Nottingham IT firm trebles turnover after landing University of Derby cash

A Nottingham-based IT company has seen its turnover treble to £750,000 and created three new jobs after landing a funding deal from the University of Derby.

Onomi secured £75,000 from the University of Derby’s Invest to Grow fund to to help it develop the technology needed to launch a new web application that can deliver DBaaS (database as a service).

Prior to receiving the funding, all of Onomi’s revenue was generated through consultancy services. Since creating the new web application, the business has been able to shift 60-70 per cent of its revenue to managed services, which it says has helped it to plan for growth and recruitment more effectively.

Director of Onomi, Andrew Slater, said: “The funding was perfect for us, it was just what we needed. It enabled us to start a process of building and selling these managed services, knowing that we would be able to properly resource it.

“From a project perspective, we still would have been sat around the £250,000 mark. We would have had a capacity limit. Access to funding was massive for us at the time, it made a big difference. It gave us the confidence to go for it.”

Mark Wheddon, head of strategic programmes at the University, added: “We are pleased to support Onomi with its development of new services to benefit customers, which have ultimately lead to the businesses rapid expansion and the creation of jobs.”