technologyreseller.co.uk 33 INTERVIEW Europe, here we come Hayley Roberts, founder and CEO of Distology, talks to Technology Reseller about her plans for the cybersecurity software distributor now backed by Foresight Group reaching into Germany and already doing deals there.” Roberts is confident of hitting key milestones in the coming years, including £100 million turnover next year and potentially £200 million in five years’ time. European acquisitions Most of this growth will come from Europe, as Roberts plans to establish a commercial office in Germany, not just an engineering business, build a bigger Netherlands operation, and develop and expand operations in the Nordics and possibly even in Eastern Europe. creating a more targeted and robust technology stack. “Rather than having a random list of vendors, we’ve been more focused on the areas of cyber we want to specialise in. This helps us tell a more intelligent story about our domain expertise and enables the channel to sell more effectively.” A good fit Roberts says that Distology aims to take on no more than three new vendors a year, pointing out that the important thing is not the number of vendors but whether they are a good fit. “We’re very clear on where we want to be from a product area point of view. But there are many vendors within those buckets, so we have to be sure they do what they say they’re going to do and that they’ve got a great channel proposition, or channel attitude, so that we can really represent them well and not feel like we’re going to be left holding the baby when it comes to presenting and enabling our partners. “There are criteria over and above whether a technology is good or the commercials stack up. It’s about the success stories that come from a partnership – not just onboarding for the sake of it and having a run rate of business to come through – but what success stories can we create with that vendor. That’s the bit that attracts other vendors. That’s the bit that keeps the momentum. That’s the bit that we build a brand on.” Distology’s UK vendor list includes Auth0, Cyolo, Exabeam, Flare, Fortanix, Garland Technology, Halcyon, Horizon3. ai, Okta, OPSWAT, Remedio, runZero, snyk, Tenable, Verkada and Yubico. It currently has distribution arrangements with around two thirds of that list in Benelux and around one third in Germany. This growing European business, says Roberts, has also played a part in Distology’s higher valuation. “We have a really profitable Benelux unit, whereas it wasn’t profitable or was just barely breaking even when we first did the deal with NorthEdge, and we are Specialist cybersecurity distributor Distology is embarking on a new stage in its development after Foresight Group acquired the share of the business held by NorthEdge, which invested in the Stockport-headquartered company in February 2021. Back then, Distology had a turnover of £22 million and a headcount of 21. Today, those figures are £80 million and 53. This growth has raised the company’s valuation, giving NorthEdge ‘a great return’, but progress has been anything but plain-sailing, with founder and CEO Hayley Roberts describing the last five years as ‘a huge learning curve’. It’s only in the last few years, following a period of ‘backtracking’ and ‘post-Covid lulls’, that earnings growth has really accelerated with a 48% EBITDA CAGR over the two years to FY26. Roberts points out that the quiet years after the pandemic, experienced by many software businesses, weren’t wasted but were spent re-engineering Distology and building a strong foundation that has paid dividends since. “In the couple of years when we consolidated and were perhaps stagnant in our EBITDA, we did re-engineer a lot of functions, including sales and how we take on vendors. We added different revenue lines as well, such as SDR-as-a-service, and we bought a services business (Squareball, now Distology Studios, based in Berlin but operating throughout Europe and the UK). That engineering team added better margins and gave us expertise in Okta deployments. “The biggest driver for us was getting the vendor stack right. About 70% of our business came from one key vendor back in 2021. Now it’s a lot more evenly spread, so the risk is reduced. That’s not because Okta hasn’t necessarily grown – it’s still a key part of what we do – it’s just we now have other top tier vendors, which is much more healthy for future projections and budgeting.” Roberts estimates that Okta now generates less than 30% of Distology’s turnover. She adds that Distology has managed to expand its vendor base while also continued... Hayley Roberts
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