Distology’s “pretty frickin’ ballsy” decision to obtain investment from a larger private equity house will enable it to take bigger risks, according to its founder and CEO.
Foresight today announced it has stepped in to acquire the Stockport-based VAD from previous PE backer NorthEdge.
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, founder and CEO Hayley Roberts said Foresight’s backing would enable the £80m-revenue outfit to become “more aggressive and take bigger risks”.
VAD start-ups typically grow for five years before selling to trade, she noted.
“It’s pretty frickin’ ballsy to go and get more investment to back a journey and keep going,” she said.
“After 12 years, I should be going, ‘I just want to have some money and sit on the beach’; but I don’t, because I still think there’s stuff to do.
“Ultimately, there’s still mileage in what we can achieve before I then sell out and say goodbye.”
“True European VAD”
Further continental M&A is one of two key “post-investment projects” for Distology alongside internal and external AI integrations, Roberts revealed.
“We want to be a true European VAD,” she said, pinpointing Germany has her key hunting ground.
With Distology’s only acquisition to date being of German services firm Squareball in 2022, its next target will more likely more closely mimic its role as a market maker of emerging cyber software brands, Roberts indicated.
“Germany is the main market I want to buy a distributor in,” she said.
“If it makes sense, we could go Eastern Europe or Nordics, but the ultimate aim is to further develop us as a true European distributor.”
LSE-listed Foresight – which also backs a number of ISVs including Titania and Lepide – is particularly well positioned to help in this quest, Roberts said.
“It was great to have that backing [from NorthEdge] when we needed another financial head round the table, but actually now we want to take bigger risks and be more aggressive,” she said.
“We need a bit more of a wider, holistic view with experience in wider markets, and Foresight bring that to the table.”
“I’d feel like I’d failed”
Distology drew around £60m of its £80m fiscal 2026 revenues from the UK, with the total tally for fiscal 2027 set to hit £100m, Roberts indicated. Headcount under NorthEdge more than doubled to 53.
It has signed more than double its usual tally of vendors over the last 12 months, with Flare, Tenable (see here), Snyk, Horizon3.ai, Halcyon all coming on board, while also launching new services such as an SDR as-a-service.
“We’re competing against TD, Exclusive and Infinigate – they’re losing vendors to us. Why can’t there be another brand built in this space – how did TD Synnex and Arrow build their name? Why can’t we be a bit more ballsy?”
Although cyber VADs often sell up to trade when they reach £5m, £10m or £20m revenues, Distology ultimately isn’t ready to follow suit, Roberts said.
“I don’t think we’ve got enough to be a really exciting proposition for trade at this point,” she conceded.
“While we’ve got some good vendors, [they’d be] buying a name that would get swallowed up very quickly. If we do get bought by trade, we want to make sure there’s something really impactful that will keep going.
“If I left and sold it to trade, and the brand died – or what we did – I’d feel like I’d failed everybody.”
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
