An Edinburgh-headquartered consulting firm is on course to double its headcount in the next 12 months, bringing its workforce across three UK offices to more than 100.

Optima Partners, which supports a range of high-profile businesses to develop customer-centric transformation plans, has enjoyed rapid growth since 2020.

It secured a £2.3 million investment from BGF, and appointed non-executive directors, Karen Thomas-Bland and Richard Pugh.

The company, whose CEO is Alan Crawley, is looking to strengthen all parts of its operations after posting turnover in excess of £5.7m last year.

It supports a range of top brands, including OVO and Lloyds Banking Group, and starts 2023 with several new senior leaders, including customer strategy and engagement director, Murray Allan, John Ramdenee as director of telecoms, energy & media and Ed Knight as director of banking and financial services.

Under chief data scientist Dr Chris Foley, the data practice grew fourfold in 2022 and welcomed Andrew Donald as head of engineering and Dr Zhana Kuncheva as head of health data sciences.

The firm opened its third office, in Bristol, adding to its Scottish HQ and its site in central London with expansion plans into Europe underway.