Cork’s Smarttech247 valued at £36.8m from London stock listing

The company had originally planned to bypass the IPO process through a reverse takeover deal with Conduity Capital.

Cork-based cybersecurity company Smarttech247 has been listed on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM sub-market, with a valuation of £36.8m.

The company managed to raise £3.67m through a placing of roughly 12.386m ordinary shares at a valuation of 29.66 pence per share. The company’s valuation is based on the placing price.

First founded by Ronan Murphy in 2008 and now led by CEO Raluca Saceanu, Smarttech247 combines threat intelligence with managed detection and response to provide insights, threat detection, investigation and response services to its customers.

The company has been expanding its operations over the past couple of years. In February 2021, it announced plans to hire 30 staff at its Cork base.

Smarttech247 invested in Northern Ireland earlier this year, sharing plans to create a further 30 jobs at its Belfast hub.

The company also has offices in the US and Europe, and provides cybersecurity expertise to a network of clients across these locations.

Saceanu said the past two years have been “transformational” and that getting listed on the AIM sub-market is an “important milestone” for the company.

“We have ambitious growth plans, and our IPO (initial public offer) is the step that helps to launch our very own ‘S247 rocket’,” Saceanu said. “Becoming a public company is a great opportunity to emphasise our brand and the cybersecurity expertise we have built over the years”.

Last year, Smarttech247 entered a non-binding agreement with Conduity Capital to get listed on AIM through a reverse takeover deal.

This would have seen the Cork-based company be acquired by Conduity for £33.5m, which would have allowing Smarttech247 to go public but bypass the IPO process.

Infosec is a constantly developing sector, as the global cybersecurity industry is expected to grow in value to $248bn by 2023.

In July, Smarttech247 offered 60 places to women on a free course to help participants develop infosec skills. The company said it was seeking to widen the talent pool in the industry.

“There are thousands of openings in cybersecurity companies around the world at any one time, and yet, research in Ireland last year showed 27pc of companies have difficulty retaining females in their cybersecurity team,” Saceanu said in July.

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