Investment group Octopus acquire “indispensable” Seccl Technology
London-based investment group, Octopus, has announced it will acquire software-as-a-service (SaaS) wealth management business, Seccl Technology, for £10 million to make its offering “indispensable”.
The acquisition, which is still subject to regulatory approval, will enable Octopus to use fellow UK-based Seccl’s API technology to deliver a cheaper, faster and more flexible platform when handling client’s money.
At present many adviser and wealth management firms are struggling with the limitations of their legacy software and rising costs, making this deal one of the first of its kind.
“Within wealth management as a whole, we haven’t seen a fraction of what will happen in the future in terms of access, integration and how artificial intelligence is going to make a big impact on the industry,” says Octopus’ growth director, Sam Handfield-Jones.
Octopus’ growth director, Sam Handfield-Jones
He adds: “Frankly, you don’t even see many mobile apps knocking around which, given the majority of people now transact on mobile, shows how far wealth management has to come.”
Octopus will invest further in Seccl’s 13-person team, with 300 customers and currently pre-revenue, to create an ‘off-the-shelf’ full-service platform offering for smaller advice firms.
Co-founders, CEO David Harvey and chairman Hugo Thorman, will continue to lead Seccl as co-heads.
Harvey thinks it’s ripe time for some new competition, noting the lack of change in the wealth management space in the last ten years.
The Seccl co-head says the start-up built its technology from scratch rather than on legacy systems, “operating on a fraction of the code base” which will empower smaller firms to “get a shoe in with the big providers today”.
