From left: James Hawker and Jonathan Crowe. Image: Ekco
The deal with Bluecube is not only Ekco’s largest ever, but also its fourth acquisition in the past 12 months.
Irish cloud and cybersecurity company Ekco has acquired IT specialist Bluecube in a deal that is expected to more than double the size of its UK operations.
Ekco announced yesterday (5 December) that the acquisition of Bluecube, based just outside of London, will significantly increase the company’s revenue, taking it beyond €150m annually.
With a 24/7 security operations centre in the English city of Milton Keynes, Bluecube provides dedicated IT security services to customers across the UK. Ekco said the deal will help it offer better incident response offerings to UK clients affected by ransomware, phishing and malware.
“Organisations throughout the country lean heavily on their MSP [managed service provider] to underpin their IT services with security, efficiencies and expertise,” said Jonathan Crowe, co-founder and COO of Ekco.
“These are business-critical functions, and with this deal, we are able to expand our best-in-class services to both new and existing clients. It forms a key part of our overall growth strategy, which is driven by a vision of unlocking the full potential of insightful and responsive IT and cyber security solutions to our growing customer base.”
The Bluecube deal is not only Ekco’s largest ever, but also its fourth acquisition in the past 12 months. Most recently, Ekco, which was founded in 2016 by Dublin-based business partners Eoin Blacklock and Crowe, acquired Waterford-based Radius to expand its Irish presence.
In August 2022, Ekco acquired Irish IT company Unity to enhance cloud services, adding around 80 employees to its team. Before that, it snapped up IT Force and Ortus to meet growing demand in the IT services space.
London-based tech VC firm Corten Capital became a majority shareholder in Ekco last year, after making an undisclosed investment.
“At Bluecube, our team has built a reputation on providing customer-centred services that address the ever-changing requirements of a diverse range of organisations,” said CEO James Hawker. “There is a close cultural fit between the two companies, and we see multiple benefits from the deal for both staff and customers alike.”
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