Elly Yates-Roberts |
UK-based investment firm BGF is helping businesses digitally transform and pursue sustainable growth using Microsoft Azure.
BGF has backed over 400 businesses since it was founded in 2011 and delivers between £1 million and £15 million in investments each week.
“Small businesses can grow very quickly, so they need a digital platform that can grow at the same pace,” said Lyndon Arnold, head of technology at BGF. “That’s why so many companies choose Microsoft solutions. Our strategic partnership with Microsoft helps the businesses we work with to modernise their digital footprint. It also helps them share learnings beyond technology to other topics that are top of mind for high-growth companies such as cultural transformation, diversity and inclusion, talent, accessibility and sustainability.”
BGF has invested in businesses in technology, media, healthcare, e-commerce, automotive and aerospace. One of these firms is UK-based IXICO which helps to develop and deploy artificial intelligence data analytics on medical images and wearable biosensor patient data. It uses Microsoft Azure to support its analysis of brain scans which enables its biopharmaceutical customers better understand medical conditions such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Huntingdon’s disease.
“By using Azure, we can bring our analytics tools and data together in the cloud to run imaging programs much faster and deploy novel solutions more quickly,” said Robin Wolz, chief scientific officer at IXICO. “We are a world-class company, and now we are using a world-class cloud platform with Azure.”
BGF and Microsoft are long-term partners for these businesses, with a focus on “helping drive growth and returns, and building scale for the investments in a sustainable way”, according to Microsoft.
“Microsoft is partnering with growth capital investors like BGF to help the companies they work with to digitally transform and innovate on the cloud,” said Craig Wellman, director of financial services at Microsoft UK. “Through our private capital programme, we ensure that firms and portfolio companies can maximise their relationship with Microsoft and drive sustainable growth.
“Businesses of all sizes want technology that empowers staff to work wherever and whenever they want. Microsoft’s tools and services are a perfect fit, providing the flexibility, collaboration and productivity that a modern workforce needs to compete and grow.”