UK-based Netomnia, a provider of fibre broadband infrastructure, and YouFibre, an internet service provider, collectively referred to as the ‘Group’, announced on Friday that they have secured £295M (approximately €353.46M) in a fresh round of funding led by DigitalBridge Investment Management, the investment management platform of DigitalBridge Group, Inc.
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022.
DigitalBridge’s equity investment comes alongside follow-on commitments from existing shareholders Soho Square Capital LLP and Advencap Limited.
DigitalBridge is a global digital infrastructure Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). The firm invests in and operates businesses across the digital ecosystem, including cell towers, data centres, fibre, small cells, and edge infrastructure. DigitalBridge manages a $45B portfolio of digital infrastructure assets on behalf of its limited partners and shareholders.
Manjari Govada, Principal at DigitalBridge, says, “We have known Jeremy (Netomnia’s CEO) for several years and are excited to partner with him in scaling the Group into a premier fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) provider in the UK. We have been highly impressed with the growth of the business and the team he has assembled.”
Capital utilisation
Netomnia is committed to delivering a multi-gigabit broadband network across the UK. The Group says it has achieved more than 130,000 premises passed since rollout commenced in 2020. Working in partnership with major UK construction companies, the Group claims to have a scalable operating model that enables it to achieve ‘swift’ deployment.
Jeremy Chelot, CEO of Netomnia, says, “We are thrilled to partner with DigitalBridge and benefit from their support and industry expertise as we work towards our target of one million premises passed in the next two years. We are scaling rapidly and aim to play an active role in unleashing the UK’s digital potential by delivering the benefits that come with multi-gigabit fibre broadband.”
About Netomnia and YouFibre
Founded in 2019 by CEO Jeremy Chelot, Netomnia is developing full-fibre infrastructure, utilising technology and agile deployment, to bring ultrafast broadband to under-served towns and cities across the UK. The company is investing in rapidly building a high-quality multi-gigabit network for UK homes and businesses, with a target of one million residential and business premises by 2023.
Netomnia makes wholesale connectivity available to service providers, including YouFibre, which claims to deliver the UK’s fastest broadband packages of up to 10 Gbps to customers.
YouFibre was founded in 2019 and is a full-fibre broadband provider that offers its customers speeds of up to 10 Gbps, 126 times faster than the UK average. The company aims to bring ultrafast internet connections to its customers at an affordable price, with prices starting from £22/month.
YouFibre runs on fibre-optic cables to deliver broadband directly to properties, providing faster, reliable speeds and service than copper-based networks used by many broadband providers, thereby claiming to provide a ‘future-proofed network for centuries to come’.