Origo chief sets out his plan to build Scottish fintech unicorn

A Scottish fintech business is targeting unicorn status after transforming from an industry-owned utility into a high-growth software platform.

Origo

Edinburgh-based Origo, which provides technology used across pensions, wealth management and financial advice, expects turnover to reach £30 million this year, up from £6m before chief executive Anthony Rafferty joined the business.

Most of that income is annually recurring, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) expected to exceed £15m.

Anthony says the company remains at the start of its next phase of growth, with a plan to reach unicorn status within four-and-a-half years.

Origo was established in 1989 by a dozen major life, pension and investment businesses, including Aviva, Legal & General, Lloyds Banking Group, and Phoenix Group. Originally created to improve efficiency across the financial services market, Anthony maintains that Origo’s purpose remains unchanged.

He explains: “Initially, we were a two-year project to look for things that could drive efficiencies across the market. Just as the World Wide Web was getting going, the idea was to solve shared pain points for the industry. That is still exactly what we do today, just at a much larger scale.”

The business changed significantly in 2022 when Anthony led a management buyout backed by Vespa Capital.

That shift moved Origo away from its historic not-for-profit ownership model into a more commercially focused structure.

Anthony believes that choosing the right investor was critical, saying: “We picked very carefully because we had never worked with private equity before, and we were determined there would not be a cultural shock. Vespa have been excellent partners. They have helped us professionalise, sharpen governance and improve how we operate, but without coming in and trying to dictate how we run the business.”

Despite the ownership change, Origo has maintained close industry ties through an advisory board made up of former shareholders and user groups that help shape product development.

Anthony says the business was built around solving genuine market problems, rather than creating products and hoping customers would adopt them.

He says: “We never build something and then hope somebody will buy it. We do deep market testing, we involve customers in shaping the roadmap, and we launch with people already prepared to work with us. That reduces risk enormously and means what we develop is rooted in genuine demand.”

And that approach, he believes, has underpinned the firm’s rapid growth.

Anthony says Origo’s unicorn ambition does not currently depend on international expansion or acquisitions, despite both being potential options.

He explains: “We are building a unicorn over the next four and a half years and we are slightly ahead of plan.

“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.”

Much of that opportunity comes from long-term structural change in the pensions and wealth management sphere.Auto-enrolment has created millions of savers with fragmented pension arrangements, while more people are reaching the point where they begin consolidating pots or seeking financial advice.

Origo sits in the middle of many of those processes, powering pension transfers, account openings, and adviser workflows.

Its UniPass Letter of Authority product digitises the process advisers use to obtain client information from providers.

Anthony highlights one recent implementation involving major providers that had dramatically reduced delays: “We have provider platform customers now moving response times on letters of authority from 15 days to 15 minutes. For a financial adviser trying to onboard a client or prepare for a review, that is transformational. Those are exactly the sorts of inefficiencies we exist to remove.”

He observes that at present the average person retires with 11 pension pots, creating complexity for consumers and advisers alike.

Inheritance Tax reforms affecting pensions are also expected to increase demand for advice and consolidation.

Anthony declares: “I certainly would not want to leave 11 pension pots for my children to try and track down with HMRC while sorting out an estate.

“I think changes like that will drive more people towards advice and simplification, which naturally creates more demand for efficient digital processes.”

Origo has also been selected to develop the core architecture for the UK pensions dashboard, which will eventually allow consumers to view pension information in one place.

The company is also incorporating artificial intelligence into parts of its proposition.

However, Anthony maintains that Origo’s bigger focus is on continually improving core services rather than chasing after fashionable technology trends.

He expands: “Our first strategic priority is keeping our existing services modern and relevant. It is easy for businesses to get distracted by the next shiny thing, but our customers rely on our existing infrastructure. If you are not constantly listening, improving and adapting, then you will quickly lose relevance.”

Anthony rejects the idea that Scotland struggles to produce scaled software businesses because of geography or access to capital. He points out that scaling is inherently difficult wherever a company is based.

He adds: “I do not think this is a Scotland problem at all. Scaling any business is hard. If anything, Scotland is an advantage. We have strong universities, excellent technologytalent, and a very good quality of life. If I was starting another business tomorrow, I would have no hesitation doing it here.”

Origo now employs around 120 people and Anthony believes building leadership depth has been central to preparing for the company’s next phase of growth.

Recent appointments include former FNZ group chief financial officer Vivienne Sacko and chief product officer Tom Mullally.

And Anthony insists the company’s internal succession bench is unusuallystrong: “I have never worked in a business before where every leadership role could genuinely be filled internally if needed. That says a lot about the strength of the people we have built around us, and the culture of developing talent rather than relying on external hires.”

For Anthony, the business philosophy remains straightforward. He credits a lesson from his first marketing lecture at Napier University, recalling: “The definition of marketing I was taught was to give customers what they want profitably.

“People overcomplicate business, but if you genuinely listen to customers, build what solves their problems and do it in a sustainable commercial way, you put yourself in a very strong position.”

Skiing accident led to fight for survival

Last year, Anthony Rafferty faced a fight for his life.

The Origo chief executive broke his hip, femur and pelvis in a skiing accident in Austria last April before experiencing severe complications in hospital.

He developed sepsis and pneumonia, suffered organ failure, required kidney dialysis and was placed into a medical coma.

At one stage, his wife was toldhe had between a 1 per cent and3 per cent chance of survival.

A priest was called and Anthony was given the last rites.

However, after four weeks in intensive care and another five weeks recovering on a ward, he was flown back to the UK.

Anthony recalls: “I was told afterwards that I had between a 1 per cent and 3 per cent chance of surviving. A priest had been called and I had been given my last rites. Somehow I made it through. The medical team in Austria were extraordinary.”

Despite losing more than four stone during his recovery, Anthony returned to meetings within days of getting home.

He admits: “I probably was a bit naughty. I got home on the Saturday and I was attending meetings online from my bed by the Wednesday. It was actually good for my mental health, even though I was sleeping between meetings at that stage.”

Anthony says the experience made him more focused on family and less concerned by minor setbacks.