Since its inception in April 2016, Hippo Digital has quickly established itself as a leading supplier of digital leaders, service design teams and delivery expertise in support of large scale digital transformation programmes to public and private sector organisations. The company’s key focus is to ensure that user centred and evidence-based design is at the core of everything it does, researching, designing and delivering to add value and create lasting change.
Clearly this focus is working, in the current 20/21 financial year Hippo Digital has a workforce that has grown from 2 to almost 200, targeting a turnover of £19 million with a client base that includes health and care providers, financial services and government departments. The successful acquisition and integration of Converging Data, thereby enhancing its data analytics and cyber capability, has helped to fuel growth.
Demand for Hippo Digital’s services has increased throughout the pandemic. The company has provided key services to combat the impact of the virus, and supported Digital Transformation in the public sector. Co-founder Robert Coop said,
“The work Hippo Digital has done with the Health Sector during the Coronavirus Pandemic, has demonstrated the resilience of the business. It has been able to contribute to the public sector and its increasing use of digital technology.”
It’s a success story for a company that is relatively young and ambitious, and Hippo Digital recognises that to grow and to sustain their ambition of becoming a national key player, it needs to bring in a partner. GCP’s investment will assist it in the realisation of its intent to continue to create hi-tech jobs in Leeds and Coventry and expand into areas including Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham, Newcastle and London. This investment will see Hippo Digital growing from 200 - 400 people over the next 3 years.
Liz Whitefield, Director, said:
“GCP specialises in supporting high-growth UK businesses and we are really excited to be working with a team of experts who not only have proven expertise in our sector but absolutely get our culture, something all our Hippos align to and which is at the heart of our success."
Co-founder Adam Lewis added:
“We’re delighted to have GCP on board, they have a great track record in the digital transformation space and the investment will support the next phase of our growth plan, including implementing the new Hippo Academy. We were focused on finding a partner that can support us and in GCP we have found like-minded people and we’re excited to work with them going forward.”
Alex Thomson, Partner, GCP, commented:
“We are thrilled to have completed an investment to support the exciting growth plans of Hippo Digital. Hippo is a specialist digital transformation consultancy with an exceptional track record in designing and delivering digital services that are of critical importance to their clients. The business has grown impressively over the past few years and Hippo has a differentiated culture that reflects technical excellence and client centred delivery. We look forward to an exciting journey of supporting Adam, Rob, Liz and the rest of the Hippo team as the business continues to innovate, deliver for its clients and grow”.