Origo chief sets sights on unicorn status after buyout transformation
Origo eyes unicorn status
An Edinburgh fintech business that began life as an industry-owned utility is targeting unicorn status within four and a half years.
Origo, which provides technology powering pensions transfers, wealth management and financial advice workflows, reported turnover of £20.8m in 2024.
When Anthony Rafferty took the helm, revenues stood at around £6m.
The business was founded in 1989 by 12 major financial institutions including Aviva, Legal & General and Lloyds Banking Group, originally created to drive efficiency across the sector.
That mission has not changed but the company structure has.
A 2022 management buyout backed by Vespa Capital moved Origo out of its not-for-profit model and into a commercially focused platform with a clear growth mandate.
Anthony said the unicorn plan does not depend on acquisitions or international expansion.
He said: "The interesting thing is our plan is not particularly exotic. It does not rely on acquisitions and it does not rely on international expansion. There is still a huge amount of opportunity in the UK market alone."
That opportunity is being driven by pension consolidation, auto-enrolment complexity, inheritance tax reform and the structural shift towards financial advice.
Origo has been selected to develop core architecture for the UK pensions dashboard and has already cut letter of authority response times from 15 days to 15 minutes for major provider clients.
Recent hires include former FNZ group CFO Vivienne Sacco.
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