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14 March 2022 – London, UK – Crossword Cybersecurity Plc (AIM:CCS, “Crossword”, the “Company” or the “Group”), the technology commercialisation company focused on cyber security and risk, is pleased to announce its acquisition of the whole of the share capital of Threat Status Limited (“Threat Status”), the threat intelligence company and provider of Trillion™, the cloud based software as a service (SaaS) platform for enterprise-level credential breach intelligence has now completed. Additionally, Threat Status’s more recently released product, Arc, protects the users of customer-facing applications from the threat of Account Takeovers. The acquisition of Threat Status takes the Company’s portfolio to five cyber security offerings, alongside its cyber security consulting and managed services offerings. The transaction was first mentioned on 21 December 2021 in an RNS announcement.
Threat Status’s platform enables businesses and managed service providers to monitor data that has been stolen and shared on the dark web and criminal forums which could harm the security of their business or that of their customers. Threat Status has developed its subscription-based, enterprise-class services to be turnkey, highly scalable, very secure and ready to go. The platform is quick for onboarding new clients, with no complex integrations needed, allowing rapid delivery of customer value.
Tom Ilube, CEO Crossword Cybersecurity plc
Crossword Cybersecurity has agreed to pay a total consideration of £1.529m for Threat Status. This price represents an annual recurring revenue multiple of 5.25. The payments are structured as follows;
- An initial cash payment of £500,210;
- On the first anniversary of the transaction, a cash payment of £281,758 and £171,942 in Company stock;
- On the second anniversary of the transaction, a cash payment of £125,000 and £450,000 in Company stock; and
- All shares will be issued at a price based on the average mid-market price for the three months prior to the date of issue.
Threat Status was founded in 2017 by Jon Inns, who is the CEO of the business. He was joined by Ian Nice, CTO, and was supported by a third-party fund. Jon, Ian and their team of developers and apprentices will join Crossword to drive the continued commercialisation and development of Threat Status products. For the 12 months ended 31 March 2021, Threat Status made a loss of £54,864 and had net assets of £75,586 at that date. Threat Status is reaching breakeven, with 90% recurring revenue. Cross sell opportunities are being explored with the acquisition, alongside operating synergies.
Tom Ilube, CEO of Crossword Cybersecurity plc, commented: “Crossword is pleased to incorporate Trillion and Arc into its product suite, completing our aim of having five products in the market by the end of 2022 and adding over twenty new recurring revenue clients. We welcome Jon, Ian and their team to Crossword and are excited about the opportunities Threat Status brings to Crossword and our clients, as we continue in our mission to reduce the cyber risks for our clients by providing a portfolio of innovative products and services. This is our third acquisition in less than a year and shows the extent of our ambition to provide a portfolio of subscription-based, enterprise-class products and services.”
Jon Inns, CEO of Threat Status Limited, commented: “Threat Status has developed one of the strongest and most advanced credential leak monitoring services in the market and we’re looking forward to leveraging the opportunities and synergies this acquisition by Crossword represents. With Crossword’s experienced sales team and growing client base, and our proven and trusted technology, we expect market penetration to accelerate, increasing revenue and client protection.”
– Ends –
The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the retained EU law version of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 (the “UK MAR”) which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. The information is disclosed in accordance with the Company’s obligations under Article 17 of the UK MAR. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain
Contacts
Crossword Cybersecurity plc – Tel: +44 (0) 333 090 2587
Email: info@crosswordcybersecurity.com
Tom Ilube, Chief Executive Officer
Mary Dowd, Chief Financial Officer
Grant Thornton (Nominated Adviser) – Tel: +44 (0) 20 7383 5100
Colin Aaronson / Daphne Zhang / Ciara Donnelly
Hybridan LLP (Broker) – Tel: +44 (0)203 764 2341
Claire Louise Noyce
For media enquiries contact:
Duncan Gurney, GingerPR
duncan@gingerpr.co.uk – Tel: +44 (0)1932 485 300
About Crossword Cybersecurity plc
Crossword Cybersecurity plc focuses on the development and commercialisation of university research-based cyber security and risk management related software and cyber security consulting. The Group’s specialist cyber security product development and software engineering teams work with its university partners to develop the research concept into a fully-fledged commercial product that it will then take to market. The Group’s aim is to build up a portfolio of revenue generating, intellectual property based, cyber security products. Rizikon Assurance, Crossword’s leading product, is a SaaS platform that enables medium to large companies to assess and manage all risks from their suppliers. Nixer CyberML, another Crossword product, is a new tool for businesses that want to solve advanced security and cybercrime problems, such as detecting and dealing with compromised accounts, fraud, and in-application denial of service attacks. Identiproof, Crossword’s most recent product, is the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) verifiable credentials compatible middleware and wallet technology. Crossword’s team of expert cyber security consultants leverages years of experience in national security, defence and commercial cyber intelligence and operations to provide bespoke advice tailored to its clients’ business needs, including threat monitoring.
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