Sanderson Group acquires cloud firm One Iota

The Sanderson Group has bought cloud-based eCommerce company One Iota for around £5.43m.

One Iota provides mobile commerce technology to retailers via the cloud.

The company has developed a proprietary cloud-based modular technology platform, MESH, that enables the delivery of enterprise-grade retail SaaS offerings, which span mobile commerce, ecommerce, social media and a range of in-store technology.

The 20-strong firm is based in Rossendale, Lancashire, and count Footasylum, Republic, Mamas & Papas, Universal, Jaeger and SuperDry among its customers. For the seven months of this year until the end of August, One iota reported revenues of about £610,000 and a pretax profit of £210,000.

Sanderson will initially pay £2.38million cash and £750,000 in shares. The remainder depends on One Iota achieving certain performance targets over the next three years.

Software and IT services business Sanderson employs 30 people at its base in Sheffield. It plans to raise £3.5 million, before expenses, by a placing more than six million new shares.

Sanderson chairman Christopher Winn said the firm was “delighted” to welcome the One Iota team, led by Damian Hanson and David Hague, into the Sanderson group.

“Following the acquisition of Catan Marketing in August 
2013, the One Iota acquisition further strengthens the company’s position in the rapidly expanding mobile enabled e-commerce and online sales markets,” he said.

Hague and Hanson founded One Iota in 2010. The firm’s founders told the Manchester Evening News earlier this year it would break the £1 million sales barrier by the end of the year, thanks to its cloud-based retail platform.