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Print Edition StoriesThursday, March 12, 2009
NitroSecurity nabs UK’s Chronicle Solutions
By Galen Moore
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NitroSecurity Inc. has acquired Chronicle Solutions (U.K.) Ltd. in an asset-based transaction, executives report at the Portsmouth, N.H.-based maker of security information management software.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. All five employees of the British application-layer security monitoring company will join the acquiring company, said NitroSecurity CEO Ken Levine.
With its August acquisition of Pennsylvania software maker RippleTech Inc., NitroSecurity extended its product to the database level. The Chronicle software acquisition brings NitroSecurity’s offering, which began with firewall and router monitoring, to the application level, said Levine.
NitroSecurity has historically focused on ensuring regulatory compliance of large, networked systems at government agencies, health-care facilities and large enterprises. The two recent acquisitions will allow the company to focus on more proactive security functions like threat detection and prevention, said senior vice president of marketing Frank Hayes.
Last May, NitroSecurity withdrew a $55 million initial public offering of stock, filed late in 2007. Levine said an IPO re-file is in “the back of our minds,” but for now the company is focused on growing. NitroSecurity saw 50 percent growth in 2008, he said, and hopes to see 100 percent growth in 2009. The company is at or slightly above the break-even point, he said.
To fuel growth, NitroSecurity plans to add sales and marketing staff, Levine said. Strategic acquisitions are also possible.
“We’re going to stay opportunistic and look at small, technology acquisitions — but strategic technology,” Levine said. “(Chronicle) is not just a point product that we’re acquiring. It’s an engine that we think we can roll out across a number of different areas in Nitro.”
Levine said Chronicle’s product, which records and plays back network activity, had limited applications outside of a narrow investigative use case the British company had trouble finding a market for. “What was interesting was this engine they used to power it ... that got to the application layer, and we felt that that engine could work in our product and really do quite a bit,” he said.
NitroSecurity employs 80 worldwide, with a staff of 20 working at the company’s Portsmouth headquarters. The company raised $10 million of venture financing last August, in a Series D round led by NewSpring Ventures, which operates offices in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Chicago-based First Analysis and Cambridge-based Brookline Venture Partners also participated in the deal.
The fourth-round financing brought NitroSecurity’s total venture investment to $35 million, Levine said Wednesday.
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