Dublin mobile and cloud security specialist CWSI has acquired Dutch peer Blaud, based in Utrecht.
CWSI, led by Ronan Murphy, said it has raised €21m of debt finance and equity investment to fund the takeover and expansion plans.
The equity investment has been secured from Castlegate Investments, the private equity and family office of eShopWorld founder Tommy Kelly.
Blaud has 20 employees, and co-founder Thierry Lammers will continue in his CEO role.
CWSI’s first buy in mainland Europe will expand company revenue to c.€20m this year, according to Murphy. The European and UK markets are expected to contribute 75% of the overall revenues.
In Association with
Blaud provides technical, consulting, support, and managed services to customers across Unified Endpoint Management, Mobile Threat Defence, and enterprise application/software development.
Clients include Smurfit Kappa, Amsterdam UMC, the Dutch Department of Waterways and Public Works, and law enforcement organisations.
CWSI said it plans to extend the market for Blaud’s application development services into the UK and Ireland, while Blaud customers will be able to access CWSI’s Microsoft Security Practice.
In April 2021, CWSI acquired UK-based cyber and cloud security services provider AVR.
Ronan Murphy commented: “There is a strong overlap in our solution areas, value propositions and company cultures and both organisations have strong representation in the criminal justice and public health sectors. Bringing the two business together creates one of the largest and most experienced mobile security teams in Europe.
“This exciting new chapter of the CWSI story wouldn’t be possible without the support of our new equity investors. I look forward to repaying their confidence in us as we execute on our buy and build strategy to create a leading pan-European provider of cloud and mobile security solutions.”
Thierry Lammers stated: “CWSI and Blaud share the same DNA of enabling organisations and their employees to work productively and securely from anywhere, on any device. I look forward to working with CWSI to continue to find new ways to create value for our customers and solve their security challenges.”
Founded in 2010, CWSI has offices in Dublin and Reading.
