New investor to bankroll Oriium M&A ambitions

Channel services firm already running rule over multiple targets after selling 16 per cent stake to new investor

Channel services provider Oriium is on the hunt for acquisitions and is looking to break through the £10m revenue mark after bagging fresh investment.

The Commvault and Imation Nexsan partner is already running the rule over multiple targets after welcoming on board new chairman Ryan McCarry, who has taken a 16 per cent stake in the Wetherby-based firm.

Oriium founder Chris Kiaie (pictured left, with McCarry) – who retains a majority stake in the business – said any acquisitions must complement Oriium's existing focus on providing infrastructure services to the channel.

"We have created the foundation for a scalable business but there comes a point for any company that to maintain that trajectory you have to complement organic growth with inorganic growth," he said.

Oriium recently abandoned its direct-selling heritage to pursue a channel-only model but Kiaie admitted there are few other channel services firms out there that fit his acquisition brief.

"That said, if we can find a capable services organisation that we can indoctrinate as a channel business, we would also consider that, considering it's something Oriium has been through ourselves," he said. "We already have two or three we are very early days in terms of talking to and they are a very good fit and seriously complementary to what we do.

"The most important thing is this is not a numbers game; we are genuinely looking to add value to our capability and practices that complement Oriium as an infrastructure specialist."

Oriium was last year crowned by Deloitte as one of the UK's top 50 fastest-growing tech businesses. Following the arrival of McCarry, who sold his previous internet infrastructure provider venture, Sleek Networks, to Adapt in 2013, the goal is now to push on to £10m revenues, Kiaie said.

Oriium is officially categorised as a distributor by its vendor partners but Kiaie maintained its business model could not sit any further from the transactional and credit services performed by traditional wholesalers.

"We are more focused on the wrap of everything around the product – the service, support, pre-sales and managed services – rather than the transaction, which is the smallest part of the relationship," he said.