IFS Maven Equity Finance invests £750,000 in award-winning workforce management system

08/10/2024
L-R: Mark Sterritt of the BBB, Alex Allan of CMS and Craig McGill of Maven.

Glasgow-based specialist workforce optimisation software provider, Corporate Modelling Services Ltd (“CMS”), has secured £750,000 in equity funding from the Investment Fund for Scotland (“IFS”), managed by Maven Capital Partners (“Maven”) and delivered by the British Business Bank.

CMS helps clients to transform their back office operational efficiency and improve the ultimate end customer experience through the implementation of a suite of workforce optimisation technologies, delivered through its platform, OPX. The software currently supports organisations with multiple tools; two of which are – task allocation, ensuring the correctly skilled staff are working on the most suitable jobs at the right time, and employee time analysis. By providing a system for effective management of resources and service demand, OPX can enhance customer operations and sit alongside or integrate with other software solutions, automating the data exchange between them.

Applicable across a range of sectors including financial services, utilities, telecommunications, government entities and retail, OPX can service clients of scale with up to 60,000 users. The platform already supports an impressive list of long-term customers across global financial services and business process outsourcers, and the team have built a diverse pipeline of prospective OPX clients.

Back-office workforce management is an emerging market, with the shift in working patterns in recent years highlighting the need for technology to optimise human capital use, whilst boosting employee experience and client service. OPX is well placed to help customers achieve more without additional human resource.

Today’s transaction will allow the business to invest further in its award-winning platform, enhancing its capabilities and building out further AI functionality into its modular software suite. Funding will also support its growing sales function to service global operators, including current opportunities in the US, as well as embarking on a number of strategically significant international partnerships to expand its customer reach.

Craig McGill, Investment Manager at Maven, said: “CMS has built an impressive platform that can transform many businesses across different industries. Alex and the senior team are all highly driven, experienced individuals with a genuine entrepreneurial focus and we look forward to supporting the business as it enters this exciting next phase of growth.”

Alex Allan CEO at CMS, said: “I am delighted to be working with Maven. We didn’t want a passive investor and it was clear from the early conversations with Craig and the team at Maven that their market experience and contact base will help accelerate our growth, which in turn will allow us to deliver better customer experience, accelerate our AI technology roadmap and develop new markets.”

Mark Sterritt, Director, Nations and Regions Funds, at the British Business Bank, said: “The Investment Fund for Scotland was set up to support a nation of entrepreneurs, reflecting the critical role access to finance plays at every stage of their journey. Technology continues to be a high-growth sector for the Scottish economy and CMS is a great example of a business using specialist software to help companies all over the world to work more effectively and efficiently. We look forward to playing a part in the firm’s future growth.”

This marks the seventh investment made by IFS Maven Equity Finance, demonstrating Maven’s strong track record of identifying and nurturing high-potential businesses, and the opportunity in Scotland to drive innovation and growth. The Fund has also backed 3D printed micro-tumour specialist, Carcinotech, premium Indian ready meals business, Praveen Kumar and Glasgow University spinout, Nami Surgical.

The £150m IFS covers the whole of Scotland and provides loans from £25,000 to £2 million and equity investment up to £5 million to help a range of small and medium sized businesses to start up, scale up or stay ahead.

The purpose of IFS is to drive sustainable economic growth by supporting innovation and creating local opportunity for new and growing businesses across Scotland. IFS will increase the supply and diversity of early-stage finance for smaller businesses in Scotland, providing funds to firms that might otherwise not receive investment and help to break down barriers in access to finance.

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