Leeds fintech consultancy Iridium combines with London’s Container Solutions

London-based cloud-native consultancy Container Solutions is combining with Iridium, a Leeds firm running technology change programmes for financial services clients.

The merged business will employ more than 100 people. It will pair Iridium’s financial services experience and client relationships with Container Solutions’ enterprise cloud-native engineering, offering everything from complex migrations to modern cloud-native engineering.

Growth Capital Partners (GCP) is backing the deal, which brings together two firms with complementary skills to give organisations undergoing technology change a stronger proposition.

Sinclair Elliott and Ben Dainton founded Iridium in 2018. It has more than 80 specialists in Budapest and Leeds. It is known for complex, high-risk migrations involving cards, payments and critical banking platforms.

Its expertise also covers cyber security, quality assurance, cloud and data, and software engineering. Much of its work supports financial services clients through change prompted by acquisitions, divestments and portfolio transfers.

Founded in 2014, London-headquartered Container Solutions also operates in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands. The consultancy specialises in cloud-native platform engineering and platform strategy, helping organisations build and operate technology more effectively, supported by its open-source Continuous Compliance Framework.

The merged firm will handle complex technology work from migration to cloud-native engineering, with the scale for bigger programmes and scope to offer more services to a wider client base.

James O’Donovan, CEO of Container Solutions, said Iridium had built a strong reputation in financial services and “has also developed an impressive product in TestPath”.

He said: “I’m excited about what we can achieve as one business: strengthening our client relationships and delivering a broader range of business outcomes through the expertise of our teams.”

Sinclair Elliott, co-founder of Iridium, said: “This gives us increased platform and cloud engineering capability and the scale to take on even bigger programmes. It gives our people more room to grow, and in GCP, we have a partner that shares our ambition for the next chapter.”

O’Donovan will run the combined business as CEO, and Elliott will become chief commercial officer. GCP’s backing will support the integration of the two firms and their next stage of growth.