Omni Partners

Last week, we hosted a table at the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) Gala Dinner. We'd organised a great table and knew it'd be a fun night. And then, to our genuine surprise - we didn't know ahead of the announcement - Vivup and Omni were awarded the BVCA's Vision 2024 National Award 🏆🏆 Wayne Story flew the flag for Omni and Vivup, coming up with a solid acceptance speech on the fly. To say we're pleased would be an understatement 🔥🔥

We wrapped up 2024 with our H2 Townhall meeting: The Omni X Sandbox virtual reality experience. Zombies, Squid Game Challenges, Dance Parties - what more could you ask for? Highly recommended! Here's a taster of fun memories to kick-off the new year. Onwards!

If you've been paying attention, you know by now what everyone at Omni was up to 20 years ago! What were you doing? Comment below. #Omni20Years

What advice would you give yourself at 20? Work hard or invest in #Bitcoin? #Omni20Years

What advice would you give yourself on your first day of work? Comment below. #FirstDay #NewJob

What were you doing 20 years ago? To celebrate 20 years of Omni, we reflect on bad haircuts and even worse fashion choices. #Omni20Years

20 questions with Founder Steven Clark for #Omni20Years 🎂

This month we're kicking off the celebration of 20 years of Omni 🎉! Back in 2004, some young members of staff were still in primary school while our grizzled veterans were already building businesses. Twenty years on we're as energised as ever to work alongside brilliant Founders building mission-led, fast-growing companies. Over the coming weeks you'll hear from our team about where they were then versus where they are now. Bring on the next 20! #Omni20Years 🎂

Omni Partners - 20 years, looking back.... 20 years of scars, all worn with pride. Many big successes, one big failure. It comes down to doing the right things, in the right order, with the right people. Keep pressing forward. The next 20 years will be built upon these principles and the knowledge and experience I continue to gain by being open to new ideas and new people. Always looking for ways to succeed, because why not us?

I probably shouldn't have had to be reminded when it was that I first met software entrepreneur and force of nature (yes, I met another one!) Pamela Cook. It turned out it was in 2016. That was when Infoshare, the company she led, had been invited as one of a select number of exciting UK tech startups to participate in the TechMarketView Little British Battlers programme, which I was running back in the day. Hers was a fascinating story. Infoshare was launched in 1996 by two of her brothers as a desktop software sales business. A few years later, they enlisted younger sister Pamela as sales director, and she spent the next ten years on the road. When one of her brothers retired in 2010, Pamela took over as CEO, mortgaging her house to realise her vision of transforming Infoshare into a data management business specifically focused on helping public and private sector organisations use their data to identify and support vulnerable people. Over the next decade and more, Pamela built Infoshare into one of the UK’s most successful and respected ‘small but perfectly formed’ software businesses, boasting clients in police forces and District and County Councils across the land, as well as prestigious private sector enterprises. Along the way, she picked up multiple awards recognising her contribution and influence as a female tech entrepreneur. I tell you this because last week it was announced that Pamela had secured the future of Infoshare in a deal that saw London-based, SME-focused private equity firm, Omni Partners acquire the business, along with two complementary software products from accountancy membership and standard-setting body, CIPFA (Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy). The expanded company has been rebranded Infoshare+. Leading the transaction for Omni was Wayne Story, whom I also knew back in the day from his time as CEO of outsourcer Equiniti and subsequently as CEO of arguably the UK’s first and only public sector-focused software ‘unicorn’, Civica. Story has brought in former Civica Executive Director, Steve Thorn (yeah, I knew him too), as Infoshare+ Executive Chairman. Prior to his time at Civica, Thorn was a twenty-year veteran of CGI (prior, Logica), one of Infoshare’s key SI partners. Before retiring from CGI, Thorn took over as UK President from (yeah, my mate) Tim Gregory who himself had retired and joined Infoshare as a non-exec director. Pamela remains on the Infoshare+ board and will switch her attention to business development. There will be much to keep her busy with multiple acquisitions, as well as organic growth, in plan. As you have probably garnered from reading this, it pleases me no end that Pamela Cook has received just reward for the hard slog and (no apologies for using the much-overworked word) genuine passion, in leading Infoshare to the success story it is today. Under Omni’s aegis, she is among friends, and that can only bode well for the future too.