Ekco acquires Irish IT company Unity to enhance cloud services

9 Aug 2022

Ekco CEO Eoin Blacklock. Image: Ekco

The acquisition of Unity will push annual revenue at Ekco to more than €105m and increase its employee count to 500 across Ireland, UK and the Netherlands.

Irish cybersecurity and cloud specialist Ekco has snapped up IT services provider Unity Technology Solutions for an undisclosed sum.

Announced today (9 August), the acquisition will bring Ekco’s annual revenue to €105m. Around 80 Unity employees will now join the Ekco team, bringing its employee count in Ireland to more than 300 across five locations in Dublin and Cork.

Overall, Ekco will have more than 500 employees across Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands. The Dublin-based company said that 400 of these roles are highly specialised cybersecurity and cloud service engineers.

Established in 2011, Unity is a cloud services provider for businesses, specialising in cybersecurity, infrastructure, applications and identity management. Some of its clients include Musgrave Group, SEAI, Sherry FitzGerald, the Residential Tenancies Board and Vodafone.

“Unity is a natural fit for Ekco and complements our commitment of helping organisations make the transition to secure cloud in a way that strengthens their business and accelerates growth,” Ekco CEO Eoin Blacklock said.

The acquisition marks a significant milestone for the company founded in 2017 by Dublin-based business partners Blacklock and Jonathan Crowe.

More acquisitions ahead

Unity is set to enhance Ekco’s service portfolio with the addition of Microsoft’s full technology stack and a strong offering for Irish and European customers across secure cloud, backup and disaster recovery as well as a suite of cybersecurity services.

“We’re ambitious for the new Ekco and look forward to bringing our clients the business benefits of our combined investment and technology innovation,” Blacklock added.

Unity CEO David Hargaden said his company’s partnership with Ekco has been driven by the “customer-centric philosophy” they share. “I look forward to introducing Unity’s customers to the full portfolio of Ekco’s cybersecurity services and to joining the Ekco senior leadership team.”

Ekco has made several acquisitions since it was founded in 2017. This includes its purchases of cybersecurity services provider Kontex Security and cybersecurity consultancy Ward Solutions. In its third and most recent funding round, Ekco raised €20.25m.

“Our strategy of acquiring highly specialised cybersecurity and cloud service providers will continue,” Blacklock said.

“We look for organisations with teams of highly skilled technology professionals that have the same DNA as us and share our business ethos of providing a local, personal service that large-scale providers can’t.”

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Vish Gain is a journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com