Scott Ellam, XCE: Buy the Company, Keep the Bitcoin

Scott Ellam is the founder and CEO of Connecting Excellence Group (AQSE: XCE, OTCQB: XCELF), a UK executive recruitment group listed on the Aquis Growth Market in December 2025. Ellam has run Spencer Riley, the Leeds recruitment firm at the centre of the group, since 2014, and introduced a Bitcoin treasury strategy there in 2021. Adam Back is a strategic investor in the company.

Coinjuice sat down with Ellam for a conversation at the Bitcoin Treasuries Conference in New York on September 28, 2026, shortly after his main-stage presentation, Buy the Company, Keep the Bitcoin. Thanks go to the Bitcoin Treasuries team for hosting.

XCE Pairs Recruitment Revenue With a Bitcoin Treasury

Asked to describe the group, Ellam gave the full model in one answer.

“[XCE, Connecting Excellence Group], is a publicly listed international executive recruitment [firm] with a decentralized acquisition and hiring model to scale revenues, and a Bitcoin treasury, in order to protect the balance sheet, [our] balance sheet.”

Ellam explained “that makes us more appealing to the acquisitions that we make, and [the] recruiters that we hire, who generate revenue.”

The operating logic rests on one link between people and cash. Ellam said, "So, in recruitment, head count directly drives revenue, which means the more recruiters you hire, the more revenue you generate, more cash you generate."

Before the listing, Ellam ran Spencer Riley, a private executive recruitment firm placing candidates with Big Four professional-services firms, as well as companies in logistics and life sciences. “When we get to 2025, that’s when I [founded] [XCE, Connecting Excellence Group] and put [Spencer Riley] in that vehicle in order to bring more [brands] in alongside Spencer Riley.”

A Buyer for Owner-Managed Recruitment Firms

In Ellam’s view, the listing is what makes it possible to acquire owner-managed recruitment firms without forcing the owners to sell to private equity or a conventional trade buyer. "So, for owner managers in recruitment, there's a huge problem in that there's no exit strategy. Private equity [are] not interested in these businesses..."

Trade buyers, he said, rarely step in either. "When it comes to trade [buyers], very rarely does one recruitment firm buy another, because then we want to change the commission scheme, change the name, change the way they work, and we'd be better off hiring the staff."

Ellam says XCE gives recruitment-business owners an alternative to selling out completely: they can bring their firm into the group, keep running it, and benefit from being part of a public company with a Bitcoin treasury.

“You don’t see [private equity], you don’t see trade [buyers], but by having a listed status and a Bitcoin treasury, we can now bring [all those businesses] into the group. The owner doesn’t necessarily want to leave. We want them to want to stay, and continue growing their business inside a listed vehicle.”

Why Do Recruitment Firm Owners Sell to XCE?

Ellam says XCE gives owners of recruitment businesses another option: sell their firm into a public company while keeping its brand, team and day-to-day independence.

What sellers keep is the core of the pitch. "Unlike private equity, we're permanent capital. We want to hold these businesses forever, and they don't get a new boss. They keep their autonomy, they keep their team, they keep their brand, and they can grow within the listed vehicle."

Ellam described the first proposed deal as a fitting one. "Our first acquisition fittingly, the one that we've proposed, is already holding 8.21[6] Bitcoin, instead of cash." XCE announced binding Heads of Terms on 1 September 2026 for the business, which remains subject to due diligence, funding and a definitive share purchase agreement.

Placement to Payment: How XCE Invoices a Search

Asked how XCE makes money outside the treasury, Ellam answered in three words, "Placing good people," then walked through a search from start to invoice.

"If you've got a vice president of sales, role, that a client wants to fill, we will head hunt every vice president of sales in that industry until we've identified the ones who are right [for the] role, interested in [the] role, and then we carry that process forward until they accepted a position with their new firm."

Payment arrives only on success. Ellam explained, "When they've accepted that position, we send our invoice, and our invoices are typically between $20,000 to $100,000 is a typical range. And that might be a candidate on $200,000, $300,000, $400,000. And upon success, is our full payment."

One search was settled with over half a Bitcoin. "We've accepted over half a bitcoin for a chief investment officer search and used it as a medium [of] exchange, coming into us," Ellam said. The client was, in his words, "a Bitcoin investment fund."

How XCE is Growing Bitcoin Per Share

Ellam was direct that operating profit is no longer the main source of new Bitcoin. "We've acquired over 10 Bitcoin through operating cash flows. But the majority of that was before we became public."

Since listing, the growth has come from the capital markets. "Most of [the] Bitcoin per share increase that we've delivered since going public has been by equity raises, quite a lot of them at the premium. It's been via the [XCE] Bitcoin Bond, where we're holding 10 Bitcoin, and we also have an ATM facility available for when we're at [a] high [mNAV]..."

135% More Bitcoin: How XCE Issues Shares Without Diluting

On why issuing shares need not dilute existing holders, Ellam said, "If you're a shareholder at the start of the year, you have 135% more exposure to [Bitcoin], now holding our shares, [than] you [did] at the start of the year... if we issue equity, a reasonable amount, and we buy Bitcoin with the capital raised, and it increases everybody's Bitcoin per share." The 135% figure is Ellam's and has not been independently confirmed against company filings.

On the proposed acquisition, Ellam said it would cost about £150,000 in net cash and add a business generating £1.79 million in revenue and about £430,000 in EBITDA. “For that [£]150,000 net cash, on a pro forma basis, we double revenue,” he said, noting that the figures are based on “unaudited management [accounts].”

The figures are unaudited, and the £150,000 Ellam cited is the upfront cash cost, while the Heads of Terms put the all-in net acquisition cost at about £252,000 once £102,000 of assumed net debt is included.

Bitcoin Down 50%, Revenue Up 20%: XCE's Downturn Case

Asked what happens if Bitcoin, the share price and hiring all fall together, Ellam pointed to a cycle the business has already been through. "So, in 2021, we committed to a Bitcoin balance sheet, Bitcoin had nearly an 80% [drawdown], and our revenue’s compounded at 37%, compound annual [growth rate]... Since the listing, we've gone through a 50% Bitcoin drawdown, and our revenues have gone up 20%." The 37% growth rate is Ellam's own figure.

Ellam did not claim the business is immune. "Where revenues go down and Bitcoin goes down, of course, that's going to be a challenging environment. But when our revenues go down, everybody's on performance based pay. So the cost of the business of those employees also goes down."

Asked what separates XCE from other treasury companies, Ellam returned to the same point. "If you took a very harsh market environment, and we were [worth less than one mNAV], we can still acquire businesses at the low cost, cash cost, and increase revenue for shareholders, and every element of revenue that we increase, we are strengthening the Bitcoin treasury, making it more credible and durable to the Bitcoin treasury investors."

XCE: The Longer-Term Ambition

Ellam declined to attach dates, then described the destination. "We're a £10 million nano cap on Aquis and on OTCQB right now. We want to continue scaling the revenue and continue scaling the Bitcoin that we hold, and we want to be able to achieve a market cap that enables us to uplist to a main market."

The longer goal is a group of firms competing to join. "If we're holding hundreds or thousands of bitcoin, we're gonna attract a lot of the recruitment companies and recruit[ers] into the business. And they're gonna start competing for a place within the group, or competing for our capital, and I think we can disrupt our industry. It is just not gonna happen overnight."

Executive recruitment is the starting point, not the limit. "Once you've disrupted our industry, I also think we replicate this model in all people based service based industries. It's just that executive recruitment is unique[ly] suited to it."

Ellam closed with his claim to be first, and an invitation. "We're the first listed executive recruitment firm [with a] Bitcoin [treasury]. And I would just recommend to all others to not try and do it, and just to join us."

For a European comparison, read Coinjuice's interview with Wojciech Kaszycki on BTCS S.A., a treasury company taking a different route to Bitcoin per share. Readers who want ongoing research on treasury companies can sign up for Coinjuice Pro, which currently includes the ebook at no extra cost.

Executives and founders interested in a Coinjuice interview can reach out at hello@coinjuice.com.

Disclaimer

The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be, nor should it be construed as, financial advice. Statements attributed to Scott Ellam reflect his own views and interpretations and are not independently verified facts unless otherwise noted. Figures relating to the proposed acquisition are based on unaudited management accounts, and the acquisition remains subject to completion. All investments involve risk, and past performance does not guarantee future results. We recommend consulting a financial advisor before making any investment decisions.