus on quality customer service and the highly competitive pricing made possible by having our own infrastructure, represents a very attractive proposition.”

John Glencross, CEO of Calculus Capital, said:

“The continuing migration of UK households to superfast broadband is driving revenue growth for internet service providers, with Ofcom figures showing company revenues from domestic customers up 18.5% year-on-year to £4.9 billion in 2014. Equally, more and more businesses are moving to cloud computing services. We believe Origin is extremely well-positioned to benefit from this growth.”

Origin’s turnover is predicted to reach £18m this year, which is a huge improvement over £3.5m in the previous year.