National investment group Mercia Technologies PLC has appointed Dr Alistair Forbes as head of its Software & the Internet sector to lead its specialist investment team, which focuses on areas including artificial intelligence, cyber security, advertising technology and software as a service (SAAS).

Dr Alistair Forbes, Head of Software & the Internet at Mercia

Alistair has over 20 years’ experience in this sector and brings extensive technical and business leadership knowledge to the Mercia team. He has created, built and sold start-up software businesses, helping them to develop and execute their growth strategies, as well as taking general management roles in large organisations.

Prior to joining Mercia, Alistair co-founded SAAS business HoundDog Technology, which was sold to GFI Software in 2009 for $20.0million. He continued in the role of general manager as the business grew to reach $100.0million in annual recurring revenue before being acquired by SolarWinds, a leading US-based infrastructure software company. Earlier in his career, Alistair held the role of technical director at Intuitus, a leading provider of expert technology and IT advice to the European private equity sector and mid-market companies, for five years.

Matt Mead, Chief Investment Officer of Mercia Technologies PLC, said: “We are delighted to welcome Alistair to the team as he has considerable experience in the software industry and has been an active board member for a number of early-stage companies. With Alistair’s impressive expertise and insight, he will be a great asset to the team and we look forward to seeing how he can support Mercia with its continued growth as one of the leading investment companies in the UK.”

Dr Alistair Forbes, Head of Software & the Internet at Mercia, said: “I am excited to be joining Mercia to lead the Software and the Internet team as part of Mercia’s rapidly-growing business. I believe that Mercia’s model of deploying patient capital into high growth sectors such as this and the combination of deep sector experience and financial expertise within the team, the strong network of university partnerships and the financial resources that it can bring to bear, positions the company very well as the partner of choice for the most ambitious businesses in the UK.”

Mercia’s direct investment portfolio for the software sector includes University of Leeds spinout Science Warehouse, an innovative cloud-based procurement platform; Intelligent Positioning, a developer of innovative real-time market intelligence and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) analytics; Manchester-based digital performance and scalability expert Intechnica, and Crowd Reactive, a platform that allows event organisers to easily share social media content.

For more information on Mercia’s portfolio companies, please visit: www.merciatech.co.uk/portfolio