Top of the class ParentPay looks to global growth

Coventry-based ParentPay is the UK’s leading provider of school online payment and parental engagement software.

Launched in 2004, ParentPay Group now serves more than 15,000 schools and 5.5 million parents, and the company and its CEO, Clint Wilson, have won a slew of scale-up and entrepreneurs awards.

The company’s growth rate has been maintained for 11 years straight. Last year the company’s turnover was £30 million.

Where did it all go so right?

First mover advantage for one – ParentPay created the market for school online payments. Learning from mistakes is another, and persistence in engaging with time-poor school business managers.

ParentPay was conceived by a working parent and former teacher who wanted to take away the headache of pupils having to bring cash to school for meals, trips and other things. The company’s technology helps schools collect and manage payments by parents. It’s removed the need for cash for the schools using the system. It’s also helping take the stigma away from families which don’t have access to banking facilities.

The mistake the company made was back in 2011, when its technology couldn’t cope with the increase in traffic through the website. Clint said: “We still refer to that as Black September, but we learned a lot.” Since then the company has significantly increased research and development investment in enhancement of its platforms, technology infrastructure and development of new products.

Most important, added Clint, is the company’s investment in its customer services team. The company has 70 people in this department, and ParentPay says it has a 99.5 per cent retention rate.

Growth has come through organic expansion alongside acquisition. The company bought Schoolcomms, a school/parent communication app, and also Cypad, a tablet-based meal ordering and kitchen management platform for schools. It also acquired WIS, a Dutch school payment collection software business, to expand across Europe, where it is targeting France, Germany, Spain and Italy.

“There are 10 million pupils in the UK and 65 million more across Europe,” said Clint.

“We see substantial growth opportunities across Europe and aim to enter two or possibly three new markets within the next two years.”

Stairway to heaven for Coventry timber manufacturing company

Staircraft, based at Exhall near Coventry, has retained its place in the Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100 for two years running. The league table ranks Britain’s 100 private companies with the fastestgrowing sales over their last three years.

Sales reached almost £40 million in 2017. In 2018, the company’s turnover increased by 22 per cent, to nearly £44 million, with profits increasing too.

The company said this was due to a number of factors, including the significant investment of previous years beginning to pay dividends.

Staircraft makes staircases, joist floors, door linings and other timber products, and says it is the world’s leading staircase manufacturer. It operates 10 manufacturing facilities.

The company was founded by Managing Director Andy Hamilton in 1995 and now has three divisions: Staircraft Integrated Solutions, which serves some of the UK’s biggest housebuilders, Tru Building Systems, which services regional, timber frame and modular builders and Independent Construction Technologies, which provides specialist design, performance and system testing.