What do investors look for in a multi-site healthcare business?

Having invested in numerous multi-site healthcare businesses to date – from Scottish Dental Care Group to dailysis provider Renal Services – our investment team knows what they’re looking for (and the value they can offer a business in return). If you’re a founder operating in this space, and considering raising external capital, read on to find out what’s most important to our investors.

Ensure consistently high quality

We believe all good healthcare businesses should focus on providing high-quality care to their patients. The challenge is how to make this quality consistent across a multi-site estate.

And for this, culture is key. Healthcare businesses should aim to cultivate an environment in which all staff can thrive, and where they’re motivated and inspired to do the best they can. While getting to know a multi-site healthcare business, our investors like to meet staff from across the estate, to get a feel for the company as a whole.

The management team should assess key performance indicators on a site-by-site basis to measure what good looks like to them, so they can share learnings across the estate, and identify and address any issues early on.

Do you know a good site when you see it?

A successful multi-site business, in any growth sector, can expand smoothly because its management team knows and can articulate what each new site should look like. And it doesn’t matter whether the business is acquiring existing sites or developing its own, this skill is crucial for every multi-site strategy.

Location, footfall, population dynamics, transport links, the look and feel of a site – these factors should all come together in a blueprint that allows leadership teams to select good sites (and avoid bad ones) quickly and efficiently.

Expertise in healthcare and business

The healthcare sector is complex, with many different parts – private organisations, local authorities, the NHS – but whichever route you find to your patients, quality care needs to be at the forefront. So, our investors look for a team that has a good balance of leadership experience.

In other words, we’re looking for a mix of healthcare expertise and business expertise in the management team. Doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals are needed to ensure the product or service is as good as it can be, but for us to create a sustainable healthcare business with impact, it also needs to be commercially successful.

Nurture your top talent

We’ve already said culture is key, and we think a big part of a company’s culture is its ability to attract and retain talent. Whether they’re dentists, clinicians or care workers, people are the lifeblood of any healthcare business.

A number of factors, such as Brexit, have made it harder for healthcare businesses in the UK to recruit top talent. This is why it’s more important than ever to provide a supportive culture for your staff, in which people are encouraged to grow and develop. That means offering rewarding careers, with progression, and providing an environment that allows team members to lead happy, balanced lives. This is core to building a sustainable healthcare business.

Demonstrate resilience

How does a management team cope if there are bumps in the road? This is a key concern for our investors. We want to see, feel and hear that resilience is built into the business model. It’s important to be flexible, and management teams should be able to respond and adapt to unforeseen events. They also need the right personality and mindset.

Good leaders don’t expect everything to go to plan. They develop a resilient attitude to prepare them for uncertain outcomes, whether that’s a recession, a pandemic, or something else.

Do you have the wow factor?

When looking at new investment opportunities, our team want to see something unique, that really differentiates a business from its peers. This could be an innovative product, a very large and accessible market, or an inspirational, purpose-led founder at the helm. Or maybe it’s an exceptional culture that allows a business to recruit above its weight. Sometimes, the wow factor is obvious straight away. Other times, we have to dig a little. But essentially, it’s what sets a brilliant business apart from the rest.

Are you an ambitious founder that’s looking to grow your multi-site healthcare company? If you think you could use some extra capital and support in scaling your business effectively, introduce yourself to our team today.

Parts of this article appeared in Healthcare Digital (June 2023).