Hypergrowth tech firm iplicit relocates headquarters to Bournemouth as it targets unicorn status

One of the UK’s fastest-growing tech companies has announced the relocation of its headquarters to Bournemouth, as cloud accounting scale-up iplicit positions itself to become the South Coast’s next billion-dollar “unicorn”.

The company — which provides a next-generation cloud accounting platform for mid-market businesses and charities — will base its frontline support team at Patch Bournemouth, reinforcing the town’s reputation as an emerging tech hub. iplicit previously operated from London and Poole under a remote-first model.

iplicit has been on a steep growth trajectory since launching to market in 2019, scaling from 11 employees to 198 and securing 48,000 daily users across 103 countries. The business was named among Europe’s fastest-growing companies in the Financial Times FT1000 ranking and has averaged over 100% year-on-year growth for seven consecutive years.

In January, the company secured £25 million from growth fund One Peak in its first institutional round, having previously raised £18.5 million from management team members during its bootstrapped phase. The new investment is fuelling major product innovation, including expanded mobile capabilities and AI-driven functionality.

CEO Lyndon Stickley said Bournemouth offered an ideal base for the company’s next phase. “We needed a dynamic environment that could scale with us and house the South Coast’s next unicorn — and we found it at Patch,” he said. Stickley added that iplicit fills a “critical gap” in the mid-market, where around 100,000 UK organisations remain reliant on ageing, on-premise finance systems.

“Legacy software has dominated this market for 30 years,” he said. “iplicit is fast emerging as the UK’s favourite mid-market finance solution, and we expect our hypergrowth to continue over the next decade and beyond.”

Local hiring is expected to rise significantly, with iplicit projecting 330 employees by 2028, most working remotely across the UK and Ireland but with a growing Bournemouth presence.

Patch CEO Freddie Fforde said iplicit’s arrival reflects the company’s vision to bring high-growth firms into town-centre workspaces. “iplicit is proof that great tech businesses can be built anywhere,” he said. “Bournemouth can be very proud.”

Stickley said the new HQ caps a pivotal year for the company. “Our intel tells us we’re deploying more systems than any other vendor in the space,” he said. With more than 50 channel partners, including many of the UK’s top accounting firms, “we are well positioned to continue growing at pace.”

Jamie Young

Jamie is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, bringing over a decade of experience in UK SME business reporting.
Jamie holds a degree in Business Administration and regularly participates in industry conferences and workshops.

When not reporting on the latest business developments, Jamie is passionate about mentoring up-and-coming journalists and entrepreneurs to inspire the next generation of business leaders.