Scottish consultancy raises £400,000 for UK expansion

With cloud services consulting experiencing heightened demand – particularly as the Covid-19 lock-down sees numerous organisations relying on the cloud for remote collaborative work – CirrusHQ has secured funding for its UK expansion. The consultancy based in Scotland has also appointed a new Chair, Director and Managing Director to help drive its growth strategy forward.

Founded in 2011, CirrusHQ is a consulting firm specialising in supporting clients with the use of Amazon Web Services (AWS). Based in central Scotland, the managed cloud services provider offers services including server configuration management; application deployment; auto scaling; system design; and application development, among others.

According to the latest estimates from research firm Statista, the UK cloud computing market is already worth $9.06 billion (£7.30 billion), and could grow to as much as $10.27 billion (£8.28 billion) by 2021. As demand for cloud consulting ramps up across the UK, CirrusHQ has been working to raise funds for a cross-country expansion. To that end, at the start of June, the consulting firm announced it has secured €446,000 (£403,160) of growth capital funding.

CirrusHQ will use the fresh capital to further expand its presence in the UK, most notably in the public sector and in enterprise deployments. The firm will focus particularly keenly on the education sector, where it is the first and only UK Consulting Partner to hold the ‘AWS Education Competency’ and the ‘Well Architected Framework’ certification. This will likely see the firm come in for heightened demand in the coming months, as with schools and universities temporarily closed amid the coronavirus lock-down, many are relying on cloud technology and tools to help students continue to learn online.

James Lucas, CEO and founder of CirrusHQ commented, “Our expertise and deep insights into the AWS cloud has enabled our clients to innovate and exploit the potential of the public cloud. The UK EdTech sector in particular is thriving as organisations put in place strategies to scale without compromising cybersecurity. We are delighted that Alastair and Ronnie are joining the Board to help CirrusHQ in the next phase of our ambitious growth plans.”

The investment round was led by Alastair Mills and Ronnie Smith – both of whom take on roles as Directors on CirrusHQ’s board. The pair have worked together previously, having co-founded managed services provider Six Degrees Group in 2011, which was acquired by Charlesbank Capital Partners in 2015. Smith brings more than 25 years of financial expertise to the firm’s leadership, while Mills also takes on the position of Chairman. CirrusHQ also appointed Daemonn Brody, who has previously held senior roles in the cloud and managed services industry, as its Managing Director.

Remarking on the investment, Mills stated, “We are witnessing an unprecedented demand for cloud computing and AWS is the undisputed global leader in the market. With its deep understanding of the vertical markets it serves, together with an unrivalled technical expertise, CirrusHQ is perfectly positioned to take full advantage of the business opportunity afforded by the cloud. I’m very excited to be joining the team on this journey.”