Digital product consultancy hedgehog lab has appointed Malcolm Seagrave as its new CEO as the Newcastle-headquartered business looks to expand across the North of England and Scotland.
Seagrave, who joined the business 18 months ago as managing director for UK operations, succeeds co-founder and former CEO Sarat Pediredla. Pediredla stepped down at the end of 2025 as part of a planned leadership transition.
The BGF-backed consultancy said the move comes after a strong year of growth, with turnover rising 30% and momentum accelerating in the second half of 2025. The business now has ambitions to reach £50m in revenue while creating hundreds of new jobs across the North and Scotland.
Seagrave has previously helped scale a number of major digital consultancies. He led BJSS from 140 to 1,400 employees before its sale to CGI and also played a key role in growing AND Digital from 170 to 1,500 people while leading its Northern operations.
The consultancy, which secured investment from BGF in 2023, currently operates from Newcastle, Leeds and Edinburgh and recently acquired innovation consultancy Label Sessions in the Scottish capital. It also has engineering support teams in Romania and Bulgaria, with Manchester and Glasgow identified as future expansion locations.
Malcolm Seagrave said: “I’m hugely excited to be taking on the CEO role at hedgehog lab. I’ve scaled digital consultancies before, but this is genuinely unique – the company has built an impeccable culture, a great team, and the integrated offering is a real differentiator. We have all the foundations in place to take this business to another level and now it’s about executing our strategy as a tech company that puts people first.
“AI is a huge strength for us – it’s built into everything we work on, but pure-play AI technologies represent around 40% of our business, and that is growing. Embedding it in sales, products, and design research is allowing us to make rapid prototypes and dialling up our ability to innovate. We invested heavily in the technology a few years ago, and that decision is beginning to pay off.
“I’m a big advocate for the North of England and Scotland, helping to grow their economies. Job creation has been a big part of my career and something I really enjoy – the businesses I have scaled have gone on to create hundreds of jobs. I want to do that again with hedgehog lab in the years ahead, giving back to the regions we’re part of through our community initiatives at the same time.”
The business also recently achieved B Corp accreditation and has pledged to dedicate a percentage of revenue to impact initiatives including volunteering, pro bono work and collaborations with purpose-led organisations.
