Dave and Raj built a core banking software platform for mortgages and savings.

Finova Today – Finova is the market leader in core banking workflow software in the UK with over 60 blue-chip financial institutions and over 600 mortgage broker firms as clients. Finova’s SaaS platform is mission-critical and deeply integrated into the many internal systems used by banks, alternative lenders, and brokers to provide financial products such as mortgages, loans, and savings products. Finova enables its customers to operate more efficiently within the highly regulated and compliance heavy financial environment. The software is used to process applications, run core back-office workflows and processes, service loans, and manage clients for the life of their financial products. Finova is used daily by loan officers, underwriters, and risk managers throughout the customer’s organization and is also relied on by over 10,000 mortgage brokers across the UK to submit applications for their clients.

The Beginning – Early in their careers, Dave and Raj met while working at a large bank as software engineers and quickly realized that existing banking software was old and creaky and did not meet the needs of their customers. So they set out together to build a more flexible core banking software platform covering a wider range of mortgages, loans, and savings solutions. They established DPR (now re-branded to Finova) and quickly began winning business and displacing incumbent software providers given the breadth and depth of the software.

Transaction Reason – Despite strategic offers, Dave and Raj did not want to sell their business as they saw significant growth potential ahead. Instead, they looked for the right long-term partner to help them accelerate growth and further build their business.

Why Norland – Dave and Raj felt that Norland was particularly differentiated versus typical PE funds due to Norland’s unique long-term capital and entrepreneurial approach which fosters long-term business-building and eschews a quick flip exit. Norland partnered with Dave and Raj, acquiring a significant stake in DPR. Both Founders retained sizable equity positions, remained in the business as partners with Norland, and Dave continued as CEO until a succession plan was put in place 4 years after Norland’s investment.

Since Norland’s Investment – We have helped to accelerate the growth of Finova. Revenues have more than tripled in 4 years since Norland’s investment driven by a lot of business-building “ahead of the curve.” Investment to date has included expansion of the senior management team (including CTO, CFO, Customer Success Head, and HR Head – all new positions that did not exist before), building up sales & marketing (from 1 person at the time of investment), significant investments in systems and infrastructure including a brand new large office to accommodate future growth, >3x increase in headcount, and heavy investment in product R&D as the company has broadened its product offering from 1 enterprise software solution to a full-suite of SaaS products, vastly expanding Finova’s addressable market and positioning the company as the leader in innovation. In addition, a series of highly selective acquisitions have been made, adding new products and enlarging the footprint to new markets.

Future – Finova continues expanding its product offering and growing its subscription revenues at ~30% annually, with recurring software representing the vast majority of revenues. Finova is very well positioned for continued growth as the market is growing rapidly driven by numerous factors including: new fintechs entering a market historically dominated by the big high-street banks, a once in a generation replacement cycle away from legacy software, API-zation of the IT stack, open banking, and the continued consumerization of lending as consumers increasingly demand a modern digital experience.

For more info, visit www.finova.tech.