NorthEdge hires David Walters as Digital and Data Director

David Walters

NorthEdge Capital, the private equity house that invests in businesses in the North of England, has hired David Walters as its Digital and Data Director to help maximise online, data and technology opportunities for portfolio companies.

Mr Walters has over 25 years’ experience leading technology, digital, product and analytics teams across a range of sectors including media, automotive, marketing and insurance. Most recently, he held the position of Interim Group CTO at Watchstone Group, helping the organisation to launch the useage based insurance business Hubio in the UK and USA. In this role, he played a central part in developing outsourcing relationships and joint ventures, as well as progressing the Watchstone Group’s telematics and big data strategy across its other businesses, including Himex, QETS and QSI.

With 10 years’ private equity experience, David was part of the LBM executive team that returned the business to profit, creating and leading the firm’s digital division. The success of this arm was cited as a key element of the successful transaction to US-based BPO Stream Global Systems in 2013.

This appointment follows the successful close of NorthEdge’s Fund II, which at the beginning of March hit its hard cap of £300m in just four months. With total funds under management at the firm now in excess of half a billion pounds, David will be responsible for sourcing new digital technology opportunities in both its current portfolio and new investments.

Ray Stenton, Partner and Head of New Business at NorthEdge Capital, said: “Digital and data strategy is becoming an increasingly important driver of value, with all of our existing investments assessing opportunities to accelerate shareholder value growth in this important area. With David’s expertise, we can offer additional support to the teams we back in order to help focus and accelerate growth to add real value to the companies we invest in. David will also play an integral role in assessing prospective investments, ensuring that we are able to understand the strengths and requirements of future opportunities.”

“This appointment is testament to the strength of NorthEdge’s offering, and enables us to continue to support our portfolio in an area with huge growth potential.”