Founded in 2006, Vast Visibility employs 25 people in Princes Dock providing software for price comparison and insurance websites such as confused.com and Admiral. Tony McDonough reports.

Global private equity outfit HgCapital has taken a major stake in a Liverpool digital firm that provides software for price comparison websites.

Vast Visibility employs around 25 people in Princes Dock in Liverpool and provides the technology which underpins insurance quote aggregators on behalf of major brands in the financial services industry, including confused.com, Asda, Autotrader and Admiral.

The value of the investment has not been disclosed but HgCapital primarily targets middle-market buyouts with enterprise values of between £50m and £500m across the technology, media and telecommunications sectors.

Founded in 2006, Vast Visibility uses data collection and user behaviour tools to allow the highly complex websites of its clients to function smoothly and has recently appointed Jon Morrell, former Gocompare boss, as its new chief executive.

The investment forms part of a platform of UK general insurance investing which was initiated by HgCapital through the acquisition of A-Plan Insurance in 2015.

The private equity firm has a strong track record in financial technology investing, through its ownership of Sequel Business Solutions, Intelliflo and Relay Software, all of which serve the European insurance and asset management market. 

Max Carruthers, Vast Visibility’s chairman, said: “This investment is another significant step forward for the business and follows hot on the heels of Jon Morrell’s recruitment in September as the company’s new chief executive.”