Agathos completes investment into Targeted Provision

Agathos is pleased to announce the completion of a majority investment into Targeted Provision, a specialist provider of additional educational support to vulnerable children and young people across the UK.

Targeted Provision supports vulnerable children and young people with additional educational needs that are currently, or at risk of being, unable to access mainstream education. The business offers tailored, trauma-informed educational tutoring and support to Local Authorities and Schools through leading Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (‘SEND’) professionals. Agathos has made a majority investment into Targeted Provision to support the development of these services across the UK.

Targeted Provision was founded in 2018 by CEO, Chris Kneale-Jones and CTO, Josh Nieboer, to address a market need for educational support to vulnerable children. Over the last three years, the team has developed an exceptional proposition and positioned the business well to serve the evolving SEND tutoring and mentoring sector. This proposition is underpinned by an ambitious, energised and knowledgeable team of over 40 people, dedicated to enabling the very best educational support for children and young people.

Agathos’s investment will provide an exit for a number of existing shareholders, whilst supporting the senior leadership team in delivering ambitious growth plans over the next few years.

James Bakewell, Tom Street, John Butterworth and Katie Beck led the transaction from Agathos. James and Katie will join the Board at completion.

James Bakewell, Partner at Agathos, commented: “We are delighted to be partnering with Chris, Josh and the team at Targeted Provision. We have been incredibly impressed with how Targeted Provision has developed such a compelling solution to address the needs of a crucial and underserved part of the educational ecosystem. The business’s tech-enabled, data-oriented approach enables it to provide a unique offer to its clients, delivering clarity on the quality of outcomes it achieves. The business has consistently delivered an exceptional service to Local Authorities and schools, and through our active partnership we believe we will be able to create further reach and positive impact to young people with additional educational needs across the UK.”

Chris Kneale-Jones, CEO of Targeted Provision commented: “Our mission is to strive to create a new minimum standard of needs-led education for the UK’s most vulnerable young people. Throughout the past three years, we’ve demonstrated our wrap-around provision is impactful, meets needs and supports young people to achieve their outcomes. We are hugely excited about working with Agathos to help our business scale further, allowing us to reach more young people without ever compromising on delivering best-in-class provision. Agathos’s impact-driven values came through early in our conversations, and they are a worthy custodian to support our ambition to widen reach across the UK.”

A personal quote from William de Laszlo Founding Partner of Agathos: “I am passionate about this investment given my battles with severe learning difficulties. As Targeted Provision grows, we hope the impact of this amazing business is magnified, enabling students it serves to fulfil their potential.”

Agathos was advised by Stephenson Harwood (legal), Crowe (financial and tax), Cairneagle (commercial), Continuum (organisational), BDO (tax structuring), Intechnica (technology) and WA Communications (policy). Targeted Provision was advised by Hazlewoods LLP (financial) and Avery (legal).

This is Agathos’s tenth investment, and the second investment from Fund II, launched in 2021. Agathos is a growth-focused investor, specialising in partnering with management teams on the development of businesses operating in fast-growing markets. Agathos will typically work with founder-owned and managed businesses headquartered in the UK.