Lagan Technologies
Crescent Capital Initial Investment 2002
Crescent led a syndicate of three investors who took a stake in this business in March 2002 as the company began to build on its core reference sites.
Lagan is a Belfast based software company focused on Customer Contact Management products that are targeted at the Local Government market in the UK and US. The Frontline product aims to provide a comprehensive ‘one stop shop’ via fully empowered contact centre agents and a range of self-service options. This single interface provides service, support, account payment interactions, upselling and service enabling capabilities. The product, written in JAVA, has a number of significant technical advantages over the current offerings from competitors; not the least of these is ease of integration with legacy systems.
Within the UK, one of the major drivers in Lagan’s market space is the eGovernment white paper which sets very ambitious targets for the delivery of local government services electronically within the next four years. The company achieved a significant foothold in this sector when Birmingham City Council - one of Europe’s largest metropolitan authorities - chose the Frontline product as its CRM solution in preference to solutions on offer from major corporations such as Siebel and Oracle. Since then, Lagan has become a leading supplier in this sector with Newcastle, Stockport, Bristol and over fifty other local authority customers.
Recently, the company has estabilshed itself in the US and has won a number of significant tenders.
The management team in Lagan has extensive experience at senior levels in the software industry. All functional disciplines are well catered for and the team is supported by a quality group of non-executives on the board. In 2004 Crescent participated in a follow-on funding round along with DN Capital, a London based technology VC fund. This investment was directed at accelerating the international expansion of the company principally into the North American market.
In 2006 Crescent Capital II LP participated in a further round led by Cazenove while at the same time realising its Fund I investment.
Contact Details
Crescent Contact : Hal Wilson
209 Airport West Belfast
Co Antrim Northern Ireland
Tel: +44 (0) 28 9078 8300
Fax: +44 (0) 28 9078 8339
http://www.lagan.com
Des Speed President and Chief Executive Officer, Lagan Technologies
Des Speed has over 20 years senior management experience in the IT industry. He was the founding Director of Sx3, the Business Process Outsourcing subsidiary of the Viridian Group (Northern Ireland’s largest public company). Since his appointment in 1999, Lagan Technologies has experienced growth of over 2,100% Des was recently voted one of Northern Ireland's top 25 Business Achievers by Business Eye magazine.
Crescent Capital NI Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority
Crescent Capital NI Ltd is a member of the EVCA