Listed Crossword Cybersecurity has raised £5 million and acquired a threat intelligence firm.
The funding was raised via an oversubscribed fundraising by Hybridan LLP and share placing.
Crowssword, which is focused on cybersecurity and risk management, did not disclose the identity of the threating monitoring firm, which it will pay £1.35m for up front, rising to £1.8m conditional upon performance. The payments are a mixture of cash and shares.
The acquired company, which is running at breakeven with 75% recurring revenue, will bring around 30 new clients to Crossword, primarily financial sector organisations, taking the total number of fee-paying consulting clients to over 100.
The pending acquisition will be Crossword’s second in 2021 after Verifiable Credentials Limited was acquired in May and its product, Identiproof, increased Crossword’s software product portfolio to three.
Crossword is now actively taking Identiproof to market and is in discussions with several commercial businesses on how they might use the platform to issue verifiable digital certificates amid a shift from physical certificates to digital credentials across sectors ranging from digital ticket sales for festivals, concerts and exhibitions; insurance; education; and compliance such as standards and accreditations.
The second half of 2021 will also see Crossword establish a subsidiary in Oman as its Gulf region headquarters.