‘Innovative’ iplicit takes two trophies at 2023 Tech South West Awards

iplicit has been saluted for “flying the flag for innovation” by winning two trophies at a ceremony honouring the best technology businesses in the South West.

iplicit’s cloud accounting software earned the FinTech prize, while the iplicit team carried off a second trophy after the company was given the Dorset Cluster Award - recognising it as the standout entry from the county where its support and marketing teams are based.

The awards come at the end of another spectacular year of expansion at iplicit, which has delivered more than 100% growth annually since its launch in 2019.

Now employing 91 staff across the country, it has over 19,000 daily users logging in from 85 countries, using 64 currencies. Its Dorset office is at FOUNDRY in Poole’s Dolphin Centre.

A record-breaking 400 tech leaders attended the Tech South West Awards ceremony in Exeter.

Joe Bevan of Tech South West said: "FinTech is one of the region's great strengths and it's always a competitive category at the event.

“iplicit impressed the judges with a very clear understanding of the market opportunity and its phenomenal growth. We are excited to follow their journey as they continue to fly the flag globally for innovation in the South West."

Commenting after the win, Lyndon Stickley, CEO of iplicit, said: “We are on a mission to displace Sage and become the most utilised finance software for mid-sized organisations. Although our software has been 10 years in the making, and we’ve been implementing systems for the last five, we really are at the start of an inconceivably large opportunity.

“Our mission is to rescue hundreds of thousands of organisations globally, that are currently held hostage to outdated, legacy, on-premise finance solutions without an affordable path to the cloud.

“It’s great to receive an award that recognises both the quality of our product and the incredible growth journey that we've experienced so far.

“2024 will see another 100%-plus growth and take us to the launch point for our office in North America; we expect the expansion to continue aggressively and are targeting over £60m ARR (Annually Recurring Revenue) in the next five years.”

Disrupting the mid-market

Collecting the award, Matt Lewns, Partner Manager at iplicit, said: “iplicit is disrupting the mid-market in the same way that Xero disrupted the entry level space. Our technology is the most advanced in its field, designed specifically for the tens of thousands of Sage 50 and Sage 200 customers that don’t feel they have an affordable cloud path with their existing vendor.”

Anthony Story, Director of Silicon South and co-host of the Tech South West Awards, said: “It was such a great pleasure to hand the FinTech Award and the Dorset Cluster Award to iplicit.”

“The core leadership team founded the finance software platform Exchequer in Bournemouth, in the heart of the Silicon South cluster, in the 1990s and, despite their impressive growth, their support and marketing teams are still firmly rooted here in Dorset.

“The business has grown by triple-digit percentages each year and is winning over many mid-market organisations which have outgrown their existing accounting systems. It is a testament to the importance of spotting an under-served market and developing the right product to fit. It exemplifies the incredible array of creative, technical and entrepreneurial talent we have in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.”

Bournemouth has seen two fast-growth organisations emerge from members of the iplicit team before – both in the 1990s. CEO Lyndon Stickley led the highly successful global communications company, 4-Sight, and the CFO, Rob Steele, founded Exchequer Software, a pioneering Windows solution for finance teams that secured thousands of customers both in the UK and abroad.

Dan Pritchard, co-founder of Tech South West and CEO of Program, said: “From climate science to HealthTech, sustainable energy and education, tech is driving real positive change in society. The South West is a bustling hub of innovation across a range of tech specialisms, and it’s great to celebrate the people and teams behind the meteoric rise of the sector.”

To find out more about iplicit, take a quick tour of the software or get in touch for a demonstration.