Housing technology company Alertacall has been sold to Canadian tech giant Volaris Group, which is part of Constellation Software Inc.
Alertacall is a UK provider of customer engagement and communications technology for the social housing and retirement living sectors.
The business operates out of bases in Cumbria and Warrington and was founded in 2004 by James Batchelor, who was awarded an MBE in 2025 for services to technology for older people.
Batchelor is the inventor of the ‘I am okay’ button and technology that protects the lives of many older people.
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After being inspired by his grandmother, Eveline, the entrepreneur started creating technology to increase contact with older people and campaigned to prevent them being alone for long periods.
Batchelor took to LinkedIn to explain why he sold the business to Volaris Group and his intention to find a successor as CEO.
He wrote: “In the middle of the night, and whilst drinking tea with my wife (just a few weeks ago) our family firm Alertacall became part of a unique global technology company who are headquartered in Canada. The new owners specialise in long term investment in companies just like ours.
“It’s a proper home for Alertacall after all these years (22!) and because they are not a private equity firm they’ve never, ever, sold a business. They buy, hold and invest in businesses forever.
“For our clients and partners, and for all our amazing team members – this means Alertacall is better resourced and more secure than at any time before. We are now part of a group with a multi-billion balance sheet.
Proud day: James Batchelor collecting his MBE with his family
“It also opens up the possibility of us accessing thousands of other technologies within the group with which we can innovate.
“I’m now more convinced than ever before that our inventions and ideas will go on to help 100,000s of people – an outcome that my grandma Eveline – our first customer – would have been pretty chuffed about I think.”
Alertacall was originally funded with the proceeds from the sale of Batchelor’s tiny first house and the sale of a previous venture.
It was based around Batchelor’s invention of the ‘I am okay’ button for his grandma Eveline, and a host of other innovations around proactively keeping in contact with older and vulnerable people.
100s of approaches
Batchelor revealed the company had received hundreds of inquiries from potential buyers before choosing Volaris Group.
He wrote: “Alertacall has been approached, without exaggeration, every single week for several years – for some kind of merger or acquisition conversation. Most are speculative ‘BS’ but over the years we’ve had great conversations with a number of quality parties.
“Several times I personally have had the opportunity to ‘get rich’ selling Alertacall – but until now, not one approach for an acquisition has made me feel confident that it would be in the best interests of our people, our products and most importantly the customers we serve. This has always been the priority.
“Here’s the rub: almost every company in our space is owned by private equity. And nearly all the other approaches to us have been made directly by private equity companies.
Saying ‘no’ to private equity
“Private equity can be a very potent tool to grow businesses but it’s nearly always focused on relatively short-term financial return and Alertacall has never, ever, been about that.
“I’ve always felt strongly that we needed to find a partner that understood that investing in long-term relationships is important. That our people need protection.
“Amongst the ongoing approaches for acquisition was a company called Volaris Group, who themselves are part of Constellation Software, founded in 1995 and based in Toronto.
“Constellation Software is the world’s first buy-and-hold acquirer of specialised software and technology businesses.
“Buy-and-hold means they never ever sell their businesses and they invest in them and their people for the long-term.
“They approached me and their pitch was entirely and utterly different to that from private equity or private equity-owned businesses because it was all about long-term thinking.
“It all felt much more sustainable. They were diligent and professional at reaching out to me time after time and making their case. Every part of their pitch was solid, and the guy leading that pitch to us had experienced selling his own business – so he ‘got it’.
“Earlier this year we also undertook discussions with a whole host of other excellent businesses and investors who might be interested in acquiring us, to give us that platform for growth, and had offers from a great number of parties in that process.
“Ultimately it was still Volaris Group and their pitch of investing in our existing teams, of allowing us to do what we already do so brilliantly, and of backing us – forever – that was the most compelling.
“Thank you to the Volaris Group team for being incredibly straightforward to deal with and congratulations on buying a lovely company that is packed with exceptional and passionate people.”
Batchelor said he’ll remain as chief executive in the short term, but the search will begin for a replacement.
In 2021, Alertacall raised £1.5m in investment from Middleton Enterprises.