Mid-market private equity firm NorthEdge has completed its investment in Distology, a leading specialist cyber security distributor.
Founded in 2014, Distology is a value-added-distributor representing vendors of IT security technology products across EMEA, helping to protect businesses’ digital estates from the growing threat of cyber-attacks. The business is headquartered in Manchester with access to the European market via its office in The Netherlands.
NorthEdge is backing Hayley Roberts, CEO, and her management team which includes Finance Director Andy Roche and Sales Director Stephen Rowlands, to help accelerate the business’s exceptional growth journey. Distology has enjoyed consistent success, increasing year-on-year revenue by more than 75 per cent over the past three years.
NorthEdge’s investment will support the business as it looks to take advantage of the fast-growing cyber security market, which is estimated to be worth GBP8.3 billion in the UK. With private equity support Distology hopes to expand its services, build on its strong relationships with its vendors and partners and continue to grow its presence in Europe.
Roberts says: “Our ambition is to be Europe’s leading value-added-distributor of cloud-based cyber security software. In order to achieve our ambitious growth plans, we needed a partner that could offer more than just a financial investment – we also want guidance and support to help us overcome the challenges that arise with rapid growth.
“NorthEdge has an impressive track record of investing in technology businesses and supporting them on their growth journey. Even through the challenges of lockdown we were able to build a great relationship with the NorthEdge team, and I could see they understood our business and the market we operate in.”
The investment was funded from NorthEdge’s GBP120 million SME Fund and was led out of the Manchester office by Dan Matkin and Liam May. Liam May will join the board. NorthEdge has also appointed Andy McEwan as Chair, bringing significant channel and international expansion experience.
Liam May, Director at NorthEdge, adds: “Cyber security has quickly become one of the largest high-growth markets with revenues in the sector nearly doubling between 2017 and 2020. The impact of COVID-19 has led to widespread remote working and the increasing threat of more sophisticated cyber-attacks are likely to drive long term demand in the sector.
“Distology has already cemented its position in the channel through its partnerships with strategic vendors and impressive client list and has an outstanding reputation in the market. We’re looking forward to working with Hayley and the business’s talented team to drive the company’s growth and expand its offering”.
This is NorthEdge’s third technology investment since November, following its backing of Altia-ABM, a specialist investigation and covert operation software business, and Lights4fun, one of Europe’s leading e-commerce retailers of decorative lighting.
Distology represents NorthEdge’s 12th TMT investment as the private equity house continues to establish itself as a leading investor in technology assets.
NorthEdge was advised by Alantra Corporate Finance (Richard Sanders, Emmet Keating and David Bellis), DWF (Jonathan Robinson, Darren Ormsby and Rebecca Gargary), Graph Strategy (James Tetherton and Philip Craig), RSM (Rob McCarthy and Riam Mistry), Catalysis (Andy Airey), Sales Forensics (James Bagan), AoN (Jonathan Harrison) and PwC (Simon Viner and Dan Harding).
Distology was advised by EY (Edward Gale, Louise Leung, George Bullivant and Mark Clephan) who provided corporate finance services and Gateley (Paul Jefferson, Leigh Whittaker, Victoria Brown and Christopher Lister) who provided legal advice.