Case study
Founded in 2013 by Alan Crawley, Optima Partners is an Edinburgh-based consultancy firm that specialises in AI and digital transformation. It helps businesses to operate more efficiently and improve their decision-making, through workflow optimisation and automation.
It now supports some of the biggest household names across financial services, energy, insurance, telecoms and pharmaceutical and biotech.
| Region/Nation | Scotland |
|---|---|
| Sector | Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities |
| Programme | Growth Equity |
| Partner |
Support from the Bank
In 2025, Growth Capital Partners made a significant investment in Optima Partners via its Fund VI, its first investment in the new fund, to which British Business Bank committed £60m.
Known for its partnership-style approach, GCP is providing direction on strategy and tailored-support to Optima’s senior leadership team and will work alongside the business to develop a range of growth and marketing initiatives. GCP will help Optima to build its team and expand its AI and data analytics offering.
Impact of funding: what has gone on to do?
Since its formation, Optima Partners has experienced rapid growth. The company reported a 40% increase in revenue during the full-year 2024 and its headcount has grown by over 90%, opening new offices in London and Bristol.
It is now a leading customer experience and data transformation consultancy, and serves respected clients such as HSBC, RBS, Paypal, Lloyds Banking Group, Citibank, O2, BT and Standard Life Investments. It hopes to increase its team size to more than 200 within the next three years.
This funding will enable Optima to maintain its momentum and move into the next phase of its growth journey. With the added support from GCP, Optima will refine its go-to-market strategy and expand its offering, broadening its reach into key industries and market regions.
Alan Crawley, Founder and CEO, Optima Partners:
We are at a critical moment in Optima’s growth journey. In order to maintain our current growth-rate, we need to continuously evolve as a business and identify areas where we can best serve current and future clients.
GCP’s endorsement is a strong signal of confidence in our abilities. This investment will enable us to further invest in our people, build our talent pipeline and move much faster as a business and at a far greater scale. With their support, Optima Partners can continue to go from strength-to-strength and look to deliver even greater impact in new market sectors.
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