BGF, one of the largest and most experienced growth capital investors in the UK and Ireland announces its successful exit from Optima Partners Limited (“Optima”), an Edinburgh headquartered, rapidly growing professional services business specialising in applied data and machine learning & AI transformation. 

The business has been acquired by Growth Capital Partners (GCP). The exit has delivered a 4xMM return and an IRR of more than 50% for BGF. As part of the transaction BGF has reinvested alongside GCP, and will continue to support the company as a minority shareholder.

BGF first backed Optima in October 2022, completing a multi-million-pound investment to support its ambitious growth plans. During that time, Optima has performed strongly, with 40% revenue growth delivered in 2024. The company has also increased headcount by more than 90% in the last two years, with additional offices opening in London and Bristol. 

Founded in 2013 by Alan Crawley as an associate-led customer experience and data transformation consultancy, Optima gained strong momentum in 2021 when Alan partnered with Dr Chris Foley, a leading academic and expert in the advanced maths that underpins cutting edge ML and AI applications. 

This was accelerated with the investment from BGF in 2022 and together, Alan and Chris built Optima into a market-leading applied data and AI transformation partner trusted by global blue-chip businesses. 

Alan Crawley, Founder, said: “Since founding Optima Partners in 2013, the business has gone from strength to strength, expanding our capabilities, growing our team and deepening our impact across a range of critical sectors. The launch of our health data science division, bioXcelerateAI, has been a major milestone, reflecting the scale of opportunity we see as organisations look to make better use of data and advanced analytics. The backing and continued support from BGF has been instrumental in helping us reach this stage of our growth.

“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.”

Chris Foley, CEO, said: “Our focus is firmly on enabling the next phase of Optima’s growth. GCP’s investment is a strong endorsement of our mission to help our clients turn their data, analytics and AI strategies into measurable outcomes at speed. This new funding from GCP allows us to accelerate our growing track record of innovation, invest further in our people, and strengthen the infrastructure required to support our clients at greater scale. 

“With this partnership, we can move faster to help organisations understand, adapt and enhance human- and data-led decision-making supported by AI, bridging academic foundations with industry-focused and value-based impact.”

Michael Berger, Portfolio, BGF, said: “This transaction represents a very successful exit for BGF and a strong endorsement of what Alan, Chris and the team have built at Optima since our investment in 2022. The business is now firmly established as a leader in applied data and AI, and we’re delighted to have backed this period of its growth, while also reinvesting alongside GCP as Optima moves into its next stage of development.”

ENDS

Advisers

About Optima

Optima Partners is an AI-led transformation consultancy that helps large and complex organisations unlock customer value by bridging strategy and execution. Combining practical strategy, deep data expertise and advanced AI, the firm delivers measurable growth across personalisation at scale, operational excellence and modern data foundations. Its multidisciplinary teams work closely with clients to translate ambition into outcomes, building solutions that are scalable, sustainable and commercially grounded. Optima operates across Financial Services & Insurance, Energy, Telecoms and Pharma, supported by bioXcelerateAI, its dedicated health data science arm.

Website: Optima Partners | Unlocking customer value with AI

About BGF 

BGF was set up in 2011 and has invested more than £4.7 billion in over 600 companies, making it the most active investor in the UK and Ireland. Its main shareholders are Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and NatWest. BGF is a minority, non-controlling equity partner with a patient outlook on investments, based on shared long-term goals with the management teams it backs. BGF invests in growing businesses through its network of 15 offices. Reflecting its confidence in British scale-up opportunities, BGF has pledged to invest at least £3 billion over the next five years.

About GCP

Growth Capital Partners (GCP) was founded in 1999 and has a proven track record of successfully building genuine investment partnerships with founders in ambitious, highly specialist businesses that power the Knowledge Economy.  With deep expertise in the Technology and Specialist Services sectors, GCP is currently investing from GCP Fund VI, and bringing valuable strategic support, tools for scaling, and extensive experience in helping people-driven businesses to unlock innovation, drive long term sustainable growth, and build the businesses of the future.

www.growthcapital.co.uk

GCP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority