IPL joins forces with Catalyst Venture Partners to provide a leg up to early stage IT companies
New partnership between corporate finance advisors and IT services company provides young software companies with combined investment and research & development assistance to boost business growth.
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Press Release 11 October 2011: IPL, an IT services company specialising in business intelligence and information management, has partnered with corporate finance advisers Catalyst Venture Partners to provide businesses with a combined investment and software development proposition that is specifically designed to help small technology businesses enter new markets and accelerate their growth.
Catalyst Venture Partners provides early stage technology businesses with development funding, commercial expertise and consultancy in order to help grow the businesses into highly successful operations. The partnership with IPL will mean that once an organisation is identified that has a strong proposition and concept, the IT services company, with extensive software development expertise, can be brought in to help define, drive and deliver the development of the software product or portfolio.
Richard Turner, CEO at Catalyst Venture Partners, comments, “There are plenty of businesses in the UK SME technology market that have excellent propositions and the potential to radically change their respective markets, but simply investing in them is not enough to help them realise that potential. Often, technical guidance is required on the best ways to develop the software and the practical requirements of bringing the product to market. We therefore needed to partner with an organisation that could offer reliable direction and assistance, no matter what the technology or industry sector.”
Turner continues, “We chose to partner with IPL because of their broad experience and success in multiple vertical markets and in high-profile and demanding projects, including for the public sector, defence & aerospace and telecoms. We had to be certain that if we were going to invest time and money into these organisations, we could be confident that the IT services partner who we entrusted with guiding the software development would be able to deliver success. IPL’s highly impressive track record with so many varied projects meant that trust became thoroughly implicit.”
Shaun Davey, CEO at IPL, comments, “IPL as a business has an enviable reputation of success in high profile projects and in the development of new products to enhance our clients’ portfolios. However, it was important to us to show that we are not solely focused on blue chip companies or large public sector departments, but are equally interested in and equipped to help smaller organisations with their software and product development. Joining forces with corporate finance advisors such as Catalyst Venture Partners, especially considering their history of working with technology companies in their early stages, allows us to approach SMEs that have ambitious ideas for their own organisations and their markets and use our broad expertise to help them achieve those goals.”
The new partnership is open to UK B2B or B2C entrepreneurial technology start-ups, or companies with proven propositions, in any sector. Following successful application for funding, IPL and Catalyst will work together with the partner organisation to develop the software prototype, test the final product and ensure its market feasibility so that the new products can be profitably launched to the target market.
Turner concludes, “Securing investment from third parties has been notoriously difficult in the current economic climate, meaning that we have had to create inventive ways to make investments more secure and less risky. Technology companies in the UK that aspire to lead their markets but lack the expertise with which to develop – both from a technical and commercial stance – are now able to take advantage of a funding package that brings with it proven exceptional practical benefits.”
ENDS
About IPL: www.ipl.com
IPL – Information Processing Limited – is a software development and consultancy company, established in 1979, based in Bath and has 260 employees.
IPL prides itself on its professional and reliable approach to software development, delivering ‘right first time’ solutions which significantly reduce Total Cost of Ownership.
IPL’s quality, environmental and information security management systems are certificated to ISO 9001/TickIT, 14001 and 27001.
IPL provides enterprise level solutions for major industry sectors including aerospace and defence, banking and finance, emergency services, government, telecoms and media. IPL’s clients include Nationwide, BT, ITV, Thales and Sony.
