Ledger and Morris invest in start-up distributor

VADition founders take stakeholding in Oxfordshire-based security software distributor, Securedis

VADition founders Neil Ledger and Ian Morris have taken a stake in start-up software distributor Securedis.

The duo stressed the investment, which is for an undisclosed stakeholding and was finalised this month, is purely to assist the Oxfordshire-based firm in its early stages of its growth.

Ledger and Morris founded fast-growing VADition in 2006 and built up and sold two other successful distribution ventures – Data Connectivity and equIP - in the 1990s and 2000s. Securedis founder Andi Robinson worked alongside the pair at Data Connectivity as the firm’s third business partner.

Ledger said: “Andi and his brother [Nick] are talented guys and Securedis has a good model. This is a way to help them through the initial stages of their business when cash is king.”

Securedis’ focus on security software contrasts with VADition’s hardware-dominated portfolio. However, Ledger said that too much should not be read into the investment and stressed that he and Morris would not be involved on a day-to-day basis.

Robinson said: “We are very pleased once again to be involved with Ian and Neil and greatly appreciate their early-days funding support."

After growing revenues to £23.4m in its last financial year, Ledger said VADition is on course to exceed its "already aggressive" expectations for its current year to 31 May.

Speculation about VADition’s exit strategy persists but Ledger clarified that the firm is not actively looking to sell up and is still very much in growth mode.

“At this moment in time we continue to develop the business and are continuing to find emerging vendors,” he said.

Dave Ellis, director of new technologies and services at distributor Computerlinks, said Securedis would need to differentiate itself from existing security software distributors. “Overall, Neil and Ian have been pretty successful,” he said. “But to come in as a security distributor at this stage when there is so much consolidation is pretty hard.”