Spirit Technologies has announced the acquisition of Forensic IT as the company seeks $20 million in an equity raise and continues its pivot to cyber security solutions for its business turnaround strategy.
Forensic IT is a specialist in providing incident response and digital forensic cyber security services. The company does everything from cyber incident response to analysis for courtrooms, and was founded 11 years ago by David Caldwell, who, before founding Forensic IT, had been the Officer in Charge of the Victoria Police Computer Crime Squad.
According to a statement by Spirit, by integrating Forensic IT’s capabilities with its existing cyber security capabilities, particularly the 24/7 SOC managed by Infotrust, Forensic IT will allow the group to deliver services that are “specifically tailored to meet the needs of mid to enterprise-level businesses across both the private and public sector.”
“With the increasing frequency and sophistication of cyber attacks, our expanded capabilities will allow us to better safeguard our customer’s digital assets, ensuring resilience and continuity in the face of any cyber incident,” Spirit Group Managing Director Julian Challingsworth said in the statement.
Ongoing business recovery through security
Earlier this year, Channel Insider reported that Spirit had announced a 15% HY decline in sales, resulting in a net loss for the second consecutive year.
At the time the company highlighted security as core to its turnaround strategy, with the nearly AUD$35 million acquisition of Infotrust being pivotal to those efforts.
In its recent half-year statement to the ASX, Spirit Technologies announced that it had its largest-ever quarter in terms of total contract value, with further positive momentum ahead.
Spirit Technologies expects cyber security will be its largest revenue contributor in the upcoming FY25, and that it will improve profitability with an expected uEBITDA of between $10.5 million and $11.8 million.
In the meantime, to fuel ongoing growth, including to finance the acquisition of Forensic IT, Spirit is currently in the process of completing an equity raise to inject a further $20.0 million into the business.
Australian MSPs have a huge opportunity in front of them, according to research by StickmanCyber, which reports a concerning gap in cyber skills.