'Non-acquisitive' Mimecast CEO on the vendor's double acquisition

CEO Peter Bauer tells CRN why the security vendor went against its own philosophy with two big takeovers

Mimecast's acquisition of cybersecurity firms Solebit and Ataata earlier this year was an unusual change of path for the vendor, according to its CEO Peter Bauer.

The email and data security firm acquired the two companies in July, going against its own ethos of being non-acquisitory.

"Since we started 16 years ago, our philosophy has been around the organic development of both our technology and revenue," Bauer (pictured) told CRN.

"We have been profoundly non-acquisitive - that is part of our philosophy - along with being able to scale the customer experience by having a continuous solution.

"That design ideology has been important to us, especially when we've seen so many competitors who have not done that; they have merely built up portfolios by acquiring products, which sounds clever but gives them disparate teams and architectures, and if you do too much of that, it creates organisational and customer complexity.

"So when we look at acquisitions, we are very cautious and selective about what it is we are getting into."

Mimecast reeled in Solebit for $88m and Bauer explained the reason behind this was that the smaller vendor had proved its value as its technology had already been integrated into Mimecast's platform.

"We had worked closely with the team and the alignment with our company ethos was strong - that gave us the confidence that it would be a good deal," he added.

The chief exec compared its acquisition of cybersecurity awareness and training provider Ataata to judging the X Factor.

"A bunch of phishing simulation companies were shown to us as potential acquisitions but we were never comfortable that they were where we wanted to be playing," he explained.

"And then we met Ataata and had that Simon Cowell jaw-dropping moment and knew they were special.

"They had not just the tools of phishing simulations, but they majored much more on tools and techniques that could really shift the culture of an organisation."

Mimecast, which was founded in the UK, made waves when it chose to go public in the US. That "colossal" market now contributes 50 per cent to its revenue streams, according to Bauer.

Its UK business provides between 32 and 35 per cent to turnover, and the CEO revealed that the company is expanding its UK base after signing a lease on a real estate expansion to its London location.

"We are gearing up to meaningfully grow in the UK from both an R&D and go-to-market perspective," he said.

"Later next year we will move to a new space that will have significantly more room for growth and expansion, and that is a reflection of our hiring and growth plans for the UK."