Local software firm Provoke Solutions and two of its subsidiaries are gearing up for new opportunities in R-D and growth, after Bridgewest New Zealand acquired 100% of holding company The Group Limited.
Bridgewest Group has been funding Provoke for the past 18 months and has also been working with the company since 2017.
Now Provoke and a number of other companies including Provoke subsidiaries SuiteFiles and Spiderworks have the chance to flex their wings.
Provoke aims to triple its size over the next three years and invest more in the utilities, education, manufacturing, education, and banking and finance verticals.
Current Provoke CEO Mason Pratt will stay on as CEO in both New Zealand and the United States. He will be supported by a local leadership team focused on delivery and operations.
“We have an amazing bunch of people working across our companies, and now have the resources to fast-track growth and create new job opportunities through Bridgewest's expertise and financial support. Partnerships with global leaders like Bridgewest are extremely hard to come by in New Zealand, which makes this new relationship all the more exciting for our team,” says Pratt.
In the United States, Provoke's Washington-based operations will also expand through business development in areas such as San Diego, and with vendors such as Microsoft.
“We've always looked to lead the market when it comes to Microsoft technology, priding ourselves on being early adopters. Our close working relationship with Microsoft has been instrumental in creating this brand,” continues Pratt.
“Our intention is to now increase spend in research and development initiatives, with a focus on developing reusable IP, to better help our clients take advantage of emerging opportunities presented by IoT and edge computing.
Bridgewest Group founding partner and CEO Dr Masood Tayebi says the transaction is an exciting prospect..
“Having spent the last 12-18 months looking to add a software services business to our high-tech portfolio, we wanted to take the time to ensure capability, culture and a focus on innovation were aligned with Bridgewest's vision. We recognised that Provoke is a leader in enterprise software, especially in the cloud, artificial intelligence and machine learning disciplines, and believe their design-led approach makes them an excellent partner for Bridgewest.
Meanwhile SuiteFiles and SpiderWorks will also receive renewed focus.
SuiteFiles offer cloud-based document management solutions to the small and medium business sector, and recently completed a Series A funding round via the Snowball Effect for growth capital.
SpiderWorks offers a SaaS based workforce management product, ProjectWorks, which has been developed out of IP created by Provoke over the last 18 years. ProjectWorks is a platform designed to support the operation of any services business, offering a toolset that helps project managers; run projects efficiently, track individual and team productivity, and manage project resources, including time recording, invoice creation and real-time debtor management.