Company registration number: 06748735
COMPANY INFORMATION
CONTENTS
GROUP STRATEGIC REPORT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 29 JUNE 2025
In producing this report, the directors reference activities of Data Discovery Solutions (DDS).
ActiveNav is the trading name for DDS, a UK holding company, that wholly owns the subsidiaries Active Navigation Inc in the US and Data Discovery Solutions Ltd. Pty. in Australia, as well as the dormant company Active Navigation Ltd. in the UK.
ActiveNav is the trading name for DDS, a UK holding company, that wholly owns the subsidiaries Active Navigation Inc in the US and Data Discovery Solutions Ltd. Pty. in Australia, as well as the dormant company Active Navigation Ltd. in the UK.
Principal Activities
ActiveNav is a well-established privately owned Independent Software Vendor (ISV) that provides unstructured data discovery solutions to enable private and government organisations to continually monitor and manage unstructured
digital data. The Company’s North Star is “Zero Dark Data”.
The global technology research group, Gartner, describes the sector as ‘Data Discovery and Management’ (DDM),
formally referring to the same as ‘File Analysis’.
ActiveNav has two software solutions:
• An on-premise product, Discovery Center, that has been developed for over a decade and is an expert toolset for unstructured data discovery, classification and disposal;
• A multi-tenant cloud SaaS offering, Cloud, for a highly scalable, more powerful and extendable data discovery service that benefits customers with a far lower cost of ownership.
Since its inception, ActiveNav has worked with more than 300 customers in North America, Europe and APAC and currently has more than 70 live customers, predominantly in North America, across Enterprise and Federal markets.
As of June 2025, we employ 36 staff, of which approximately 50% are based in the US where the US and Commercial Headquarters are located in Reston, VA. The remaining, including our 14 person engineering team, are in the UK, where the global Head Office is in Winchester, Hampshire. There is 1 staff member based in Melbourne, Australia, undertaking both sales and delivery functions.
ActiveNav’s solutions deal with the discovery of unstructured data wherever it is stored. They complement adjacent technologies such as Data Loss Prevention (DLP), eDiscovery and Identity Access Management (IAM) by providing customers with a clear understanding of the risk and value of their data at rest. Importantly they enhance AI model effectiveness by enabling customer’s data sets cleaning and completion
ActiveNav sells licenses to its software, on-premise and cloud based customers predominantly on annual or multiyear subscriptions; it also has customers in government sectors that prefer perpetual licenses with ongoing maintenance contracts. It provides paid consulting and professional deployment services to its customers and partners on an
as-needed basis.
From 2022, by leveraging the Discovery Center solution in addition to other open-market software solutions, ActiveNav
has developed a further line of business in Digital Forensic Incident Response (DFIR), trading as Actfore. Actfore is a
24/7 services based emergency response offering, unlike the core ISV business of ActiveNav. With effect from 1st August 2024 this business has been spun off from the ActiveNav group into its own standalone entity, Actfore Inc. ActiveNav
holds a 30% stake in this new independent endeavor through its parent company Active Forensics LLC.
ActiveNav is a well-established privately owned Independent Software Vendor (ISV) that provides unstructured data discovery solutions to enable private and government organisations to continually monitor and manage unstructured
digital data. The Company’s North Star is “Zero Dark Data”.
The global technology research group, Gartner, describes the sector as ‘Data Discovery and Management’ (DDM),
formally referring to the same as ‘File Analysis’.
ActiveNav has two software solutions:
• An on-premise product, Discovery Center, that has been developed for over a decade and is an expert toolset for unstructured data discovery, classification and disposal;
• A multi-tenant cloud SaaS offering, Cloud, for a highly scalable, more powerful and extendable data discovery service that benefits customers with a far lower cost of ownership.
Since its inception, ActiveNav has worked with more than 300 customers in North America, Europe and APAC and currently has more than 70 live customers, predominantly in North America, across Enterprise and Federal markets.
As of June 2025, we employ 36 staff, of which approximately 50% are based in the US where the US and Commercial Headquarters are located in Reston, VA. The remaining, including our 14 person engineering team, are in the UK, where the global Head Office is in Winchester, Hampshire. There is 1 staff member based in Melbourne, Australia, undertaking both sales and delivery functions.
ActiveNav’s solutions deal with the discovery of unstructured data wherever it is stored. They complement adjacent technologies such as Data Loss Prevention (DLP), eDiscovery and Identity Access Management (IAM) by providing customers with a clear understanding of the risk and value of their data at rest. Importantly they enhance AI model effectiveness by enabling customer’s data sets cleaning and completion
ActiveNav sells licenses to its software, on-premise and cloud based customers predominantly on annual or multiyear subscriptions; it also has customers in government sectors that prefer perpetual licenses with ongoing maintenance contracts. It provides paid consulting and professional deployment services to its customers and partners on an
as-needed basis.
From 2022, by leveraging the Discovery Center solution in addition to other open-market software solutions, ActiveNav
has developed a further line of business in Digital Forensic Incident Response (DFIR), trading as Actfore. Actfore is a
24/7 services based emergency response offering, unlike the core ISV business of ActiveNav. With effect from 1st August 2024 this business has been spun off from the ActiveNav group into its own standalone entity, Actfore Inc. ActiveNav
holds a 30% stake in this new independent endeavor through its parent company Active Forensics LLC.
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GROUP STRATEGIC REPORT (CONTINUED)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 29 JUNE 2025
In reporting the consolidated figures below, the directors have considered the activities of the group Data Discovery Solutions Ltd. The company wholly owns the following subsidiaries:
• Active Navigation Ltd
• Active Navigation Inc
• Data Discovery Solutions Pty Ltd
Along with the brand ActiveNav.
The Group’s key financial performance indicators for the reporting period, not including the Actfore business numbers
are as follows:
• Active Navigation Ltd
• Active Navigation Inc
• Data Discovery Solutions Pty Ltd
Along with the brand ActiveNav.
The Group’s key financial performance indicators for the reporting period, not including the Actfore business numbers
are as follows:
The consolidated results for the year for the core business showed growth in revenue of 3% to £4.0m. EBITDA reduced during the period to a £(114)k loss as the £2m raised from the 3rd May 2024 Investment Round was utilised. Shareholder’s Funds decreased by 15% due to both the investment application into the core business and the tradinglosses for the original Actfore business as we transitioned it through the spin off.
ActiveNav’s approach is underpinned by it being an expert in its field and its staff have likely done more data remediation programs than any other independent vendor in the market. Its team has spent more than 50,000 hours working with customers in more than 30 countries to achieve real outcomes, whether it be for sensitive data identification, data
deletion, data enrichment, or the preparation of content as part of lifecycle management.
ActiveNav’s reputation is best known for its quality and customer responsiveness coupled with its innovative technology:
• Real world practical experience
• Proven technology
• Knowledge of the space
• Global experience and scope
• Quality engineering team
• Professional services team
• Good, reliable, and reasonable people to work with.
Given the conservative nature of some of its customers, including in Legal, Federal, the military, natural resources and oil and gas sectors, its on-premise tool has remained popular. It has been built to become operationally robust, with a
broad feature set available without dependencies on other toolsets.
It is well respected in the market, by its customers, its partners, market commentators/analysts and competitors alike.
During the year ending June 2025 the Chief Executive, Peter Baumann, continued to work from the UK Head Office. The US core operation continues to have one Executive Director, the Chief Technology Officer, Rich Hale also a British national, re-located in 2017. Harvey Mitchell, the Chief Financial Officer, joined as of 1st August 2024 in Winchester, UK. Christian Geyer left ActiveNav as of December 2024 with the spin off of the Actfore business.
ActiveNav’s approach is underpinned by it being an expert in its field and its staff have likely done more data remediation programs than any other independent vendor in the market. Its team has spent more than 50,000 hours working with customers in more than 30 countries to achieve real outcomes, whether it be for sensitive data identification, data
deletion, data enrichment, or the preparation of content as part of lifecycle management.
ActiveNav’s reputation is best known for its quality and customer responsiveness coupled with its innovative technology:
• Real world practical experience
• Proven technology
• Knowledge of the space
• Global experience and scope
• Quality engineering team
• Professional services team
• Good, reliable, and reasonable people to work with.
Given the conservative nature of some of its customers, including in Legal, Federal, the military, natural resources and oil and gas sectors, its on-premise tool has remained popular. It has been built to become operationally robust, with a
broad feature set available without dependencies on other toolsets.
It is well respected in the market, by its customers, its partners, market commentators/analysts and competitors alike.
During the year ending June 2025 the Chief Executive, Peter Baumann, continued to work from the UK Head Office. The US core operation continues to have one Executive Director, the Chief Technology Officer, Rich Hale also a British national, re-located in 2017. Harvey Mitchell, the Chief Financial Officer, joined as of 1st August 2024 in Winchester, UK. Christian Geyer left ActiveNav as of December 2024 with the spin off of the Actfore business.
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GROUP STRATEGIC REPORT (CONTINUED)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 29 JUNE 2025
The company’s focus for the ActiveNav business is to continue to build out the Cloud offering in its chosen market, whilst continuing to ensure customer satisfaction through its customer responsiveness, solution quality and technology innovations. This the Directors believe will build the strongest platform for continued growth, profit and shareholder value over the next few years.
The business’ product roadmap continues to be focused on the Cloud offering, with highlights in the following areas:
• Completing research and assessment of multiple scale implementation capabilities and implementation of the
chosen pathway to allow for increasing customer data at scale within acceptable response times.
• Continuing research and associated developments around Data Collectors including Named Entity Recognition.
• Further experimentation and development with methods for matching documents to Legal case records as we
focus into the Legal sector, including engaging in experimental approaches with customer sandbox data.
• Exploration, research and planning around MatterID capability and delivery to the Legal sector.
The business’ product roadmap continues to be focused on the Cloud offering, with highlights in the following areas:
• Completing research and assessment of multiple scale implementation capabilities and implementation of the
chosen pathway to allow for increasing customer data at scale within acceptable response times.
• Continuing research and associated developments around Data Collectors including Named Entity Recognition.
• Further experimentation and development with methods for matching documents to Legal case records as we
focus into the Legal sector, including engaging in experimental approaches with customer sandbox data.
• Exploration, research and planning around MatterID capability and delivery to the Legal sector.
As the markets opened again after the pandemic, albeit differently, we have suffered with everyone globally due to the economic aftershocks and subsequent turmoil. This has focused us over the last three years into a leaner, more efficient and thus less riskier business as the conditions have dictated. Resources are committed to those areas of growth as they occur. This continued focus over the last twelve months has served us well.
The stability within our core software business and the success of the Actfore business allowed us to undertake the Investment Round late in the previous financial year and the subsequent spin off of the Actfore business during the year with confidence, reducing our operational risk to our core software business and removing all risk for Actfore.
The key risks forward continues to be market and economic confidence which we continue to approach with caution. Feeding into the market increasingly is the excitement around and with AI, both operationally for us and for our customers. This is clearly introducing change at pace into our chosen markets forward which are providing both opportunity and risk, which we will embrace with the same pragmatic view.
The stability within our core software business and the success of the Actfore business allowed us to undertake the Investment Round late in the previous financial year and the subsequent spin off of the Actfore business during the year with confidence, reducing our operational risk to our core software business and removing all risk for Actfore.
The key risks forward continues to be market and economic confidence which we continue to approach with caution. Feeding into the market increasingly is the excitement around and with AI, both operationally for us and for our customers. This is clearly introducing change at pace into our chosen markets forward which are providing both opportunity and risk, which we will embrace with the same pragmatic view.
This report was approved by the board and signed on its behalf.
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DIRECTORS' REPORT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 29 JUNE 2025
The Directors present their report and the financial statements for the year ended 29 June 2025.
The Directors are responsible for preparing the Group Strategic Report, the Directors' Report and the consolidated financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.
In preparing these financial statements, the Directors are required to:
∙select suitable accounting policies for the Group's financial statements and then apply them consistently;
∙make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
∙prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Group will continue in business.
The Directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Company's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Company and the Group and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Company and the Group and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The loss for the year, after taxation, amounted to £1,406,227 (2024 - profit £1,408,221).
The Directors who served during the year were:
Please refer to comments within the strategic report.
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DIRECTORS' REPORT (CONTINUED)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 29 JUNE 2025
Please refer to the disclosures made in note 24 around significant post balance sheet events.
Under section 487(2) of the Companies Act 2006, Menzies LLP will be deemed to have been reappointed as auditor 28 days after these financial statements were sent to members or 28 days after the latest date prescribed for filing the accounts with the registrar, whichever is earlier.
This report was approved by the board and signed on its behalf.
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INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF DATA DISCOVERY SOLUTIONS LIMITED
We have audited the financial statements of Data Discovery Solutions Limited (the 'parent Company') and its subsidiaries (the 'Group') for the year ended 29 June 2025, which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Income and Retained Earnings, the Consolidated Statement of Financial Position, the Company Statement of Financial Position, the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows, the Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity, the Company Statement of Changes in Equity and the related notes, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the Group in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the United Kingdom, including the Financial Reporting Council's Ethical Standard and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the Directors' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the Group's or the parent Company's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Directors with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report other than the financial statements and our Auditor's Report thereon. The Directors are responsible for the other information contained within the Annual Report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
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INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF DATA DISCOVERY SOLUTIONS LIMITED (CONTINUED)
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:
∙the information given in the Group Strategic Report and the Directors' Report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
∙the Group Strategic Report and the Directors' Report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the Group and the parent Company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Group Strategic Report or the Directors' Report.
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INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF DATA DISCOVERY SOLUTIONS LIMITED (CONTINUED)
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an Auditor's Report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these Group financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:
∙The Group is subject to laws and regulations that directly affect the financial statements including financial reporting
legislation, and general regulations such as health and safety and general data protection regulation. There are no
industry specific laws and regulations which would be deemed to have a significant impact on the financial statements.
legislation, and general regulations such as health and safety and general data protection regulation. There are no
industry specific laws and regulations which would be deemed to have a significant impact on the financial statements.
∙We assessed the extent of compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our procedures on the related
financial statement items.
financial statement items.
∙We understood how the Group is complying with those legal and regulatory frameworks by, making inquiries to
management and those responsible for legal and compliance procedures.
management and those responsible for legal and compliance procedures.
∙The engagement partner assessed whether the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence and
capabilities to identify or recognise non-compliance with laws and regulations. The assessment did not identify any
issues in this area.
capabilities to identify or recognise non-compliance with laws and regulations. The assessment did not identify any
issues in this area.
∙We assessed the susceptibility of the Group financial statements to material misstatement, including how fraud might
occur. Audit procedures performed by the engagement team included:
occur. Audit procedures performed by the engagement team included:
°Identifying and assessing the design effectiveness of controls management has in place to prevent and detect
fraud;
fraud;
°Understanding how those charged with governance considered and addressed the potential for override of
controls or other inappropriate influence over the financial reporting process;
controls or other inappropriate influence over the financial reporting process;
°Challenging assumptions and judgments made by management in its significant accounting estimates; and
°Identifying and testing journal entries, in particular any journal entries posted with unusual account combinations.
∙As a result of the above procedures, we considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the
organisation for fraud and identified the greatest potential for fraud in the following areas:
organisation for fraud and identified the greatest potential for fraud in the following areas:
°Posting of unusual journals and complex transactions;
°Misappropriation of funds through fraudulent supplier ledger and payroll activity; and
°Manipulation of amounts subject to significant judgement or estimate.
Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council's website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our Auditor's Report.
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INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF DATA DISCOVERY SOLUTIONS LIMITED (CONTINUED)
This report is made solely to the Company's members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the Company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an Auditor's Report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Company and the Company's members, as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
for and on behalf of
Chartered Accountants
Statutory Auditor
3000a Parkway
Hampshire
PO15 7FX
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CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF INCOME AND RETAINED EARNINGS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 29 JUNE 2025
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CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
AS AT 29 JUNE 2025
The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the board and were signed on its behalf by:
The notes on pages 19 to 35 form part of these financial statements.
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COMPANY STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
AS AT 29 JUNE 2025
The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the board and were signed on its behalf by:
The notes on pages 19 to 35 form part of these financial statements.
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