Optima Partners, an Edinburgh-headquartered data science and transformation consultancy, has raised £2.3 million in funding.

Founded in 2013, the firm offers design-led customer and digital transformation services to clients across the customer, carbon and health sectors.

The investment round, led by BGF, will support the consultancy in scaling client services, further developing its SaaS solutions and expanding into new markets and sectors.

Optima Partners said it also plans to significantly expand its workforce from 44 employees to around 100.

Euan Baxter, investor at BGF, commented: “Optima Partners uses data and machine learning in a way that can revolutionise marketing and customer experience, and this investment from BGF is designed to help the business achieve further scale.

“Rooted in Edinburgh as a centre of data excellence, the company has built on strong academic foundations to prove its credentials through innovative work with some of the biggest names in financial services, energy and pharmaceuticals.”

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The investment boost follows a period of strong trading performance which saw the firm achieve 55% year-on-year growth to deliver £5.75m in  full year revenue at the end of June.

Karen Thomas-Bland has also been appointed as a Non-Executive Chair at Optima Partners as the result of an introduction from BGF’s Talent Network, which is the UK’s largest pool of non-executive directors.

She brings significant consulting and data science experience to Optima Partners, with former roles including Partner of Strategy and Transformation at IBM Global and Executive Director of Strategy & Transformation at KPMG.

Alan Crawley, Chief Executive Officer at Optima Partners, said: “We pride ourselves on the calibre of our people, and Optima Partners’ ability to convert that into innovative customer-focussed marketing and servicing solutions for our clients. BGF’s investment will help us scale our business, allowing us to serve more customers.

“Enhancing the application of advanced data sciences, alongside the practical application of AI and machine learning, are other key pillars in our growth and expansion plans.

“Karen’s appointment as our Non-Executive Chair will be of great value given her considerable consulting and data science expertise. We are grateful for BGF facilitating the appointment through its Talent Network.”

Karen Thomas-Bland, Non-Executive Chair at Optima Partners, added: “Optima Partners’ approach combines key elements of my previous consulting and data science expertise, so as soon as I was introduced via BGF’s Talent Network, it felt like a natural fit.

“It’s a privilege to join Alan and the growing team as the company scales into new areas with an industry-leading offer.”

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