Neal Allen, HNH director

Led by HNH director Neal Allen, the Scottish arm of the Belfast-based multi-disciplinary financial advisory firm secured the £2.7m investment from Maven Capital Partners through its VCTs, alongside the Scottish Investment Bank, which will allow Quorum Cyber Security Limited to scale up.

In a sign of the resilience of the Scottish tech sector and the appetite for investment in ambitious Scottish businesses, the growth capital deal was instigated by Quorum Cyber’s managing director Federico Charosky, who has a 40% stake in the business.

With a turnover of £2.7m and a team of 25 operating from Edinburgh, Quorum Cyber provides a professional and managed security services for UK and international clients including a fully managed detect and response capability via the company’s Microsoft Azure Sentinel Security Operations Centre (SOC).

Mr Charosky will use the growth capital to further scale the business, investing in sales and marketing resource, as well as product innovation to ensure clients can confidentially operate within an increasingly hostile cybersecurity environment.

Mr Allen and the HNH team, which specialises in advising SMEs and entrepreneurs on M&A and growth capital activity, spent several months working with Quorum Cyber to secure the most appropriate investment solution. Having identified several potential investors among its extensive network, HNH secured the investment from Maven Capital, one of the UK’s most active private equity houses.

Mr Allen said: “While COVID-19 and Brexit have created a challenging financial climate, this growth capital investment demonstrates that there is appetite for growth and investment in Scottish business. It was very encouraging that there was a lot of interest among Scottish based private equity/venture capital funds and we’re delighted to have facilitated this for Quorum Cyber.

“The team at Maven Capital Partners led by David Millroy were very receptive from the start and we know that Maven is the right home for this business as it continues to grow its client base around the world.”

Mr Charosky added: “Working with HNH and Maven to create the deal has been a fantastic experience. This deal will enable Quorum Cyber to continue growing in a sustainable way, ensuring we continue to exceed customer expectations, while protecting the amazing culture we’ve created.”

Millroy, a partner at Maven Capital Partners, said: “We are delighted to be leading the investment in Quorum Cyber and look forward to being part of its growth in the years to come. The senior team have already created a strong business and there is significant opportunity to scale operations globally, with further expansion already underway in the Middle East, Australia, South Korea, and North America.”