Second round of Venture Capital funding for the rapidly expanding Ochresoft
January 2007
The YFM Group is delighted to announce a further investment in OchreSoft Technologies, a technology business that provides conveyancing workflow software to the legal market.
Swindon-based Ochresoft has secured £600,000 in total of funding from its existing shareholders including the YFM Group. The YFM Group, managed by the South West Ventures Fund, first invested in OchreSoft in September 2005. Since then OchreSoft has achieved a rapid expansion of its business with a four fold increase in monthly revenue plus an expanding client base.
The company was looking to raise further funds to support the rapid growth in the business and to enhance the functionality of its main product Intelliworks, a .NET based workflow application that was launched last year. At the moment, Intelliworks can be used for sale and purchase and remortgage. The software is undergoing development so that ultimately, it will also be possible to use it for wills, probate, accounts and family law.
“We have developed a market leading workflow framework that is can deliver our risk managed legal applications very cost effectively, so that the firm can hit the ground running” explains Clive McCafferty, CEO at OchreSoft Technologies.
“We believe that future Government changes coupled with increased competition in the market is forcing law firms to adopt case management technology. This is effectively opening up a market segment in the legal technology market that didn’t exist two years ago and only OchreSoft are poised to exploit it.”
OchreSoft was originally established in 2003 as an off-shoot of BPE Solicitors, one of the UK’s leading conveyancing law firms. In addition to Intelliworks, OchreSoft has developed a system called the ‘Virtual Firm’ that has the capability of linking estate agents, lawyers, HM Revenue and Customs, the Land Registry and clients to provide a seamless conveyancing service.
Clive added: “Our faith in our product has been endorsed by the YFM Group. This additional funding along with a substantial sum from other existing investors will help us to substantially grow our customer base in the legal market sector.”
Julian Dennard from the YFM Group said: “OchreSoft has an exciting business plan moving forward and we are delighted to confirm this latest investment in the business. The company has developed some very marketable new products that should help it to take a significant share in the growing legal IT market. We are delighted to be part of Ochresoft’s success.”
NOTES TO EDITORS:
OchreSoft Technologies
OchreSoft Technologies used to be known as Intelligent Conveyancing Ltd and was originally part of BPE Solicitors Cheltenham. OchreSoft provides market leading legal applications based around the latest .NET workflow framework which has a unique ability to update itself and the workflows automatically.
For further information please contact Clive Mc Cafferty (CEO) on 01793 836730 or email: info@ochresoft.com. Website – www.ochresoft.com
YFM Group : The South West Ventures Fund
YFM Group – is the UK’s most active investor in the small and medium enterprise marketplace. YFM Group manages in excess of £250 million of funds with investment sizes ranging from £50,000 to £5 million. Principal offices are located in Leeds, Manchester, London and Bristol with over 40 investment professionals being employed across the UK.
The YFM Group managed South West Ventures Fund is a £25M fund that has been set up to provide venture capital to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) based in the South West of England. Initial investment can be up to £250,000 with an ability to invest a further £250,000 after six months. In certain circumstances, alongside other new investors, the Fund can follow on its investments to provide a total of £2.5 million to one company. To date the fund has invested £3.25m in 15 companies.
South West Ventures Fund is managed by YFM Venture Finance Limited part of the YFM Group. YFM Venture Finance Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
For further information about YFM Group and South West Ventures Fund, please telephone 0117 906 3410, log on to www.southwestventuresfund.co.uk or email info@southwestventuresfund.co.uk