Smoothwall acquired by London private equity firm
A YORKSHIRE firm whose webfiltering technology helps protect children from online pornography, radicalisation and cyber-bullying has been snapped up by a London-based private equity firm.
Smoothwall Ltd, which was founded in 2001, pioneered realtime, content-aware analysis that filters web traffic to protect minors from inappropriate, illegal, or harmful websites.
Its new owner, Tenzing, has backed the existing senior management team and introduced a new chairperson, Lisa Stone, together with non-executive director Richard Hurd-Wood.
The Tenzing team and its Entrepreneurs Panel will support the company with product development and further internationalisation of the business.
Smoothwall, which is based at Leeds Valley business park, also works with local government, healthcare and businesses to protect their networks against cybersecurity threats.
The firm has both on-premise and cloud-based offerings and operates in the UK and US.
Tenzing co-founder and joint managing partner Christian Hamilton said: “Everyone at Tenzing is delighted to be able to team up with Lisa, Michael and their colleagues at Smoothwall, to invest in and accelerate the growth of this market-leading technology that has significant benefits to future generations and our wider society.
“We look forward to helping them materially invest in their sales team, develop new products and grow their business internationally, whilst enjoying the journey with the whole team at Smoothwall.”
Rob Jones led the investment in Smoothwall on behalf of Tenzing, supported by Milan Kellner. Mr Jones and Mr Hamilton will be joining Smoothwall’s board.
Tenzing said that its buyout of Smoothwall underlined its “commitment to supporting buyouts of high-growth independent market-leaders and backing high-energy, driven management teams and founders to accelerate their growth in the UK lower mid-market”.