BGF backs leading IT consultancy to support its ambitious growth plans

Inoapps, one of the leading Oracle Platinum Partners and Applications specialists in the UK, intends to increase the size and scale of its operations significantly, thanks to a £10m investment of growth capital from BGF. This was BGF’s seventh investment in Scotland and brought its current Scottish investment total to just over £36.9m.

BGF, the independent company established to help the UK’s growing businesses, invested £10m in growth capital to allow Inoapps to make several acquisitions to increase its customer offering, and to fund international expansion. BGF took a minority stake and BGF investment director Mike Sibson was appointed to the board. Long-time adviser to the company, Bobby Anderson joined the board at completion, and BGF will also be working with the company to appoint a chairman with industry and entrepreneurial experience to support Inoapps CEO Andy Bird in the next stage of the company’s development.

Inoapps is based in Aberdeen with offices in Edinburgh, Derby and Kuala Lumpur, and a team of around 200 employees and associates. It was founded by Andy Bird in 2006 and is the leading Oracle Reseller and Platinum Partner in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The business specialises in providing consulting, implementation and hosting and managed services for Oracle applications, technology and hardware. Inoapps is on a high growth trajectory, and has doubled turnover in each of the last two years and turned over around £20m to year-end July 2013.

Inoapps initially focussed on implementing Oracle applications and technology solutions into the oil and gas industry but has since diversified into other sectors including construction, defence, and the public sector. It delivers robust, resilient and powerful Oracle solutions that support and transform businesses, bringing rapid return on investment. It has recently completed several multi-million pound projects, and now supports major international blue chip clients across the full range of Oracle products. Inoapps’ “50 in 15” strategy lays out a plan to continue to grow to £50m revenue in 2015, through organic growth and acquisition.

BGF investment director Mike Sibson who will be joining Inoapps board, said: “Andy Bird is a driven entrepreneur who has built Inoapps into a successful business over the last six years. It is on a highly impressive growth trajectory, driven by consistent high quality project delivery, Andy’s strong leadership and the experienced management team.

“The team has demonstrated its ability to lead the delivery of larger projects to blue chip clients, with outstanding results. Andy has a vision for how Inoapps will build on this platform both in the UK and overseas. BGF was established to provide long term capital to ambitious UK companies and we are very excited to become part of that vision.”

Andy Bird, founder and CEO of Inoapps, commented: “We are very pleased to have BGF’s support during a pivotal period of growth. We had several recommendations of BGF from trusted advisers and we have been pleased with the efficient investment process.

“We have an aggressive growth plan, and having made two acquisitions in recent years, we know that BGF’s investment will give us the platform to increase our capabilities and our resources for international delivery. This will further strengthen our position as a market leader.”