IT-security server Wecloud, which sells cloud-based spam and web filtering in a subscription model, has bought Danish competitor Simitu, in an attempt to boost productivity and expand as a business, as reported by Sydsvenskan 8till5.
“The goal is to double our turnover and number of employees within two years… This year we have a turnover about 25 million. I would think that in two years we will have doubled it, and have 35 employees.” says CEO Richard Zetterberg.
He sees that the biggest advantage of the deal is that Wecloud, with the help of Simitu, will be able to deliver local cloud services in both Sweden and Denmark.
Richard Zetterberg reminisces of how they came in contact with the Danish company when they were dealers:
“We quickly saw that Simitus technology was very good when it came to spam filters,” says Zetterberg. “But they had not progressed as far with customers and sales, so it was a good match – we needed technology and they needed customers.”
Simitu has three employees and sales of just under one million Danish kroner according to the latest annual report. Wecloud net sales in the fiscal year of 2013 amounted to 14 21.1 million kronor, compared with 20.5 million during the same period of 2014. Together, they may be a force to be reckoned with.
ABOUT WECLOUD
Zetterberg founded Wecloud in 2010 along with Karl Andersson. After the Danish company SoftScan they were working on was bought by the US security company Symantec, they chose to go their own way.
“Everything became bureaucratic and square, it felt hard to deliver something good for customers, so we founded this, we can do better ourselves,” Zetterberg comments.
Among Weclouds clients are located in both Ängelholm and Pagen. According to Zetterberg’s estimates, they hold bout 20 percent of the Swedish market. Today Wecloud has twelve employees at the office in Malmö and five in the one based in Stockholm. Following the acquisition, three additional employees will cover the new office in Denmark.
This article is in collaboration with Øresund Startups, originally by Emily Christiansen. Øresund Startups is a news site focusing on startups in Copenhagen and the other cities around the Øresund strait; Malmö, Helsingborg and Lund. It was initiated by Karsten Deppert and covers news about startups and events from the startup scene. You can follow them at @Oresundstartups.
