Exit planning
OrganOx
International expansion
Female founders
As part of our Stories of Growth series, we interview the founder of the Edinburgh-based specialists in applied data and artificial intelligence.
Optima Partners was founded in 2013 by Alan Crawley as a professional services business focused on customer experience and data transformation. Its evolution has been anchored on expanding expertise in cutting-edge ML and AI applications, paving the way for rapid growth.
BGF invested in Optima in 2022 to support this growth. In December 2025, BGF exited its original investment after Optima was acquired by Growth Capital Partners, and remains a minority shareholder.
When I founded Optima in 2013, the practical application of data science, machine learning and AI for organisational growth was in its infancy. People needed more convincing of the benefits it could drive. We had built a business with strong foundations when, in 2021, I met Dr. Chris Foley, the one hire I hadn’t spoken to before.
Now, Chris is Optima’s CEO, taking over from me in July 2025. When Chris and I met it was clear he had the drive, ambition and expertise in deep generative learning that we needed to take substantial steps forward.
That hire was our first turning point. We had a decision to make – operate a small, boutique consulting firm, or build out a significant practice focused on data science and engineering. For us, the latter required support from external investment.
We had always talked about a transaction somewhere down the line. A few years later, we decided it was time to look for an investor to support us with board level governance and partner with us as we continued to grow.
I was introduced to BGF’s Scotland team through a mutual contact. There was a meeting of minds – we were a great fit culturally, and being located just 500 metres away from each other in Edinburgh was hugely beneficial.
Perhaps this is uncommon, but we had absolute clarity around what was necessary to reach our goals, and we spent a lot of time talking to BGF about it. I made a personal commitment to be a good partner and respect our investors as stakeholders, who quickly became an important part of our team.
What we liked about BGF is that their position was always centred around patient capital. They were with us for the duration, completely open and accessible. Nothing was ever a problem. The mantra was always: “we’re working together to solve challenges”, and we did.
Throughout our partnership, we saw incredibly fast growth. Revenue increased by an average of 40% year-on-year and we have recruited rapidly. That is in part down to a clear three-year plan, which we talked about at the outset of the investment. That is not to say there weren’t obstacles to overcome, but we were able to manage these together.
Much of our success is down to recruiting the right people and the blend of our team. A couple of extremely important early hires enabled us to build our data science and engineering division, which is a key part of the business. If you want to go far, it’s all about the people you go with – whether you like them, work well with them, and respect them.
The promise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is so huge, but the challenge is equally significant. One of our biggest challenges is the significant competition, as more people understand the technology.
For organisations like ours, we always felt the need to be exceptional at three things:
We have an ambitious growth target for the next three to four years, after settling in the acquisition by our new owners, Growth Capital Partners.
There is a lot of optimism about the future of Optima, not least because we are able to continue the journey with BGF as a minority shareholder. I’m proud to now be part of the investor group of a business I believe very strongly in, that is operating in an area that hasn’t reached its full potential.
AI has such broad applications that our focus is investing in specialities – including building our data sciences capabilities further and exploring practical deployment of AI and agentic technologies.
External investment has been a crucial catalyst for our growth. It’s worked for us so far because we’ve been clear about what our objectives are and honest about what it will to reach them – with ourselves and with investors. Finding the right fit makes all the difference, because productive relationships with your investors matter a great deal as you work towards the next growth stage.
Closing a deal is just the beginning. The value comes from the work you can do from that point on, together.
