Gateshead intranet software firm to expand operations with £2.7m investment

Maven has led a £2.7m investment into intranet software specialist Orchidsoft.

The funding will enable the Gateshead-based business to expand its sales and marketing efforts across the UK and US and to grow its team of 45 employees to over 100 by 2022.

Orchid has been developing and selling intranet solutions for over 20 years. As the market has shifted towards cloud-based solutions, the business invested heavily in developing its own globally scalable cloud-based platform called Oak.

Since launching in 2016, Oak has been adopted by a range of blue-chip customers, who join a list of house-hold brands the company already works with such as Aldi, Comic Relief, Halfords, Pizza Express, ITV, Virgin Money and Newcastle Building Society.

Intranets are increasingly becoming a vital component in the operations of any organisation. They provide a portal where employees can communicate, collaborate and perform a range of tasks including accessing company documents, managing their expenses, or putting in holiday requests.

The UK intranet market alone is estimated to be worth £630m annually.

Oak’s software enhances communication and collaboration, enables knowledge sharing and streamlines administration tasks for any size of organisation. Oak can be implemented, populated and maintained without the need for any consultancy, technical or design resources. All upgrades and new features are also rolled out via the cloud.

Michael Vassallo, investment director at Maven, said: “Orchid is a hugely exciting business, which addresses a large and growing market, and we are delighted to support the roll-out of its innovative cloud-based intranet software across the UK and overseas.

“We have been highly impressed by the management team and our technical diligence has shown the Orchid product suite to be best in class. The co-investment deal between Maven’s Investor Partners network, Northstar Ventures and Finance Durham is a fantastic example of Maven’s client funds working alongside regional funds in the North East to provide a local business with a substantial funding package to enable it to grow globally.”

Sukh Ryatt, CEO at Orchid, added: “Our amazing team have created something really special with Oak and it’s been an incredible year for us, with record sales and growth and now with this transformative investment, which will allow us to scale our business globally.

“We’re thankful for the great funding partners we have in Maven, Northstar Ventures and Finance Durham and look forward to working together with them to make a noise from the North East that’s heard around the globe!”

The transaction includes a £500k follow-on investment from existing backers Northstar as well as £750k from the Finance Durham Fund, which is managed by Maven.

Maven is building a track record for backing other UK software companies, which includes the mobile app developer hedgehog lab, compensation management software solution provider Curo, and led the £6m MBO of the CRM specialist ProspectSoft.