Jacksonville-based Quadrant Information Security recently announced its acquisition by Worklyn Partners for an undisclosed amount.
The cyber defense firm specializes in managed detection and response and is the first acquisition for Worklyn after it completed its initial funding round in January for $35 million.
Serving as the centerpiece for Worklyn’s cybersecurity platform, Quadrant will leverage the growth equity investment to build out its team of security analysts, engineers, developers and consultants, according to a joint statement.
To get to know more about cyber security firm and the deal behind the acquisition, the Business Journal recently sat down with Quadrant President and CEO Ian Bush to talk about what is next for the company.
What was your founding and early years of the company like?
We started the business in 2011... bootstrapping from the get go. We never took any outside capital until we recently decided to partner with Worklyn.
What brought you to that decision after a decade?
Combination of the right people, business cycle and a favorable economic climate.
When you want to start a business up — especially when you're continuing to reinvest all the profits back in the company to grow — it's mostly incremental growth. And it's been that way for us year over year. But at some point, in order to really scale, you've got to get an injection of cash, and you've got to be able to partner up with an organization who's going to continue to let you lead the business but still be operationally involved, right? It's not it's not just about the money. It's about the relationships oftentimes. But a lot of things aligned for us to be able to do the deal.
Now that you have this capital infusion, going forward, what are your plans? Is there a new market segment you are going to enter?
That's the beauty about information security, regardless of what industry, security concerns are high. Especially since most have regulatory mandates that they have to satisfy. That's the beauty of the information security space. So we're not really focused on one particular industry, one particular vertical.
But our main plans are to take this capital and invest in our sales, marketing and brand awareness, as well as keeping up with our commitment to continue researching and developing new tools.
It's been an interesting few years in the cyber security space. Continued ransomware and high-profile attacks, but now there has been a big switch to remote working. With that comes its own security risks. What have you experienced since he onset of Covid?
It's unfortunate that so many businesses were impacted with Covid. But, for us, selfishly speaking, we grew throughout the pandemic. Businesses were trying to focus on keeping remote workers secure. That has definitely been a challenge for all of those involved, but it was a certainly a catalyst that accelerated our growth.
What sets Quadrant apart from its competitors?
There are a lot of companies getting involved with cyber security firms right now, but I don't believe they are fully utilizing the capabilities. We are unique in that we provide around-the-clock monitoring, management and reporting. What really sets us apart is our dedicated team of security analysts that proactively monitor our clients 24/7. We have very powerful tools we use, but as of now, a specialized analyst is better. But after detection, we are able to provide a suite of tools to mitigate and remediate any damage done.
What's next?
Hiring more qualified employees is always a challenge. We try to look locally but because our industry is in such demand, the supply is low. But it's not just us and companies locally, everyone nationally is having a tough time recruiting top talent. But it's not necessarily a bad thing. Challenges usually spur innovation.
