What Iridium does

Iridium (legally IR77 Ltd, trading as Iridium Consulting) is a UK-headquartered boutique consultancy founded in 2017 in Leeds by Ben Dainton and Sinclair Elliott. The firm operates a hybrid model that blends specialist consulting with curated staff augmentation, targeting financial services clients — including TransUnion, Yorkshire Building Society, NewDay, Vanquis Bank, and Jaja Finance — on transformation, platform migration, and regulatory change programmes. Its positioning explicitly contrasts with traditional consultancies and transactional recruiters, built around three stated pillars: Thought Leadership, Trusted Expertise, and Outcomes Focused.

The company organises delivery around seven practices: Migrations/Cards and Payments, Software Engineering (UK and Nearshore), Quality Assurance, Cloud and Architecture, Cyber Security, Regulation and Compliance, and IT Delivery and Augmentation. Technical capabilities centre on Microsoft Azure — notably Azure Landing Zone design, Azure Policies, Blueprints, and CI/CD pipelines — alongside managed test services, IR35-compliant engagement models (in partnership with Qdos Contractor for insurance-backed status determinations), fractional/virtual CISO offerings, and cards and payments migration expertise including billion-pound product migrations. The firm has also built a talent development programme branded Iridium Academy to feed its associate pipeline.

Commercially, Iridium sells bespoke multi-year engagements at quote-based pricing, combining time-and-materials professional services with outcome-based managed-service squads. As of the most recent data points, the firm operated with 16 internal employees supported by 70+ vetted associate consultants, with a stated target of 20 internal staff and 200 consultants within three years. The business is bootstrapped and founder-owned, with no disclosed external funding, and reports serving a UK-only geographic footprint through direct enterprise sales led by directors and practice leads.

Name

Iridium

Legal name

IR77 Ltd

Website

https://ir77.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Iridium (IR77 Ltd) is a Leeds-based boutique consultancy founded in 2017 that delivers digital transformation, platform migration, cloud, cyber security, QA, and regulatory compliance services to UK financial services clients via a curated network of 70-plus specialist associates, supplementing its 16-person internal team.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Leeds

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Consultancy Services: Professional consulting services delivered by domain expert associates across cloud architecture, cyber security, quality assurance, software engineering, and regulatory compliance practices. Revenue generated through time-and-materials or fixed-price engagements.
2. Staff Augmentation: Placement of specialist contractors and consultants into client organisations. Supports both inside and outside IR35 engagements with umbrella company arrangements for PAYE, NI, and holiday pay handling.
3. Managed Service / Outcome-Based Squads: Complete outcomes-based squad delivered as managed service to enterprise clients, providing end-to-end IT solutions with full accountability for delivery.
4. IR35 Status Assessment Services: Partnership with Qdos Contractor providing insurance-backed IR35 status determination assessments and tax liability insurance for clients and contractors.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Iridium is a hybrid consultancy delivering digital transformation, platform migration, and specialist IT resource services to UK financial services clients. Its core offering spans seven practices: Migrations/Cards/Payments, Software Engineering (UK & Nearshore), Quality Assurance, Cloud & Architecture (Microsoft Azure), Cyber Security, Regulation & Compliance, and IT Delivery & Augmentation. Engagements are delivered as either service-led project work or people-led resource augmentation, with director oversight on all deployments.

Product overview

Iridium is a hybrid consultancy offering a portfolio of seven specialized practices spanning Migrations/Cards/Payments, Software Engineering, Quality Assurance, Cloud & Architecture, Cyber Security, Regulation & Compliance, and IT Delivery & Augmentation. The company combines consulting expertise with contractor/associate networks to deliver outcomes-based solutions. Additional offerings include downloadable sample reports and an Academy initiative for talent development. The service model is organized around domain expert practices led by specialists, with engagements delivered through either service-led (project delivery) or people-led (resource augmentation) approaches.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Migrations, Cards and Payments Expert consulting for the payments industry, including billion-pound product migrations, platform consultation, deal structure, migration health checks, and end-to-end delivery support for inbound and outbound migrations. Targeted at banks, card issuers, and payments processors running major transformation programmes.
• Software Engineering (UK & Nearshore) Staff augmentation and complete delivery teams providing flexible engineering capacity across .NET, Salesforce, front-end, mobile, and PHP technologies, with UK and nearshore options. Targeted at enterprises needing specialist engineering capacity on cloud, data, and digital builds.
• Quality Assurance QA testing consultancy offering test strategy consultancy, managed test services, payment services verification, mobile/API/web functional testing, test automation framework, resource augmentation, and credit decisioning testing. Targeted at organisations requiring QA support across financial services, payments, and digital platforms.
• Cloud & Architecture Cloud adoption consulting including Azure Landing Zone design and build, migrations, cost efficiencies, optimisations, and architecture/engineering support. Targeted at enterprises undertaking cloud transformation and Microsoft Azure adoption.
• Cyber Security Security transformation, programme management, M&A support, post-breach response, incident recovery, security strategy, benchmarking, executive advisory, and fractional/virtual CISO (CaaS) services. Targeted at regulated organisations and those without dedicated security leadership.
• Regulation & Compliance Regulatory compliance support including programme design, delivery, review, recovery, subject matter expertise, staff training, mentoring, and best practice support. Targeted at FCA-regulated organisations and industries under regulatory scrutiny.
• IT Delivery & Augmentation Specialist search and selection, permanent/contract/interim staffing, specialist recruiters aligned with Iridium's practices including PSL, retained services, and MSP models, with inside-IR35 and outside-IR35 engagement options. Targeted at organisations requiring specialist IT talent across cloud, security, QA, engineering, and delivery.

Quantifiable outcome

• Delivered large credit card migrations for leading UK financial services clients
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• DoxacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Global consultancy partner engaged to deliver true consultancy service offerings alongside Iridium's specialist practices in the cards and payments space. This partnership enables delivery of comprehensive end-to-end solutions combining Iridium's specialist teams with Doxa's broader consulting capabilities.
• Qdos ContractorcoreTechnology or IntegrationInsurance-backed IR35 status assessment provider partnership. Qdos provides status determination tools with insurance-backed certification for each engagement, enabling clients to receive assessments based on government guidelines with tax liability insurance protection against HMRC enquiries.
• Vanquis BankminorOthersClient organisation referenced in case study context. Iridium provides QA practice services to Vanquis Bank alongside ongoing consultation support.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• BJSS: Large UK IT and digital consultancy delivering cloud, data, and engineering services to enterprise and FS clients. Comparable in cloud, Azure, and regulated-industries delivery, though at significantly greater scale.
• Elixirr International: UK-listed challenger consultancy acquiring boutique transformation firms. Comparable mid-market UK consulting peer, though Elixirr is acquisitive and Iridium is organically grown.
• AND Digital: UK-founded hybrid technology consultancy with a club model of vetted engineers, delivering digital transformation to enterprise clients. Closely comparable to Iridium in scale, geography, and the consultant-network-driven GTM motion.
• Capco: Global financial services management and technology consultancy with deep UK FS presence (cards, payments, banking). Direct competitor for the same TransUnion, YBS, and NewDay-style transformation mandates.
• Baringa Partners: UK-headquartered consultancy with a strong financial services practice covering risk, regulation, energy, and digital transformation. Comparable as a FS-specialist consultancy competing for similar transformation mandates.
• FDM Group: UK-listed IT services firm that trains and deploys consultants into enterprise (notably financial services) clients. Comparable hybrid model combining a bench of deployable consultants with FS-focused delivery.
• Version 1: UK and Ireland-based technology consultancy specialising in Microsoft Azure, data, and enterprise application modernisation. Directly comparable to Iridium's Cloud & Architecture and Microsoft-centric delivery.

Broad incumbents

• Hays Technology: Global recruitment and workforce solutions group with a dedicated UK technology and FS practice. Comparable in placing specialist IT contractors into UK financial services clients.
• Thoughtworks: Global technology consultancy with strong FS, cards, and payments digital transformation credentials (e.g., XConf platform). Competes for similar cloud, data, and engineering transformation mandates in regulated FS.
• Computer Futures (SThree): Large UK/European IT staffing specialist within SThree, placing contractors and consultants into FS and enterprise clients. Comparable in the staff-augmentation/IR35-relevant portion of Iridium's model, at much larger scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/iridium-consulting-ir77-limited

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 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 Iridium