01 Jul 2025
Tech-focused investment bank ICON Corporate Finance has advised leading employee engagement software provider Oak Engage on its majority investment from private equity firm NorthEdge.
Headquartered in Newcastle and founded in 2017, Oak Engage provides a mobile-first employee engagement and intranet platform which supports businesses to build a strong culture, enhance productivity and boost operational efficiency.
Trusted by major brands such as NatWest Group, ScS, Burger King UK, Five Guys, Aldi, and Halfords and has achieved strong growth with clients that are seeking to engage a disparate, frontline worker employee base. The customisable platform acts as a central hub to reach and engage deskless workforces, giving them easy access to company news and key documents. It also uses AI to deliver personalised communications, making it as easy as possible to get the right message, to the right people, at the right time – wherever they are located.
NorthEdge’s backing will enable the business to invest in its commercial team to accelerate growth; refine and enhance its go-to-market strategy; and invest in systems and processes to enable data-driven decision making, alongside continued investment into the product.
Oak Engage’s success has been driven by a senior leadership team who have extensive experience in scaling software businesses. Will Murray, CEO, has proven expertise in growing SaaS companies into $1Bn+ businesses and has successfully led the growth at Oak Engage since 2019. Jake Armstrong, CFO, joined the business in 2021 following an expansive career in practice and industry, including acting as a fractional CFO for a number of Tech and SaaS organisations.
Will Murray, CEO of Oak Engage, said: “We’re thrilled to reach the next step in our journey and to be supported by NorthEdge. We have an incredibly strong product, evidenced by our roster of world-leading brands, and a great team. NorthEdge will support us to accelerate investment into our commercial team, which in turn will enable us to support more clients to enhance connection and engagement with their people, increase colleague retention and deliver on their ambition of being great places to work.”
Eddie Harding, Partner at ICON Corporate Finance, added: “We’re proud to have supported Will, Jake and the team in securing NorthEdge as an investor to drive the next phase of their growth. Employee Engagement is one of the highest growth segments of the HCM sector, and Oak Engage is ideally positioned to capitalise on the surging demand for compelling solutions that drive user engagement and maximise employee retention. The deal reflects ICON’s continued strength in helping high-growth SaaS companies achieve their full potential, and underlines the increasing appetite from private equity to back platforms driving digital transformation in the workplace.”
Dan Matkin, Director at NorthEdge, said: “We are delighted to be backing Will and the highly ambitious team at Oak Engage to continue the growth of the business following their success over the last few years. The business operates in a fast-growth market that continues to evolve at pace, Oak Engage’s well-invested platform means they are well-placed to capitalise on the increasing demand for employee engagement tools.”
The deal builds on ICON’s strong track record in advising high-growth SaaS businesses and, in particular, the Human Capital Management (HCM) sector with recent transactions including the sale of employee idea management software specialist Sideways6 to leading intranet solution provider Interact Software; and the sale of SaaS-based workforce solution company JoinedUp to US-based Beeline, the world’s first extended workforce platform.