Acquisitive Accumuli grabs SIEM reseller

Edge7 sells up just 15 months after it was founded by a group of former ArcSight executives

Buy-and-build managed IT security outfit Accumuli has made its fourth acquisition, in the shape of security information event management (SIEM) reseller and consultancy Edge7.

Accumuli saw revenue bulge from £2.4m to £12.6m in its fiscal year to 31 March 2012 on the back of three acquisitions, including managed security services outfit Boxing Orange.

It has now added to its shopping trolley Edge7, an ArcSight, Q1 Labs and Splunk reseller that was set up in early 2011 by a group of former UK ArcSight executives.

London-listed Accumuli is paying up to £3.8m to land its man, comprising £0.8m in cash upfront and up to a further £3m in cash and shares next year depending on Edge7's profits.

Accumuli has harboured ambitions to acquire in the SIEM market for a while and said Edge7's ties with senior management in its client base of government, financial, service provider, utilities and financial PR clients would provide it with potent cross-sell opportunities.

"Edge7 is a business with a strong reputation, and acknowledged expertise in implementing and extracting the full benefits from an SIEM platform," said Nick Kingsbury, non-executive chairman of Accumuli.

"This acquisition, along with our increased investment in this field, will enable us to provide our customers with a high-level view on their organisation's IT security estate, and actionable intelligence on specific threats."

Edge7 reported pre-tax losses of £0.08m on revenue of £0.9m for its first 13 months of trading to 30 April 2011.

On top of the upfront payment, its owners will receive cash and shares worth £1.14m if the firm hits an EBITDA profit of £300,000 for the 12 months to 30 September. This shoots up to £2.44m and £3m respectively if profits of £500,000 and £550,000 are achieved.

MXC Capital, a vehicle of part-time Accumuli executive director Ian Smith, owns a 35 per cent stake in Edge7.