Online insurance platform iprism Underwriting Agency has a new equity backer following an undisclosed deal.

Growth investors Magenta Partners has sold its stake to private equity firm Bowmark Capital three and a half years after initially backing the firm.

Founded by Gary Burke, iprism is an insurance intermediary which sells policies to brokers and direct customers on behalf of groups such as AXA, Aviva and LV.

Back in November 2010, Magenta invested £7.5 million into iprism in return for a minority stake.

Chase Emson, partner at Magenta Partners, comments, ‘iprism is a great example of a business that has shown consistently strong growth despite challenging economic conditions, and this is largely down to its innovative approach and talented management team.

‘As a minority investor, we have worked alongside the business from the point that it was just starting to break even to now. It has shown a highly impressive rate of growth and has netted a significant return on our investment.’

As well as backing iprism, Magenta has led investments into business including JoJo Maman Bebe, Pure Gym and Tag Worldwide since setting up in 2008. Both Pure Gym and Tag Worldwide have been exited for IRRs of 76 per cent and 42 per cent respectively. The firm has now closed investments worth £44 million and returned £90 million through three exits.

‘Our investment performance continues to demonstrate that supportive and knowledgeable capital, when partnered with entrepreneurial and talented management teams in growth businesses, can generate top tier returns for investors without the need for excessive leverage,’ says Magenta partner Tom Matthews.

‘It is an exciting segment of the market in which to operate given the current environment.’