One of the UK’s largest independent technology providers - a partners to Oracle, Microsoft and Google - has secured a further £8 million investment from backers.
DSP-Explorer, a database and cloud managed services operator launched in Leeds, will use the fresh capital from YFM Equity Partners to forge on with organic and acquisitive growth plans.
Founded in 1999, and with offices at Wira Business Park as well as in London, Nottingham and Basingstoke, DSP has grown turnover to £23 million, employing nearly 100 people nationally.
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It acquired Explorer UK in July last year, a leading Oracle database consultancy and development partner.
Since Leeds-headquartered YFM backed the management buyout of the business in 2018, led by chief executive Simon Goodenough, revenues and profits have both grown by more than 300 per cent, with a growing recurring revenue base and strong demand from enterprise customers.
Mr Goodenough said: “We have seen consistently strong growth since YFM’s initial investment, with their funding enabling us to take advantage of market opportunities as well as us benefitting from the team’s strategic insight. Together, we have developed an ambitious plan to scale the business, both in the UK and abroad, through both organic and acquisitive growth, as the sector continues to expand post-pandemic.
“This latest support is a further demonstration of YFM’s belief in our business and our potential - we are looking forward to embarking on the next phase of our growth plan, delivering on our Oracle Anywhere and Any Database, Any Cloud initiatives, with a supportive partner at our side.”
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This latest investment in DSP is the second from YFM’s Buyout Fund II in recent weeks, following its backing of Enterprise Resource Planning software specialist Cooper Software in November.
Roshan Puri, investment director at YFM, comments: “DSP is a leader in its field and its acquisition of Explorer last year marked another key milestone with the creation of a combined group with the potential to dominate the UK enterprise database managed services sector.
“With its leading reputation and high quality team, DSP-Explorer will provide an attractive partner for complementary acquisitions and ambitious teams seeking to join a high growth multi-cloud managed services business. We are proud to be continuing our work alongside the team as they pursue their vision for the business.”
The YFM investment team comprised Roshan Puri, Ben Pitt and Ian Waterfield. Corporate finance advice was provided by BDO; financial due diligence by Azets; legal advice by Gateley and Browne Jacobson; organisational review by Stratton HR; and tax advice by Claritas.
