Through the sale to US software company Citrix Systems, the private equity firm has realised a 32 times return on its initial investment, with the total profits for Matrix from the sale being £16.4 million.

London-based App-DNA provides software which allows blue chip customers to save time and money when changing operating systems. The deal follows on from a similar acquisition made by Quest Software of UK-headquartered business ChangeBASE.

Guy Blackburn, the Matrix non-executive director of App-DNA who managed the exit, says that App-DNA is a ‘great commercial success’ for the UK technology sector.

He adds: ‘App-DNA was started just a few years ago when we decided to commercialise a software tool developed at Camwood Enterprises, another Matrix portfolio company.

‘The App-DNA team has done an excellent job delivering strong growth and establishing such a global presence so quickly.’

Blackburn says that the deal shows that the UK continues to be the ‘birthplace’ of highly, innovative, fast growing and internationally successful businesses.’

Bob Shultz, group vice president and general manager for Enterprise Desktops and Applications at Citrix, comments: ‘Customers want to move to virtual desktops faster but often don’t know how to evolve their application portfolio. App-DNA provides customers a clear roadmap and the ability to automate the migration of their applications to new virtual environments.’

Matrix currently advises four Income and Growth VCTs with £135 million funds under management.