Software firm secures investment to support its growth
A Leeds-headquartered software consultancy firm with a £30m-turnover has secured significant investment to support its growth.
The firm, which was established in 2014, has received the investment from Growth Capital Partners (GCP) to support scale and reach, as well as increase its market share.
The founders launched the business in 2014 with two short contracts with NHS Digital and a desk in a co-working space. The firm now has a blue-chip client base including health and care providers, supermarket groups, banks, delivery companies and online gaming giants.
Infinity Works specialises in large scale, high volume and high availability critical systems and competes against small niche boutiques and large global players in a highly fragmented market.
It has a team of more than 250 skilled engineers, known as Infinites, who work as self-contained or integrated teams with clients. The company has offices in Leeds, London, Manchester and Edinburgh.
Infinity Works said that the potential for growth is significant, as the multi-billion market for IT services was increasing annually by more than 5%, with its segments reporting growth of around 20%.
The investment from GCP will enable Infinity Works to scale up its sales and marketing, people ops and finance functions, consider acquisitions of talent and technology, explore cutting-edge tech developments and expand into new sectors and territories.
The founders and directors Matt Gaffney, Paul Henshaw, Dan Rathbone and Tom Walton will retain majority ownership and control of the business.
Henshaw said: “After five years of funding growth ourselves, we are delighted to be bringing Growth Capital Partners on board as a minority shareholder.
“GCP specialises in supporting high-growth UK businesses and has proven expertise in the technology sector and considerable knowhow and networks in our current and future growth markets. We also felt that there is a very good cultural fit with our team.
“2019 will represent a big growing-up year for Infinity Works as we become more strategic in our vision and more focused on our plan of attack for the future. We are doing this to be best for our clients, best for our Infinites and best for our company.
“We have a fantastic opportunity to become the UK’s best software delivery consultancy to do business with. We have great people and we want them to progress with us in a way that they are recognised and rewarded.”
Alex Thomson, Investment Director at GCP, added: “We are delighted to have completed an investment to support the exciting growth plans of the Infinity Works team. With its impressive full stack delivery capability, DevOps expertise and its proven cloud track record, Infinity Works is ideally placed to benefit from the growing market demand for a collaborative and outcomes focused approach to digital product development and transformation.
“We look forward to working with management to nurture the unique culture they have developed in the business and to support significant scaling for further accelerated growth.”
Stephen Moore and Shawn Bone of Cavu Corporate Finance, the independent advisory firm with offices in Leeds and Newcastle, led the fundraising on behalf of Infinity Works.
Moore, managing director, said: “Infinity Works is a great business with an attractive employee culture, significant growth potential and the proven ability to help large organisations achieve digital transformation.
“It is a great success story for the Leeds technology sector, starting life at the co-working Leeds Digital Hub in 2014 and growing into one of the UK’s strongest software consultancies while retaining a friendly and approachable style.”
Mike Bates, non-executive director and a minority shareholder since 2015, will be standing down. Bates was formerly managing director of BJSS, the Leeds-based IT and business consultancy. Henshaw said: “Mike has been instrumental in our growth story to date and will forever be a friend of Infinity Works. Thank you Mike.”
Richard Hunt, Pete Wood, Thomas Hopwood and Ben Collins of law firm Addleshaw Goddard advised Infinity Works. Will Oxley of PwC provided financial due diligence. Neil Sengupta of Murray Harcourt provided tax advice to Infinity Works.
