IRIS Software Group acquires Octopus HR

Posted: 16/05/2016

IRIS Software Group has acquired award-winning technology firm Octopus HR. The deal cements IRIS as a leading technology provider within both the UK human capital management and accountancy sectors. The Octopus SaaS-based HR solution has dominated the industry’s ‘micro to SME business’ segment since 2002.

As a result of the acquisition, IRIS now has an integrated HR and payroll solution to serve both microbusinesses and multinationals, and anything in between. This successful deal has also proven the catalyst for the formation of IRIS Human Capital Management. With nearly 40,000 customers and over 300 employees, this is now one of the largest providers of people-critical software to businesses in the UK.

Law firm, Penningtons Manches, was delighted to advise IRIS on this important technology sector transaction. Corporate partner Will Axtell led a multidisciplinary team of corporate, intellectual property, real estate, tax and employment lawyers.

Commenting on the acquisition, Oliver Shaw, CEO of IRIS Human Capital Management says: “In 2014, we were delighted to acquire Cascade HR, an award-winning HR and payroll software vendor that has long focused on larger businesses with up to 10,000 employees. Like Cascade and IRIS payroll, Octopus has experienced consistently impressive double-digit revenue growth due to the team’s commitment to outstanding technological capabilities, high levels of service and investment in the cloud. But there was a segment of the market Cascade was unable to serve in our customer base – much smaller firms – which left us with a gap in our portfolio. By combining Octopus with our KashFlow bookkeeping and payroll products, IRIS can now provide a business cloud suite for small organisations. 

“Penningtons Manches provided a very high quality package of transactions services and legal support. Will Axtell and his team were a pleasure to work with and I would recommend Penningtons Manches without any reservation.”

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