Infinigate hopes to hit €1bn in revenues in next five years

CEO says latest acquisition grows its presence in northern Europe

Swiss security VAD Infinigate has grown its presence in 10 European countries and plugged a gap in northern Europe with its acquisition of Netherlands-based security VAD Crypsys.

CEO David Martinez (pictured) told CRN's sister publication Channelnomics Europe that the deal will help the company hit €1bn (£885m) in revenues in "the next five years".

"We have been growing 20 to 30 per cent each year for the last 12 years, and growth by acquisitions as well as organic growth is important to us," he said.

"Crypsys has the same set-up as us: a value-added distributor very focused on security. That is the very reason for our success so far, because we don't sell everything, unlike many of our competitors."

Infinigate is currently projecting to close the fiscal year with revenues in excess of €400m (£354m).

Martinez teased that 2018 will be an acquisition-hungry year for the pan-European firm, in keeping with its strategy to be "the number one security VAD in Europe".

"In the distribution market, a lot of success is partly down to size, so to reach our goal we need to move to cover the regions we don't cover today…southern Europe is a target, and sooner or later, we will look to CEE," he said.

Last year, Martinez told us that Benelux was a key target for the Rotkreuz-based company.

Reaffirming that Infinigate will prioritise the region over the next 12 months, Martinez gave his assessment of the "positive" prospects in the Dutch market.

"It does not look to be challenging at the moment. In terms of the success that Crypsys has had there already, they have been growing at a similar rate to us," he said.

"We don't see big problem areas and the Dutch market is important to us. On an economic level, the Netherlands is probably number five or six in Europe, and it's growing. Plus, we don't have any issues like Brexit, for example."

Infinigate claims to now cover "close to 80 per cent of the western European IT security market's potential", having operations in 20 countries, including Crypsys' operations.

Martinez wouldn't reveal the value of the deal but confirmed that investment house H.I.G fuelled the acquisition. The private equity firm itself acquired a large stake in Infinigate early last year.

Crypsys' full team will remain, including its director Rob Westerhoff, adding 25 to Infinigate's current headcount of around 300. Crypsys' name will continue to be used for the next 12 months.