News & Insights

Leading UK lower-mid-market private equity investor, August Equity, announces its backing of Alkimii, a specialist workforce and operations software platform serving hotels and hospitality providers. The deal reflects August’s continued interest in the Irish SME market, making it the firm’s twelfth investment in Ireland.  

Alkimii, founded by Ronan McAuley, is a technology platform that helps hospitality operators manage people, property and operations more efficiently. Headquartered in Skerries, County Dublin and used by more than 50% of hotel employees in Ireland, the business serves a blue-chip customer base across the UK and Ireland. Its platform supports customers in a sector where workforce visibility, operational control and service consistency are increasingly critical.  

The transaction marks a significant milestone for the business, with August supporting continued investment in Alkimii’s go-to-market strategy and further development of new product functionality. The business will continue to build on its strong foundations in Ireland while scaling its presence across the UK and Europe.  

The investment in Alkimii is another example of August’s proven and wide-reaching adjacency investment model, which includes backing verticalised software and management teams in sectors in which it has prior experience from its successful 25-year track record. Alkimii follows investments into Fargo (intermodal software tracking), OneTouch (care management planning software) and its highly successful divestment from Agilio (HR and eLearning software) which delivered a 9.2x return in 2024.  

Ronan McAuley, CEO of Alkimii, said, "Alkimii began with a simple belief: that the people who run hospitality deserve tools as good as the service they give their guests. We're a service-first company — I'm as proud of the team who look after our customers as the team who build the product, and we never stop modernising it, bringing new AI to make our operators' lives simpler. The best of Alkimii is still ahead of us: together with our customers, we'll build its next generation, and we're delighted to join forces with August to grow into new markets in the years to come."  

As part of the deal, Henry Seddon joins as Chair, bringing a wealth of sector experience. Henry said, “In a short time Alkimii has developed a market leading product with strong customer relationships in Ireland alongside a talented management team.  I am excited to work with both August and Alkimii to accelerate its expansion and support the next stage of its growth."  

Katie Ballardie, Partner at August, who led the transaction said, “Ronan has built a compelling offering, grounded in strong industry insight, that addresses critical day-to-day operational challenges for hospitality operators. We see significant potential to grow Alkimii in its core hotel and hospitality market, while also expanding into international markets and new customer segments. We are delighted to partner with the team on this next stage of growth.”   

Alongside Katie, the August investment team included Celine Spencer and Samira Aminzare, with the opportunity initially having been identified by Michael Coates through our focused Irish origination network.   

August was advised by A&L Goodbody (Legal), OC&C (Commercial), Deloitte (Financial and Tax), Baird (Strategy), Crosslake (Technology) and Howden (Insurance). Alkimii was advised by Pegasus (Corporate Finance) and Woodcock Solicitors (Legal).