Senta sale to IRIS Software Group

Founded in 2014, Senta is dedicated to making accountancy practices more profitable and scalable with a ‘customer-first’ approach. Its software will be integrated into IRIS Elements, the dynamic SaaS platform designed by customers that allows them to move to the cloud at their own pace.

The move comes as accountancy professionals prepare their small business clients for the forthcoming Making Tax Digital (MTD) reporting in April 2023. As the UK’s leading provider of accountancy solutions, IRIS’ unrivalled expertise in powerful product integration ensures firms are gaining efficiencies in every area of managing their practices – giving them the time and energy to provide the best advice to Britain’s businesses.

Kevin Dady, Executive Chairman of IRIS Software Group says, “IRIS Elements was conceived as customers told us they needed to simply and instantly access the relevant business tools to transform their firms. Senta joining the IRIS family allows us to revolutionise the cloud practice management market, delivering the functionality they require today, regardless of location.”

James Kilford, CEO and founder of Senta says, “We’ve spent six years listening to practices, building features and working hard to look after our clients. With the incredible IRIS resources and working with an amazing IRIS team we’ll be able to take our solution to the next level. We couldn’t be more excited about IRIS investing in Senta and joining the IRIS family. And my special thanks go to Shaw & Co and the other advisers who made the deal happen.”

Leading the deal, Jim Shaw, Founder and Partner at Shaw & Co comments, “It’s a delight to help James and Phil with the transition of Senta into the IRIS family. It is clear that Senta will thrive within IRIS Elements. Through a focused process, IRIS proved themselves in many ways to be the best acquiror for all stakeholders. We are extremely pleased to see Senta join with IRIS to support its next stage of evolution.”

Bruce Roxburgh and Charles van der Lande from Roxburgh Milkins Limited provided legal advice to Senta on the sale. Van der Lande explains, “We were involved at the beginning of the Webstart Bristol incubator, and began working with Senta after they joined the second Webstart cohort in 2014. Over that time, we’ve supported them with several funding rounds from Seedrs so it’s great to see the evolution of the product and the company over that time, with the technology moving to a business who can take it to the next stage.”

An outcome of deal will see record returns for those who invested in Senta through Seedrs, the leading private company investment platform. Since its launch, Senta raised three rounds of finance via Seedrs raising a total of £678k from 402 investors.

Seedrs investors will receive up to 120x return depending on which of Senta’s three Seedrs rounds they invested in. First-round investors who took full advantage of SEIS tax reliefs on the investment will see a 332x tax-adjusted return.

Kirsty Grant, Seedrs Chief Investment Officer, says: “This is a truly outstanding set of returns, and we congratulate James, Phil and the entire Senta team on creating such fantastic value for their shareholders. It has been a pleasure to be part of Senta’s journey over the years.”