About Bloom
As the leading marketplace for professional services, Bloom expertly connects Buyers and Suppliers across the UK’s public sector. Our approach seamlessly matches the requirements of both, meeting their exact requirements and chosen outcomes.
Who we are
Since 2012, we have been revolutionising the procurement process across the UK’s public sector. We’ve built a large and versatile marketplace of professional service suppliers, creating lasting connections between small businesses and our public sector clients. Our experience empowers us to guide both clients and suppliers confidently throughout each phase of the procurement journey.
Through our unique approach, we provide a fully managed procurement solution that provides a swift, compliant, and cost-effective route to market. By emphasising outcomes, we set ourselves apart from traditional procurement methods.
Our marketplace has grown to include thousands of UK suppliers, providing them with hassle-free opportunities to collaborate with the public sector. Since 2019, our combined efforts have generated over £200 million in social value. We’re exceptionally proud that 71% of our projects are awarded to SMEs, providing impactful opportunities that would otherwise be inaccessible. This simultaneously nurtures local economies and enriches communities.
We recognise the values and priorities of the public sector, aligning our business with its unique requirements and expectations
Everything we do at Bloom is reflected in our Trademark Behaviours. These shape our working environment, ensuring our people are able to continually deliver positive outcomes for the organisations we serve, and society as a whole.
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We work together
We take responsibility for our actions and take the time to understand the people we work with.
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We are real and true
We celebrate difference, support each other, and always do what we say we’ll do.
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We are curious
We take the initiative, strive to innovate, and pursue continuous improvement.
Meet the organisations that already work with us
Meet our leadership team
Adam Jacobs
Founder
As an entrepreneur, Adam spent much of his career developing and leading organisations across both the private and public sectors. With a passion for developing innovative solutions to overcome the challenges faced by procurement professionals, Adam built a wealth of experience within procurement and business transformation.
In 2012, Adam established Bloom Procurement Services. The company was born out of his desire to provide a best-in-class procurement solution which enabled the delivery of outcomes, whilst reducing the time and cost associated with professional services procurement.
Diane Cheesebrough
Chair
Diane joined the V4 UK Holdings Group in 2018 as Non-Exec Director after holding several senior roles in both the public and private sectors. A qualified banker, whose executive career spanned global C-suite positions in businesses operating at different levels of maturity and growth, Diane moved into the Chairman position in 2021 following investment from BGF.
In addition to chairing V4, Diane chairs a number of PE-backed businesses with a particular focus on customer centric disrupters, high quality, high growth and tech or tech-enabled businesses.
Amabel Grant
Chief Executive Officer
Amabel is Chief Executive Officer of the V4 UK Holdings Group. She joined the business in 2018 as Chief Technology Officer of Bloom, bringing with her a wealth of experience in both the public and private sectors. Her previous experience includes roles with the Office of Government Commerce, where she established the first pan public sector marketplace. Whilst working for the Olympic Delivery Authority, she also implemented the sourcing platform through which the infrastructure and fit-out contracts for the London 2012 Olympics were procured.
Sam Peachey
Chief Financial Officer
Sam is the CFO of the V4 UK Holdings Group. He joined the business in July 2021 and has been appointed to the Board of both the holdings company and Bloom Procurement Services Limited.
Sam is a Fellow with the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants and, having spent a decade in accounting practice obtaining a wide variety of commercial experience, he moved into the industry and has held senior leadership positions within growing technology businesses ever since.
Paul Mitchell
Chief Technology Officer
Paul has over twenty-five years of experience in leading customer, technology, and change strategies, whilst scaling large global operations and PE-backed growth businesses across multiple industries. He is passionate about customer experience, people, and culture, driving change and adding value. Before joining Bloom as CTO, Paul’s previous positions have included roles at Agilico, Experian, Virgin Media, Cable & Wireless, and BT.
Barney Markham
Chief Operating Officer
Barney has worked in the procurement space for over 20 years, within both the public and private sectors. Starting as a purchasing manager in 2003, he’s since specialised in delivering source2pay solutions, in addition to project, programme, and change management, providing support to clients in central and local government, education, and the blue light sector.
Since joining Bloom, Barney has assumed responsibility for the leadership of service delivery to Bloom’s clients, driving continuous improvements in employee engagement, customer service, and innovation.
Pam Lamming
Chief People Officer
Pam joined Bloom Procurement Services as Chief People Officer in 2021 bringing with her 25 years’ experience in both the public and private sectors. Pam is passionate about all aspects of employee experience and culture and, during her time at Bloom leading people initiatives, the company was named as one of the Sunday Times Best Places to Work in 2023.
Pam previously held senior positions in Tekmar Group plc, and Houghton International where she picked up a CIPD award for Excellence in SME People Practice.
Ben Stevenson
Chief of Staff & Head of Sustainability
Ben has a wealth of experience leading and supporting business growth in a variety of corporate, private equity backed companies – including London-based Globeleq Africa Limited. This has been in both an operational management and C-suite support capacity.
Since joining Bloom in 2019, Ben has developed Bloom’s corporate support function as Chief of Staff. He developed and led the Sustainability & Social Value strategy in November 2021, before officially taking on leadership of the team and department as Head of Sustainability in 2023.
Mick Lloyd
Change and Transformation Director
Mick has over 30 years’ experience transforming high growth, technology-led, SMEs across a wide range of industry sectors. His multi-disciplined background includes senior leadership roles in Product Management, Engineering, Operations, Programme Management and Customer Success.
Since joining Bloom in 2023, Mick has established the Change and Transformation function to shape, manage, and deliver a portfolio of change that will underpin Bloom’s value creation strategy.
Lee Dixon
Legal Counsel
Lee has been a solicitor for over 25 years. His interest in the neutral vendor model was kickstarted as a founder of a legal comparison website and his public sector procurement knowledge was honed working at a local university.
Since Lee joined Bloom in 2019 as its first in-house counsel he has led a growing legal team which is responsible for providing a broad range of legal advice and guidance ensuring that the company complies with all relevant laws and regulations.
Sophie Moule
Director of Marketing & Product
Sophie has over 12 years experience implementing and transforming product and marketing solutions for various digital companies, contributing to their continued growth and development. Since joining Bloom, she has significantly impacted the business, spearheading essential digital transitions, and driving the growth of both the Marketing and Product teams.
“Bloom helped us find suppliers in a rather niche market with the skills and expertise we required, which we would have otherwise found very difficult to source.”
Colin Ansell | Director of Commissioning Support Unit, London Borough of Newham
Social Value & Sustainability
We understand our responsibility as we grow to build an ethical, unique and inspiring business. We align ourselves with the core issues and values that matter most to our stakeholders, ensuring that what we do fulfills the needs of current generations without compromising those of the future.
Social Value was the beginning of our journey to sustainability. It remains an integral part of who we are, reaffirming our mission to make it easier for our public sector customers to deliver on their social value goals and objectives through our marketplace.