Solista, CXO Security, Privasec, Naviro merge as security provider Sekuro

Australian cybersecurity consultancies Solista, CXO Security, Privasec and Naviro have joined forces to form a new company, Sekuro.

Sekuro will be an end-to-end security provider for enterprises and governments across Asia Pacific, with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. Its combined revenue is $68 million and has 90 staff across Australia.

All four chief executives will assume new titles within Sekuro, led by CXO Security’s Robert McAdam as CEO.

“The creation of Sekuro sets a new standard because we have co-created rather than undertaken a traditional merger or acquisition. None of the original four vendors have received a cent from this integration; rather we chose to give up our individual identities to co-create Sekuro in a quest for strong security posture, knowing it’s exactly what Australian businesses need to be resilient,” McAdam said.

“Because the skillsets of Privasec, Solista, CXO Security and Naviro are complementary, they have naturally activated a process of assess > build > monitor > evolve > resource for clients, that we can then bring within a managed environment to ensure continuous compliance.”

McAdam added the formation of Sekuro was architected in a very particular way, with each individual brand chosen for its quality, depth of skill and temperament. “This process reflects the integrated journey we deliver to our clients, which comprises one finance system, one window to the CRM and one project management platform,” he said.

“Just as Sekuro is a completely integrated company, with the four former brands becoming legacy from day one, so is the process of services we deliver for our partners – starting with the lead opportunity, through to the sale, through to the project plan, through to finance.”

Sekuro's leadership team is composed of the four companies' founders and directors with McAdam at the helm.

Privasec CEO Romain Rallu will join as chief operating officer, while Privasec CTO Karan Khosla and CISO Prashant Haldankar take the CIO and CISO roles, respectively. Solista CEO Noel Allnut will be chief sales and strategy officer, while Solista co-founders (and Naviro co-founders) Daniel Fuller and Daniel Barratt were named commercial director and talent director, respectively.

Speaking on the merger, Noel Allnut said there was a huge requirement now for cybersecurity and cloud.

“Organisations want to be able to trust the full end-to-end process, and remove cost, friction and risk from their digital transformation journey,” Allnut said.

“You need to have a level of scale, capability and resilience in your own organisation to deliver it to other businesses – and each of the legacy brands that have come together to form Sekuro have practical experience working at the coalface. These ‘battle scars’ are what create such a strong customer-first culture.”

Allnut added security has gone from something businesses have to do to something that is ingrained in everyone’s lives.

“Whether you’re on the couch or in the boardroom, threats continue in real-time, 24/7. I’m strongly committed to business enablement and helping new organisations innovate fiercely, and I know that the businesses that will grow tomorrow are those that have their security and data front of mind today.”