Move will help tech firm on track to growth

A Technology platform for the motor industry finance sector is targeting 40 per cent growth after sealing a move to Leeds.

DealTrak is relocating from Wakefield to The Dock in Leeds in April. The company will move all 34 staff to Leeds Dock and is looking to increase headcount to 45 by the end of the year.

DealTrak, which brings together finance and insurance partners, has a turnover of around £3m.

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Martin Hill, managing director of DealTrak, told The Yorkshire Post: “We’ve grown exponentially over the last three or four years, which is one of the reasons why the Wakefield offices are now not fit for purpose – we’ve outgrown them.

“We were always looking for Leeds city centre premises. That was always going to be our next move and the main reason for that was because we wanted to make sure that we could get access to high quality tech people.”

Mr Hill described Leeds Dock, which is also home to Sky, as a “thriving” technology hub.

He believes that the move to Leeds will increase the speed at which DealTrak is able to bring in new staff.

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“It’s not that people are not prepared to travel to Wakefield or anywhere around the periphery of Leeds,” said Mr Hill. “But we find that to take people on at the rate that we wish to take them on we really do need to be in Leeds.”

In order to gear up for the move, the company shifted its DevOps team into serviced offices in the centre of Leeds three months ago.

Mr Hill said: “In those three months we filled three quarters of the vacancies that we had.

“This shows that this isn’t just a gut feel thing. If you’re in the centre where it’s all happening you are then more on people’s radar.”

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The DevOps team will join up with the rest of DealTrak when the business moves into Leeds Dock on April 17. There the business will take up Block F, which was previously used by Google for its Digital Garage initiative.

DealTrak says it scoured 30 to 40 different sites before settling on Leeds Dock. One of the reasons for choosing Block F was Google’s previous presence there, says Mr Hill.

The office also provides a space that is “conducive to a creative environment”, adds Mr Hill, as it offers an open-plan office setting.

The 5,300 sq ft of self-contained workspace at the heart of Leeds Dock will become DealTrak’s headquarters.

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DealTrak, which was up until last year known as Frontline Solutions, is committed for a minimum of five years to Leeds Dock and at full capacity the new site could hold up to 75 staff members. Nearly £600,000 is being spent in kitting out the building and making it a “phenomenal place to work”, Mr Hill said.

DealTrak is targeting 100 per cent growth next year, following this investment.

Mr Hill said: “We are heavily investing in people and infrastructure at the moment.

“We expect to grow our business by another 40 per cent this year and by more than 100 per cent next year because of some of the initiatives that we have got that have now come to fruition.”

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The company, which counts Pendragon as one of its clients, says it has a “wealth of opportunities” and the hardest job for the managing director is prioritising these opportunities.

Mr Hill said he does this by ensuring that any opportunities they do follow fit in with the company’s “strategic arrow”.

Another firm sails into The Dock

DealTrak’s move will take the number of full-time employees now based at Leeds Dock to over 1,500, including 650 employees at Sky across its digital and technology services.

Firms including iseePR, Ilk and First 10 Digital are also based at the South Bank development.

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Tim Gee, Leeds Dock estates director, said: “It’s fantastic to welcome DealTrak to Leeds Dock. They are a leading UK technology platform and their relocation supports our vision for Leeds Dock as a thriving hub for creative, digital and technology firms – and particularly as a place from which businesses can attract new talent and grow alongside our resident workspace community.”