Making it Work: Cybersecurity firm looks to hit €200m turnover within four years
Integrity360 has grown to become the country’s biggest cybersecurity company and, following investment, is looking to expand globally
Eoin Goulding is happy to admit that he’s not a technology expert, and that “some days, I’m still trying to understand what exactly we do”.
Yet the Dublin native, a self-described “wheeler and dealer”, is one of Ireland’s most successful IT sector entrepreneurs, the founder of the country’s biggest cybersecurity company, and a man with designs on future growth.
Integrity360 has been on an upward trajectory for several years now. In June it announced plans for a hiring and acquisitions spree following a “significant” investment from August Equity, reportedly around €50 million.
The investment marked the first external funding raised by Integrity and has given the firm confidence in its ability to grow globally, Goulding said.
“We’ve invested €3 million in technology and hiring this year, and we expect to invest another €5 million next year. We’re looking at possibly three acquisitions in the next 12 months outside of Ireland.
“Our vision is to be the biggest pan-European pure cybersecurity power in the next four years. That’s the journey we’re going on, and we’ll do that through organic growth as well as acquisitions.”
Goulding established Integrity360 in 2005 after Align Technology, the firm he was working for, decided to exit the Irish market. But the Dublin native already had extensive business experience, having established his first official business aged just 19.
“I really enjoyed it at Align for two or three years, but when they pulled out of Ireland I realised I had an opportunity for my own business,” he said.
What started in a Ballsbridge basement quickly grew into a company that competed at the top of the Irish cyber market, vying with IBM, Dell and Secureworks for business here.
Today, the Enterprise Ireland-backed firm provides professional, support and managed cybersecurity services to help its clients proactively and reactively address threats. It offers a wide range of supports and counts major companies among its clients.
“The way I look at it is that if you’ve got a house, you’ve got a Chubb lock on your door and so do your neighbours. But we come along and say: ‘it’s great you’ve got a lock on the door, but you need to put locks on your windows as well’,” he said.
“It’s all about making your company more resilient, and we come along and put the locks on the windows. We install those and then we come back and say: ‘you’re still weak here, here’s where you need to improve.’ And that’s what brings people back to us.”
Integrity360 reported turnover of €37.4 million in the 2020 financial year, according to its most recently-filed accounts, but it is hungry for further growth.
“We want to get to €200 million within four years,” Goulding said. “We expect to take on 60 new people next year, which will bring us up to 210 staff. We’re in a good space.”
