Crossword Cybersecurity has announced the £1.8 million acquisition of Stega, a threat intelligence and monitoring firm based in London.
The takeover brings the additional capability of threat intelligence and monitoring services to Crossword’s offering, following the company’s recent oversubscribed £5 million round of fundraising.
The acquisition also brings around 30 new clients to Crossword – many of which are financial sector organisations – to take the firm’s total number of consulting clients to over 100.
Stega CEO Phil Ashley and his team will now join Crossword and work alongside the company’s Consulting team.
“Following our successful fundraise last week, I am pleased to welcome Phil Ashley and his Team at Stega, to Crossword,” said Tom Ilube, CEO of Crossword Cybersecurity. “Stega’s threat intelligence and monitoring services are a great addition to Crossword’s range of services which help to reduce cyber risks for our clients.
“Stega, Crossword’s second acquisition of 2021, will be an important part of our plans for continuing revenue growth.”
Established in 2016, Stega has been run by CEO Phil Ashley since its formation. The company is currently breakeven on an annualised basis, with £605,000 in revenue in its full financial year ending November 2020 – 75% of which was recurring revenue. According to the details of the acquisition, Stega had net assets of £49,667 at that date.
Crossword itself focuses on the development and commercialisation of university research-based cyber security and risk management related software, as well as cyber security consulting.
The firm says its aim is to build up a portfolio of revenue-generating, intellectual property-based cyber security products. Stega joins key existing offerings such as SaaS risk management platform Rizikon Assurance and Nixer CyberML, which tackles advanced security and cybercrime.
Following the takeover, Crossword said that cross-sell opportunities are being explored with Stega’s management, alongside operating synergies.
“Stega is delighted to become part of crossword at this exciting time,” commented Phil Ashley, Stega CEO. “We are looking forward to offering our services to a wider customer base and using Crossword’s solid structure, strong connections and determined sales team to drive revenue and growth.”
