Specialism: Cybersecurity
Key vendors: Gytpol, eSentire, Swimlane, Zimperium, Conceal, Adaptive Shield, Ordr, Gatewatcher
Revenue: £2m (runrate)
Headcount: 3
Founded in June 2022 by industry stalwart Toby Caton, this new-born cybersecurity ‘incubator’ claims it closed £1m of business in the first six months of 2023. Counting Gytpol as its lead vendor, Kompingo carries products designed to fit around the cybersecurity messaging of Microsoft and other suite vendors.
“The industry seems to be focused on EDR solutions when 80% of the attacks are happening elsewhere”
Quickfire Q&A with Compingo Director Toby Caton (pictured above)
What’s an obscure fact about Kompingo, or you personally, most people won’t know?
My half brother (same mum) is a well-known actor Ed Speleers. He was recently in “YOU” playing the part of Rhys Montrose (quite a big part). He was also in the last series of Star Trek and goes way back to series such as Downton Abbey.
My work colleague Van Phillips is an ex European Tour Golf pro and won the Portuguese and Malaysian Opens back in the day. He now appears on the Seniors Tour.
Just how tough is it in the market right now?
The market is very tough. We are finding there is a lot of interest in the new technologies that we are bringing to market but the reality is that the end users only have a certain amount of budget to spend and that is being squeezed all the time. If the product you are selling doesn’t fix an immediate problem it can be a tough process and take some time to close.
What bright spots are you seeing?
The technology that we have onboarded proves there are gaps in the security stack. The industry seems to be focused on EDR solutions when 80% of the attacks are happening elsewhere. The industry is also fed up of the noise created by the current stack and with the current skills shortage find it difficult to fix highlighted issues. This is why the technologies that we work with either fix or stop issues. We are looking to reduce security teams’ workloads not increase it.
What’s been your high point of the last 12 months?
Closing over a £1m worth of business in the first six months of 2023.
Name one thing Kompingo does better than anyone else…
Golf!! We offer lessons with a European Tour pro whilst pitching new leading technology!!
What’s been the biggest development or news story in UK IT distribution so far in 2023?
These really happened in [before 2023] but the purchases of Spinnakar by Climb Distribution and the sale of Ignition to Exclusive…….. this shows me that there’s a market out there for what we’re doing.
Which technology area or vendor are you betting big on for H2 2023?
Gytpol and security mis-configurations
The analysts see distribution becoming increasingly characterised by cloud and marketplaces. Is that reflected in the evolution of your own business?
We see ourselves as an IT security incubator for the most part. If the resellers or end users don’t know about your product they’re not going to buy it wherever it is so we help to facilitate that awareness of brand.
Can you give us a prediction on how the distribution sector will evolve over the next 12 months?
I think the big boys will continue to buy the up and coming distributors to gain market share but there will be more and more start up incubators or VADs as there are so many vendors trying to break the UK/Europe.
