Edinburgh-based Optima Partners has won fresh backing from Growth Capital Partners (GCP), with the cash earmarked to accelerate the AI consultancy’s ambitious expansion plans across the UK and Europe following a year of sustained growth.

Optima, which specialises in data and AI-led transformation, said that the new investment will allow the firm to scale further and faster by investing in customer operations, expanding strategic marketing, strengthening talent development, and growing its position in regional markets.

Founded in 2013 by Alan Crawley, the company supports enterprise organisations across industries such as financial services, energy, and telecoms, in tackling complex challenges through business strategy, machine learning and AI, and advanced engineering.

GCP’s investment will fuel strategic growth initiatives designed to scale Optima further, anchored by the firm’s three interlinked missions, namely unlocking customer value through personalisation, embedding safe and scalable AI into decision‑making, and laying the data foundations needed for growth.

“Since its launch, Optima has gone from strength to strength, expanding our capabilities, growing our team and deepening our impact across a range of critical sectors,” said Crawley.

“This investment from GCP marks the start of an exciting new chapter. It gives us the momentum to build on our success, accelerate our plans and continue developing the capabilities that will define the next stage of Optima’s journey.”

With the new deal in place, former backer BGF has stepped away from Optima, delivering four times the original investment and an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of more than 50%.

BGF first backed Optima in October 2022, completing a multi-million-pound investment to support its growth, which saw the Scottish firm deliver 40% revenue growth in 2024 and increase headcount by more than 90% in the last two years, with offices opening in London and Bristol.

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Other successes touted by the firm include bioXcelerate AI, a health data science division launched earlier this year, aiming to accelerate innovation in drug discovery and life sciences.

“As organisations increasingly seek to harness their data and accelerate AI adoption, Optima is uniquely positioned to help them tackle mission-critical challenges and unlock meaningful commercial outcomes,” said Richard Shaw, partner at GCP.

“The business has already demonstrated impressive momentum and scale, supported by strong leadership, deep technical skill sets and robust industry expertise. 

“We are delighted to partner with the team at this exciting stage of their journey and are looking forward to working together to enhance go-to-market capability, strengthen organisational infrastructure and scale delivery capacity in a rapidly growing and strategically important sector.”