Blenheim Chalcot was founded in 1998 (originally as Netdecisions Investments) as a private investment management company.
Blenheim Chalcot has two main funds under management: a UK Growth fund and an India Growth fund.
1998
- Charles Mindenhall and Manoj Badale set up Netdecisions in May 1998, with ND Solutions as the main company.
- The focus was on delivering integrated business and IT solutions to corporate clients, such as the BBC and Coca-Cola.
1999
- ND Solutions' projects ranged from heavy systems integration projects through to e-commerce and web development
- ND Solutions opened Cambridge office focusing on product research and development
2000
- Netdecisions' list of clients expanded, and its first investments followed
- Netdecisions Investments created to manage the other investments of the Netdecisions Group
- Netdecisions Investments created award-winning joint ventures with investment partners:
- The First Resort (a joint venture with Centrica, BSkyB and TUI Thomson Travel Group)
- Madaboutwine (a joint venture with Fine and Rare Wines)
- Produxion (a joint venture with Emap and Channel 5 television)
- WooWho (a joint venture with the Carphone Warehouse)
- ND Solutions opened a new software development office in Mumbai, India which became the largest resource centre for the company outside the UK
- Marconi acquired a 15% stake in Netdecisions for £60m
2001
- Fluency Voice Technology emerged out of our R&D office in Cambridge
- SteelTrace was created (a software company building requirements capture tools)
- Acquired OOP Inc, a software development company in Chesapeake, USA and integrated it into ND Solutions
- Produxion.com was sold to Emap and MadAboutWine was sold to Fosters Breweries
2002
- Agilisys was created through a joint venture with Jarvis plc, an IT services and outsourcing company originally aimed at meeting the growing demands of the UK public sector, building on the shared experience of ND Solutions
- Woowho was sold to Match.com
- Netdecisions Investments invests in The Rights Company, specialising in rights in the digital entertainment market, primarily DVDs.
2003
- Contact Partners was purchased, a contact centre outsourcing service provider with call centres in the UK and Ireland, and became Agilisys Contact Services
- Fluency Voice Technology acquired a competitor, Vocalis
- The First Resort was bought by TUI UK
- Netdecisions Investments becomes Blenheim Chalcot
2004
- Agilisys, ND Solutions and Contact Partners combined operations to create Agilisys, a Netdecisions Company
- Netdecisions Investments renamed Blenheim Chalcot
- Fluency was exited with a £6m investment from Favonius Ventures and Kennet Venture Partners Ltd. Fluency also acquired another competitor, SRC Telecom
- SteelTrace attracted £2.3m in private equity funding from both existing investors and Trinity Venture Capital
- TDX was launched by Blenheim Chalcot founders
- Eviivo, SteelTrace and BMS demerged from Blenheim Chalcot Group
2005
- Investors in Cricket (now Emerging Media) launched by Blenheim Chalcot founders
- Blenheim Chalcot founders create and invest in Clear Start, a UK consumer debt advice service.
2006
2007
- Eviivo funding round attracts additional investment.
- Investors in Cricket (IIC) acquired by Emerging Media
- Clear Start UK acquired by Debt Free Direct. Debt Free Direct later changes its name to Fairpoint Group.
2008
- Emerging Media is awarded the Jaipur Franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL)
- Blenheim Chalcot invests in CorporatePay, a prepaid cards business
- The Jaipur team, Rajasthan Royals, wins the inaugural Indian Premier League tournament