What Unboxed does

Unboxed (legal entity: Unboxed Consulting Limited, registered in England and Wales) is a London-headquartered service design and digital product development agency founded in 2004, with a secondary delivery presence in Cape Town. The firm combines user-centred service design with technical delivery, primarily serving UK public sector clients including NHS trusts (Guy's and St Thomas', NHS England, SH:24 for digital sexual health), central government (MHCLG, UK Parliament petitions platform), and multiple local authorities (Southwark, Lambeth, Buckinghamshire, Gloucester) via the Back Office Planning System (BOPS). Select commercial clients include char.gy (on-street EV charging), the V&A Museum, Deliveroo, Funding Circle, and Springer Nature.

The company's core technology stack is centred on Ruby on Rails deployed on AWS infrastructure (EC2, CloudFront, S3, Lambda, serverless), with open-data API development (notably BOPS) integrated into the UK government's Open Digital Planning programme. Service offerings include a packaged Digital Accelerator for rapid prototyping and validation, AWS-certified cloud infrastructure services, and bespoke innovation and technical solution builds. Proprietary outputs include the BOPS planning platform, the SH:24 digital sexual health platform (2+ million test kits ordered), and the char.gy EV charging software.

Revenue is generated exclusively through professional services: project-based engagements commissioned via UK Crown Commercial Service frameworks (G-Cloud 14, Digital Outcomes 6, Research & Insights DPS, Spark DPS, Low Value Purchase System) or direct contracts. The company is privately held with no disclosed institutional investors, funding rounds, or M&A activity, operating on an organic, bootstrapped basis across healthcare, government, planning/housing, education, and commercial verticals.

Name

Unboxed

Legal name

Unboxed Consulting Limited

Website

https://unboxed.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Unboxed Consulting Limited is a London-based, founder-owned digital agency founded in 2004 that combines service design with Ruby on Rails and AWS technical delivery, primarily serving UK public sector clients including NHS trusts, central government departments, and local authorities, alongside select commercial clients such as char.gy and the V&A Museum.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Professional Services: Unboxed provides service design, digital product development, and technical consulting services primarily to public sector clients. Revenue is generated through project-based engagements commissioned via government procurement frameworks or direct contracts.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Unboxed is a digital agency that designs, builds, and runs digital products and services primarily for UK public sector organisations (central government, local authorities, NHS trusts) and select private sector clients. Its core offerings span Innovation Solutions (service design consulting), Technical Solutions (custom software development), the Digital Accelerator (rapid prototyping and validation), and AWS Cloud Infrastructure Services (Build, Scale, 24/7 Support). Delivered client products include the SH:24 digital sexual health platform, the BOPS planning system for local authorities, the char.gy EV charging platform, and the V&A Museum digital platform.

Product overview

Unboxed is a service design and digital product development agency with 20 years of experience. They offer a portfolio of services including Innovation Solutions, Technical Solutions, AWS Cloud Infrastructure Services, and a Digital Accelerator programme for rapid prototyping and validation. Their delivered products include the Back Office Planning System (BOPS) for local government planning, the SH:24 digital sexual health testing platform, the char.gy lamppost EV charging platform, and the V&A Museum digital platform. The company follows agile and user-centred design methodologies across sectors including healthcare, government, planning/housing, education, and commercial.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Innovation Solutions Service design and innovation consulting to help clients identify opportunities and develop new products and services. Aimed at public sector and healthcare organisations seeking to design better services for citizens and patients.
• Technical Solutions Technical development and implementation services for building digital products and services. Covers custom software engineering, primarily in Ruby on Rails, delivered to public sector, healthcare, and commercial clients.
• AWS Cloud Infrastructure Services AWS-certified team providing cloud-based infrastructure, services, and support including Build, Scale, and 24/7 Support. Services include EC2, Serverless technology, autoscaling, Elastic Load Balancing, CloudFront CDN, and S3 backup/recovery. Aimed at organisations running production workloads on AWS.
• Digital Accelerator A rapid prototyping and validation service combining lightweight customer research with iterative testing to reduce risk in new product/service development. Includes stakeholder alignment, primary/secondary research, analysis/ideation, technical exploration, prototyping/testing, and playback/reporting phases. Designed for clients looking to de-risk new digital initiatives before full development.
• BOPS (Back Office Planning System) A user-centred, data-driven back office planning system developed in partnership with planning officers and part of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Open Digital Planning (ODP) programme. Supports local authorities in processing planning applications with a 30% time-saving in assessing applications. Built on open data standards with a public API for integration with the planning ecosystem.
• SH:24 Digital Sexual Health Platform Digital sexual health service platform enabling online ordering of STI test kits, home sampling, and SMS result delivery. Developed for NHS partner SH:24, used for 2+ million test kits ordered. Aimed at the UK and Irish public (and expanded internationally) seeking discreet, self-service sexual health testing.
• char.gy EV Charging Platform Software platform for managing on-street electric vehicle lamppost charging, including charge point location mapping, session management, and payment processing via Apple Pay. Developed for char.gy; now supports 900+ live lamppost EV charge points across the UK. Targets EV drivers without off-street parking and clean technology providers operating charging networks.
• V&A Museum Digital Platform Ruby on Rails digital platform deployed to AWS for the Victoria and Albert Museum, supporting a 5,000-page CMS with two-week live launch capability, plus 24/7 infrastructure support and ongoing application support. Aimed at one of the UK's leading cultural institutions.
• NHS Remote Monitoring Service Remote monitoring service for NHS rheumatology patients enabling symptom self-reporting from home. Patients complete online PROMs (Patient Reported Outcome Measures) forms, prompted via SMS through GOV.UK Notify. Includes dashboard for clinicians to monitor PROM scores and changes in symptoms over time. Being scaled to South East London long Covid team.

Quantifiable outcome

• 30% time reduction in assessing planning applications with BOPS
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

19 partnerships are on record, tiered core, key, minor and infrastructure.

• UK Government Digital Marketplace (G-Cloud, DOS)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUnboxed is listed as an approved supplier on multiple Crown Commercial Service frameworks including G-Cloud 14, Digital Outcomes 6 (DOS 6), Research & Insights DPS, Spark DPS, and Low Value Purchase System. This enables UK public sector organizations to directly commission Unboxed's services through established procurement channels.
• Open Digital Planning (ODP) ProgrammecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) as part of the ODP programme to transform the UK planning ecosystem. Unboxed develops and maintains the Back Office Planning System (BOPS) for multiple local authorities.
• SH:24coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-term partnership with digital sexual health provider SH:24 to deliver online STI testing services. Unboxed helped develop the initial platform and continues to support digital health innovation.
• Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation TrustcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for remote monitoring services and PROMs (Patient Reported Outcome Measures) development for rheumatology patients. Includes collaboration with South East London Integrated Care System.
• Char.gycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOngoing partnership to develop and maintain the char.gy on-street EV charging platform. Unboxed provides both software development and hardware design collaboration.
• V&A MuseumkeyStrategic or Co-development PartnerAWS infrastructure and application support partnership for the V&A's digital platform. Includes 24/7 support and ongoing infrastructure services.
• South East London Integrated Care SystemcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for virtual wards service design and implementation across NHS trusts in South East London.
• Health Education EnglandkeyStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership through digital health fellowship programme and Digital Health Academy for NHS staff training in digital health leadership.
• The Honeycomb WorksminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSpinoff company emerged from visiontype work with Reed Learning, demonstrating Unboxed's ability to help create new businesses from service design engagements.
• NetlifyinfrastructureTechnology or IntegrationWebsite hosting provider for www.unboxed.co
• MailChimpinfrastructureTechnology or IntegrationNewsletter distribution platform for email communications
• Google (Workspace)infrastructureTechnology or IntegrationEmail hosting services for business communications
• SlackinfrastructureTechnology or IntegrationTeam communication and collaboration platform
• XeroinfrastructureTechnology or IntegrationCustomer and financial management and invoicing
• HubSpotinfrastructureTechnology or IntegrationCRM and customer engagement platform for queries and meeting requests
• CalendlyinfrastructureTechnology or IntegrationMeeting scheduling and booking platform
• FormspreeinfrastructureTechnology or IntegrationForm processing service for website queries
• AWSinfrastructureTechnology or IntegrationCloud infrastructure services including EC2, CloudFront, S3, Lambda, and serverless technologies. Unboxed is an AWS-certified team.
• Sopro (Prospect Global Ltd)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerDigital marketing agent appointed to conduct marketing activity on Unboxed's behalf. Registered with ICO (ZA346877).

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Capgemini Invent: Capgemini Invent is the digital innovation arm of Capgemini, delivering large-scale digital transformation for government and enterprise. Competes with Unboxed on UK public sector digital programmes but with much larger teams and broader capabilities.
• Thoughtworks: Thoughtworks is a global technology consultancy specialising in custom software, agile delivery, and digital transformation. Comparable to Unboxed in agile/Rails heritage, service design orientation, and enterprise/government client mix, though at far larger scale.
• Valtech: Valtech is a global digital transformation agency delivering experience design, technology, and platform engineering across sectors. Overlaps with Unboxed in service design plus technical delivery but operates broader and at much larger scale.
• Netcompany: Netcompany is a large European IT services firm with a significant UK public sector practice delivering digital government programmes. Overlaps with Unboxed in serving UK central/local government but operates at substantially greater scale.
• Kainos: Kainos is a UK-listed digital technology company with strong UK public sector and healthcare practices (including NHS). Comparable to Unboxed in public sector service design and digital delivery, but operates at significantly greater scale with broader service lines.

Direct peers

• Equal Experts: Equal Experts is a UK digital consultancy delivering custom software using agile, embedded-team approaches for government and enterprise clients. Highly comparable to Unboxed in delivery model, culture, and public sector orientation.
• TPXimpact: TPXimpact is a UK digital transformation consultancy focused on public sector, health, and central/local government — overlapping directly with Unboxed's NHS and government segments. Both firms combine service design, agile delivery, and public sector procurement framework access.
• Ustwo (formerly Made by Many): Ustwo is a digital product studio with a public sector and healthcare practice, employing service design and agile delivery. Comparable to Unboxed in combining product strategy, design, and engineering for civic and health clients.
• AND Digital: AND Digital is a UK-based tech consultancy with 'ANDs' (delivery squads) embedded inside enterprise and public sector clients. Comparable to Unboxed in its embedded-team delivery model, agile methodologies, and mix of commercial and public sector work.
• dxw: dxw is a UK digital agency that builds services for the public sector, including housing, planning, and local government — directly comparable to Unboxed's BOPS, local authority, and central government work. Both firms operate as embedded delivery teams on UK government digital programmes.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Ubxd
• Facebookfacebook.com/114802528557320
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/unboxed-consulting

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Unboxed