This is only the beginning, says Connectus founder as firm marks 15 years as they target £10m in revenues

Connectus Business Solutions is “only just getting started”, according to the company’s CEO, as the IT and cyber security provider marks 15 years in business having grown its client base from 120 to over 750 , completed seven acquisitions and extended the team to almost 30 full time UK based employees.

Roy Shelton, CEO of Connectus Business Solutions, said the milestone, which falls on 11 August 2026, lands at the busiest point yet in the company’s growth, with more scale-up activity to come.

“Fifteen years in, the pace is only increasing,” he said. “We’ve gone from a standing start in Doncaster to supporting more than 750 businesses and 15,000 users, and this is the most active period of acquisition and investment we’ve had in the business’s history. This isn’t a moment to slow down and reflect, it’s only the beginning of the next 15 years.”

The anniversary comes weeks after Connectus completed a strategic investment in Glu Digital, the fastest transaction the company has ever taken from announcement to delivery, with two joint projects delivered within weeks of the deal, forming the new Digital Connect Group.

The business has grown from 120 clients and 3,000 users in 2020 to its current scale of more than 750 businesses and over 15,000 end users, having completed seven transactions in total, including Cybersity, YouCloud Solutions, Mango Tech, IT 4 Growth, the PCSC customer base, the assets of i7 Technologies and, most recently, Glu Digital. Recurring revenue has risen at double-digit rates for three consecutive years, with turnover now set to exceed £10 million within the next 36 months.

Connectus was founded in 2011 as Eximus Solutions, a spin-out of Peel Telecoms, building a full fibre network at Doncaster Sheffield Airport in 2013 and launching its UCentrix hosted voice platform in 2014. The company was acquired in 2018 to form Connectus Group, backed by FW Capital and chaired by Paul Ruocco. In 2019, Shelton, alongside Commercial Director Andy Marsden and Operations Director Phillippa Shelton, set a target of building a 500-customer managed services business, a goal the company has since surpassed.

Shelton said the milestone reflected discipline as much as ambition. “We didn’t just hit that target, we grew beyond it, more than doubled the number of users we support, completed seven transactions and built a great team along the way, with more transactions planned” he said. “What matters most is that we’ve kept our standards. We still treat customer 750 exactly the way we treated customer one. That consistency is why partners like Glu Digital want to build something with us.”

The company, which remains 100% privately owned with every share held within its own team, launched its Connectus Evolve AI-as-a-Service platform in 2025 and was named SME of the Year at the Doncaster Chamber Awards the same year. It has also strengthened its regional ties, moving from Club House Sponsor to front-of-shirt sponsor of Doncaster Knights.

Looking ahead, Connectus says its next phase will include further acquisitions across both its managed services and channel businesses, deeper investment in AI-driven managed services through Connectus Evolve, and continued expansion across the Northern Powerhouse, Midlands and wider UK. The company has identified Microsoft-stack-focused managed services businesses as priority acquisition targets for 2026 and 2027, alongside continued organic growth in cyber security, business connectivity, AI and telephony.

“We are privately owned, team-owned and completely in control of our own pace and destiny , which means we can be bold,” Shelton added. “The market does not need another IT provider that just keeps the lights on. It needs partners who reduce cost, complexity and risk while genuinely innovating. That is what Digital Connect Group is about, that is what Connectus Evolve is about, and that is what the next 15 years of this business will be about.”