Ronan Murphy, CEO of CWSI. Image: CWSI
‘Bringing the two business together creates one of the largest and most experienced mobile security teams in Europe,’ said CWSI’s Ronan Murphy.
Irish mobile and cloud security provider CWSI has acquired Dutch enterprise mobile security company Blaud.
The acquisition comes as Dublin-headquartered CWSI secured €21m in growth capital led by private equity fund Castlegate Investments.
Under the terms of the acquisition deal, Blaud will become a wholly owned subsidiary of CWSI and its 20 employees will join the group.
The deal is part of the Irish company’s European expansion plan, and it is forecasting that group revenues will grow to more than €20m in 2022. Its European and UK markets are expected to contribute 75pc of overall revenues.
The acquisition is CWSI’s second in a year. Last May, it purchased UK cyber and cloud security provider AVR International in a €5.2m deal. The company’s 12 employees joined CWSI, bringing its total headcount up to 50.
Last October, CWSI said it would invest €1.2m in an expansion plan that would involve the creation of 25 new jobs in Ireland and the UK.
Ronan Murphy, co-founder and CEO of CWSI, said there is a “strong overlap” between his company and Blaud.
“Bringing the two business together creates one of the largest and most experienced mobile security teams in Europe,” he added.
The company’s new capital includes debt financing and equity investment from Castlegate Investments. Murphy thanked the new equity investors and said it would help CWSI with its “build-and buy strategy” as it looks to create “a leading pan-European provider of cloud and mobile security solutions”.
Thierry Lammers, co-founder and CEO of Blaud, will now join the group. “CWSI and BLAUD share the same DNA of enabling organisations and their employees to work productively and securely from anywhere, on any device,” Lammers said.
Blaud provides secure application development services, including the design, build and management of highly secure mobile applications for large public and private sector organisations. It also provides professional services, technical consulting and support for mobile device management and mobile security.
The Dutch company’s clients include public and private sector organisations, such as Smurfit Kappa, Amsterdam UMC, Rijk Zwaan, Feenstra and the Dutch Tax Authority.
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