£1M Invested into 140% YOY Growth Software Company

Independent venture capital firm, Panoramic Growth Equity (PGE), has secured a £1m investment in Concorde Solutions Limited, a multi-award-winning software asset management company based in Reading. PGE’s funding will be used to help Concorde, which turned over £1.8m in 2010 – up 140% YOY, launch a new SaaS product in 2012 into the data centre and cloud computing markets and expand its professional and managed services to markets worldwide.

David Wilson, partner at PGE, said: “We are delighted to have acquired an equity stake in Concorde, a young and dynamic IT services company. “Concorde has all the hallmarks of success: hugely talented management, a niche market that is growing fast, and the spirit and desire to grow the business. As the software requirements of large enterprise increase in complexity, Concorde is in a great position to assist its clients to navigate their way through. With opportunities in cloud computing and the data centre world, these are very exciting times for both Concorde and PGE.”

Established in 2007, Concorde is the only truly independent product and services company to have developed a custom-built SaaS product – ComplianceConsole, that delivers software compliance across multiple vendors, and identifies opportunities for tangible cost savings. Used in support of the company’s core services in consultancy and managed services, Concorde provides a complete solution for managing the contractual and financial issues associated with software licensing and vendor subscriptions.

According to a Gartner Group estimate, SaaS sales in 2010 have reached $10B, and are projected to increase to $12.1b in 2011, up 20.7% from 2010. Gartner Group estimates that SaaS revenue will be more than double its 2010 numbers by 2015 and reach a projected $21.3b.

The same group this year awarded Concorde ‘Cool Vendor’ status, adding to the company’s recent win at the Microsoft Partner Network 2010 Awards where it collected the top prize for Software Asset Management.

Concorde’s customer base ranges from members of the Global Fortune 1000 as well as investment banks, mid-market companies, public sector organisations and charities. Clients have included Rexam, Plan International, Serco, Linklaters and Centrica.

The Panoramic ECF 1 remains the largest Fund granted since the Government-backed scheme launched in 2006 and is still the only Fund that has been awarded to a Scottish VC firm. The Fund, which will make individual investments between £0.5m and £2m, was established to help meet the increasing demand by SMEs for growth capital, at a time when supply in the equity gap has come under considerable pressure.

PGE’s senior team of Stephen Campbell, David Wilson and Malcolm Kpedekpo has over 40 years’ VC experience, latterly focussing on the SME market in the UK and overseas. In 2007, a joint UBS/Library House report highlighted that the three partners had invested in three of the top ten fastest-growing companies in the UK.