Solar acquires stake in cyber literacy solutions developer Secure-T

MOSCOW. April 1 (Interfax) - Solar Group has finalized a deal to buy a stake in Secure-T, an IT company that develops solutions to increase cyber literacy (Security Awareness, SA), the group said in a statement.

The size of the stake and the value of the deal were not disclosed.

According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Solar Group entity LLC Solar-PT received 28.57% in Secure-T LLC, the transaction was registered on March 28. The company's founders, Hariton Nikishkin and Sergey Shakhov, retained 44.64% and 26.79%, respectively.

Solar expects that the acquisition of a stake in Secure-T will increase Solar's competitiveness in the employee IS education niche, while the new SA solution will complement Solar MSS' portfolio of managed cybersecurity services and help it transition from the vendor-based MSS sales model to in-house development.

Secure-T was founded in 2019 by MSU graduates Sergey Shakhov and Khariton Nikishkin. Secure-T's main product is an IS awareness platform for users. Now the Secure-T Awareness Platform database contains 60 training courses. In 2023, the revenue of Secure-T LLC amounted to 54.7 million rubles, net profit - 33.8 million rubles.

Solar Group expects an increase in demand for SA solutions in 2024. One of the main reasons is the strengthening of requirements from the government to companies and government agencies to improve cyber awareness skills of employees.

At the end of 2022, Solar announced the launch of an investment program totaling 22 billion rubles, which it plans to use both to stimulate the growth of its own developments and to enter the capital of mature and early-stage companies. The purchase of a stake in Secure-T was the third M&A deal within the framework of the announced strategy after the acquisition of a stake in Elvis-Plus and 100% of the assets of NTB.

Solar Group provides IS solutions to organizations from small businesses to the largest enterprises in key industries; its clients include more than 850 of Russia's largest companies. Solar's divisions are located in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Rostov-on-Don, Tomsk, Khabarovsk and Izhevsk. The company is part of Rostelecom Group .