The software that keeps a whole trade running.
We back founder-led and small private-equity-owned software companies that serve one trade: the systems that vets, nurseries, restaurants, funeral directors and letting agents open first thing every morning, and that the day’s takings already run through.
Healthcare
Practice-management software across pharmacy, vision & audiology, veterinary, and primary & allied care, where every visit ends in a payment.
Hospitality & travel
EPOS, online ordering and booking for restaurants, cafés, accommodation and holiday parks, high card volume every single day.
Professional & personal services
The software behind legal, funeral, lettings and facilities firms, recurring work and trusted, repeat relationships.
Education & childcare
Nurseries, tutoring, music, driving and swim schools that run on scheduling and recurring billing.
Fitness, sports & leisure
Studios, clubs and leisure operators where memberships and bookings flow through the software.
Property & facilities
Self-storage, marinas, lettings and facilities software, where bookings, rent and recurring charges run through the platform.
See what a deal could look like for you.
If your software serves one of these trades, there is a clear path for you: a full cash exit, or the backing to keep building.
You spent years building software a whole trade relies on.
Whatever comes next, it deserves to be looked after.
Whether you are ready to step back or want the backing to go further, we shape the deal around you, your team, and the customers who have trusted you for years. We have built and sold businesses of our own, so we know this is never just a transaction. It is your life’s work.
We look after the software. Then we help it do more.
VerticalStack buys founder-led software companies and keeps them doing what they do best. Over time we add what your customers keep asking for: card payments built in, then finance, banking and insurance, all run by us on one regulated platform. For you, a clean exit or the backing to grow. For your customers, the software they already rely on, only better.
The questions owners really ask.
Price matters, but it is rarely what keeps a founder up at night. These are the questions we hear most often, and our straight answers.
What happens to my team?
The people who built this with you are a big part of why it is worth buying. We want them to stay. Where anything will change, we tell you before anything is signed, and we work through it with you, not around you.
Will my customers be looked after?
Many of them have been with you for years. They keep the software they know and the people they know. Anything we add is there to make their day easier, and we introduce it carefully.
Will the price hold?
The number we agree is the number we pay. We do not chip away at it in due diligence or renegotiate at the closing table. It is the first line of our Code of Ethics, and we put our name to it.
I have sold three businesses of my own.
I know what the morning after feels like.
Letting go of something you have built is harder than anyone tells you. You think about the people who stayed late with you, the customers who took a chance on you early, and whether the next owner will care about any of it.
I started VerticalStack to be the buyer I would have wanted: one that pays what it agreed, keeps its word, and still picks up the phone years later.
Daniel Martin, Cofounder & CEO
Is your software a fit?
We focus on software built for one kind of business, the kind with a front desk, a till or a booking diary, where the day’s takings already run through your system. Think healthcare, hospitality, professional services, education, leisure and property. See whether yours is one of them.
Start with a confidential conversation.
No obligation and no pressure. Just an honest conversation about what either path could mean for you, your team and the business you have built.
Step back, or keep building.
There is no single template, and no wrong answer. Here is what each path really means for you, and we shape the details around the life you want next.
Sell and step back
A clean, full sale. You receive cash at completion, priced as a multiple of your recurring revenue (the subscription and support income your customers pay each year), and hand over the reins knowing the business is in good hands.
- ✓ Full cash at completion, priced on a multiple of your recurring revenue
- ✓ Your product and brand carry on
- ✓ Your customers keep the software, and the service, they rely on
- ✓ A confidential process, typically around 90 days
Keep building, with backing
Take some money off the table now and keep a stake in what comes next. You stay in a senior role, with the capital and the team behind you to go further than you could alone.
- ✓ Cash now, plus a share of the combined business
- ✓ A senior role, still running the business you built
- ✓ Your commitment on your terms: full-time, part-time, or a defined role
- ✓ Capital to grow, plus payments, finance and banking to offer your customers
What you keep
- Your product and brand, carried forward
- A senior role and a say in the roadmap, if you keep building
- The customers and market you built the software for
- The option to keep a stake in what comes next
- A straight conversation about your team’s future, before anything is signed
What VerticalStack brings
- A regulated payments platform, ready to switch on
- Capital to grow, and finance your customers can actually use
- The licensing, compliance and back office, so you never have to think about them
- A path from payments to banking and insurance
A clear path from first hello to close.
A relationship, not a transaction, and a process that moves at your pace, from the first conversation to close in around 90 days.
Built by operators, not newcomers.
VerticalStack is led by a senior team that has built, scaled and sold businesses of its own, from minimal-capital starts to running and selling public companies. Whichever path you choose, that experience is behind you.
Start with a confidential conversation.
No obligation and no pressure, just a clear picture of what either path could mean for you and your business.
A clear path from first hello to close.
Selling the business you built is one of the biggest decisions of your life, so we treat it as a relationship, not a transaction. Here is every step, what happens, roughly how long it takes, and what we will need from you, so there are no surprises at any point.
Intro
Meet in person, no obligation
NDA
Mutual, so you can share openly
Letter of Intent
A fair offer, in writing
Due diligence
Confirmatory, at your pace
Agreement
Purchase Agreement drafted
Close
Handover and next chapter
The honest answers.
What is the process?+
What changes for my customers?+
What happens to my product after you acquire it?+
What happens to my team?+
How do you value a business, and how fast can a deal move?+
Do I need to know anything about payments or financial services?+
What size or stage of business are you looking for?+
What does "FCA authorisation in progress" mean for me?+
Start with a confidential conversation.
No obligation and no pressure, just a clear picture of what the process could look like for you and your business.
Our Code of Ethics.
We are new to you, and we know that trust is earned, not asked for. So before we talk about your business, here is exactly how we operate, the standard you can hold us to at every step.
- 1Our deal is our deal is our deal.
The number we agree on is the number we pay. We do not renegotiate at the closing table, we do not invent reasons to chip away at your price, and we do not move the goalposts once we have shaken hands.
- 2We honour our commitments.
If we say we will do something, we do it. A promise made in writing and a promise made over a handshake carry exactly the same weight with us.
- 3We never ghost you. Ever.
You will always get a real answer from a real person. Whether it is yes, no, or "we are still working on it," you will hear it directly and promptly, never silence.
- 4We are transparent in everything we do.
No hidden terms, no fine-print traps, no surprises. You will always know where you stand, what we are thinking, and why.
- 5We tell you the truth, even when it is hard.
If we see a problem, we name it. You will never have to wonder whether we are being straight with you.
- 6We move at your pace.
Selling your business is one of the biggest decisions of your life. We walk you through every step and never pressure you to move faster than you are comfortable.
- 7We keep your confidence.
What you share with us stays with us. Your numbers, your team, and your story are never used against you or shared without your permission.
- 8We respect what you have built.
Your company is your life's work. We treat it, and every person in it, with the care that work deserves.
- 9We are here for the long haul.
Our relationship does not end at closing. We show up for you and your team well into the future, because your success is how we grow.
This is not marketing. It is our word. If we ever fall short of any promise on this page, tell us, and we will make it right.
The financial platform behind vertical software.
VerticalStack is built on a simple strategy, buying the software a business depends on, starting with payments, and building the rest of its financial stack on top.
Own the software the business depends on. Build the financial stack on top.
Vertical SaaS companies have quietly become the operating system for whole industries. They own the customer relationship and the daily workflow, but hand the most valuable economics, payments and financial services, to someone else.
VerticalStack exists to change that. We acquire founder-led software businesses and build their financial services onto one regulated platform, capturing payment margin and opening new revenue in lending, banking and insurance. And we do it as careful stewards, taking what you built to its next level inside the software your customers already rely on.
Focused
We go deep in a handful of service industries full of independent businesses, rather than spreading thin, so the products we build genuinely fit.
Regulated
Based in London with FCA authorisation in progress, building on established regulated infrastructure from day one.
Build the next chapter with us.
If you have built software a market depends on, we would like to hear from you.
Thank you, we will be in touch.
Your note is on its way to the VerticalStack founders team. We typically reply within two business days.