About us
We believe in the ambition of scaling SMEs
We have 30+ years supporting founders and teams to build great companies. We founded Novara to keep doing that, in a more focused way.
We are high energy and ambitious. Like you, we generate ideas, move quickly and make things happen. We learn from our mistakes. Our approach is straight forward, thoughtful and pragmatic.
We partner with you when we believe in your ambition and get our kicks from supporting you to achieve it. And, we know what it means to build a business because we have done it ourselves.
You partner directly with our founders and will receive the focus, time and attention you think you need.
Our team
Our team is balanced with the skills, experiences and personalities to help scaling companies deliver a successful buy and build.
Team
Dominic Graham
Dom, our Founder, takes the lead on our relationships with company founders, CEOs, teams, investors and advisors.
Before Novara, Dom spent over a decade investing in 40 companies, first at OMERS and more recently at Waterland Private Equity. Prior to that, Dom spent time in a PE-backed company, Element, and trained at Deloitte.
Waterland is an independent investment group with €14 billion AuM and consistently ranks as one of the best performing PE firms globally, and is widely recognized as a global market leader in buy and build investing.
Dom was a founding member of the Waterland UK team in Manchester in 2017 and jointly established Waterland’s brand and investment strategy in the UK, building a team of close to 20 people across two offices. Dom opened the Waterland London office in May 2021 and built the team.
At Waterland, Dom was directly responsible for 3 partnerships and 21 add-ons: Cooper Parry (Accountancy), Sideshow (Digital Transformation) and Sciris (MedComms), where he led the origination, deal execution and held the relationships with CEOs and Chairs. Dom was also responsible for the extensive buy and builds programmes across each investment.
Dom lives in Harpenden with his wife and two young boys. Dom is a huge fan of sport, exercise and the outdoors - always either playing, coaching, or watching. Weekends are a buzz of activities with the boys, family and friends, making the most of a special time in life - whether that’s traveling, socialising, or just enjoying good food and drink.
Dominic Graham
Founder, Managing Partner
Dom, our Founder, takes the lead on our relationships with company founders, CEOs and investors. Dom loves finding exciting companies and partnering with ambitious CEOs and teams to deliver buy and build growth stories.
Thomas Lloyd-Evans
Thom is a passionate supporter of entrepreneurs, helping them craft value creation plans that achieve their ambitions. With nearly 20 years’ experience in strategy and PE, he is a firm believer in the power of capital, commitment and curiosity to unlock potential.
As a former Partner and member of the board at Montagu, a long-established private equity firm with over €10bn in AUM, Thom understands what it takes for businesses to succeed in the UK midmarket. Before Montagu Thom worked at L.E.K. Consulting and Hakluyt, supporting a wide range of companies and investors on strategic and transactional projects.
Most recently Thom has worked independently with private equity backed businesses in the lower midmarket, helping them develop strategy in a pragmatic way and focusing on the initiatives that will create the most long-term value.
Thom likes working with ambitious teams who want to make a difference. Equally at home drilling into an Excel spreadsheet or debating a business’s philosophical raison d’etre, Thom’s approach is to give teams hands-on support when they need it, and to leave them alone when they don’t. He has a wide range of sector experience with a focus on businesses leveraging data and technology.
Thom lives in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire with his wife and three kids. He loves pretty much all sports and still puts his rugby boots to good use as a member of the Hertfordshire Referees Society. In his spare time he likes reading (and occasional writing), and he has never let a lack of talent get in the way of music production (and occasional DJing). He’s personally invested in a number of tech startups and is a volunteer mentor with Hope for the Young.
Thomas Lloyd-Evans
Partner
Thom, a passionate supporter of founders and CEOs, helps bring to life company growth strategies. Thom has 20 years’ experience in strategy and investing, and firmly believes in the power of capital, commitment and curiosity to unlock potential.
Daniel Tarver
Daniel is dedicated to building and maintaining great relationships with our trusted panel of investors, and leads on investor communications. Dan thrives on playing a vital role in fuelling the buy and build ambitions of our companies, CEOs and teams.
Dan believes the Independent Sponsor model in Europe is still in its infancy and supports Novara's ambition to be at the forefront as the market transforms.
Before Novara, Dan spent over a decade working with venture capital, growth equity and private equity companies to build go-to-market strategies and raise committed funds. Most recently at Connaught, the fast-growing capital advisory business, where he was Head of North America.
Dan spent the last two years at venture capital firm, Plural Platform, where he focussed on Investor Relations and Fundraising. Dan led the oversubscribed fund raise for Plural Fund II (€500m hard-cap) and also supported visionary founders of Plural portfolio companies to raise further capital, working directly with the teams.
A reformed corporate lawyer and now trained as an Executive Coach, Dan is energised when partnering with ambitious leaders.
Dan recently relocated from London to Cheltenham with his wife and two young children to pursue a quieter life (!). Dan is former top-level cricketer and now an avid amateur padel player and golfer.
To be Announced
Investor Relationships
Founders council
Simon Ward
Simon is a member of our Founders Council and is a serial entrepreneur. Simon formed ITG in 2009 following a number of successful business builds and sales, including Greystone and the SP Group.
From the start of ITG, Simon’s passion has always been the development of technology and innovation to lift the marking sector out of administrative and time-wasting tasks. ITG today is a global business of over 2,000 employees, delivering global game-changing, award-winning marketing technology and services.
Simon’s success has in no small way been achieved because of his absolute determination to build environments that people can thrive in and enjoy. From his commitment and energy to creating industry-recognised culturally aligned teams, to his dedication to building responsible companies, such as achieving the status of being a carbon-neutral Climate Partner Certified Company - to the UK’s wellbeing business of the year.
He is chair to a number of other businesses, including The Boundary and Visualsoft, in addition to his role at ITG and also provides constant support, mentorship and investment to many small enterprises and charities - including chair and trustee for the RSBC Royal Society for Blind Children - often local to him or close to his heart.
ITG is now in the next stage of its growth following Bridgepoint’s - the European financial investment fund – investment in early 2022, Simon’s fourth private equity investor with ITG.
So, Simon’s unchanging vision to transform tomorrow’s marketing sector continues, but on an even larger global scale.
Simon Ward
Founders Council
Simon sits on our Founders Council and is serial entrepreneur. Simon is our expert in software, growth, transformation and culture. Simon formed marketing technology company ITG, now over 2,000 people, where he is still chair. Simon loves creating, and now helps create, industry-recognised culturally aligned teams.
John Whitty
John is a member of our Founders Council and is an experienced Private Equity backed CEO, most recently at Air-IT, and now holds multiple Chair roles including Gradwell Communications, the telecommunications specialist, and Comms365, the advanced connectivity company.
John has a strong track record of driving growth through buy and build strategies in IT Managed Services, Security, and Communications companies, both as a CEO and Chair. He successfully completed and integrated over 60 transactions, and has sold companies to both Private Equity and trade buyers.
John has spent many years operating in technology enabled markets. He began his career in the British Army, where he spent 20 years, before moving into the private sector as CTO of Pipex Communications. John then held the CEO role Kabel-X PLC, before moving to GCI Com as MD of one of the UK's leading ICT Services providers.
More recently John held the CEO role at owner-managed company Solar Communications, which he successfully exited to Wavenet in 2018. He then took the CEO role at Private Equity backed company, Air IT, the fast-paced buy and build in SME IT managed services.
John has an intimate understanding of how to build value through buy and build, bringing different companies, people, working practices and technology together whilst maintaining culturally aligned teams and sustained company growth.
John Whitty
Founders Council
John sits on our Founders Council and is an experienced Private Equity backed CEO, most recently at Air-IT, and now holds multiple Chair roles. John is our expert in IT Managed Services, Security and Communications. John loves buy and build, with an extensive track record of over 60 completed deals.
To be Announced
Founders Council
Collective years experience
Partnerships completed
Average relevant deal size (EV)
Average add-ons per investment
We share an ambition to be a leader as our market transforms
Our market is growing rapidly and transforming. Novara has a deep understanding of our ecosystem and understands ServiceNow needs new partners, skills and capacity to capture the opportunity in emerging workflows. Together, we share an ambition to be a leader in this transformation.”
Taking private equity investment for the first time was a huge decision
Dom was an invaluable partner from the start. Energetic, curious with an open and direct style. He is also humble and respectful and is someone I trust implicitly. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Dom and learned a great amount. I couldn’t recommend him more highly."
I chose to work with Dom because he is one of us.
We wanted to supercharge our growth through buy and build. We had done some M&A in the past but nothing at scale or pace. Having a partner like Dom alongside us helped us take the step-change we wanted. We then 5x’d our business in three years. Now buy and build is second nature to us.”
Dom lives by the values of a true partnership
With Dom I found a team with proven expertise in buy and build, who live by the values of a partnership. Dom is a tremendous partner. He generates positive first impressions and establishes early relationships with founders, bringing people together."
Like what you hear?
If you like what you hear so far and think we might get on, we’d love to talk.