A Laois man has completed the sale of a business he co-founded to the owner of the Miami Dolphins in a deal worth $30 million.
Oxford Solutions, a cyber security company which is to be rebranded as Skout Secure Intelligence, has been acquired by RSE Ventures, a VC firm founded in 2012 by Stephen M Ross and Matt Higgins which typically backs sports and entertainment firms.
The cyber security firm was co-founded by Aidan Kehoe who hails from Killenard.
Aidan, who went to primary school in Killenard NS and secondary school in Portarlington CBS, is a son of Seamus and Eileen Kehoe.
Aidan is aged in his mid-30s and would have played for O’Dempsey’s before moved abroad with his New York based firm.
Oxford Solutions was established by Aidan in 2012 shortly after he sold his previous business Oxford Global to Willis Towers Watson for an undisclosed sum.
Skout has $8 trillion in assets under protection and typically manages some 20 million real-time alerts each day.
The newly-named company provides cyber security monitoring and unparalleled customer service to more than 800 clients globally.
Speaking to the Irish Times, Aidan said: “Steve Ross and Matt Higgins have an incredibly strong investment track record, and I am delighted that they have chosen to work with us.
“Being an Irish person in the US has been great for business and I am immensely proud of what our team has built so far.
“We are now moving onto the next chapter and with a partner of RSE Ventures’ calibre in place, I am excited about what we can build together.
“With our investment plans, we will scale the business at pace in the US and across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.”
While speaking to Business Wire, Aidan compared the need for cyber security to healthcare.
He said: “Cyber security is like healthcare. We all need access to it.
“With 1.5 million job openings in the industry, a shortage in expertise, and the increasing cost of technology, many small to midsize firms understand they are at risk, but don’t know how to protect themselves. That is where Skout comes in.
“A CEO’s biggest nightmare is having their company experience a security breach and not having the resources to solve the problem.
“Not only are there huge financial repercussions, but also damage to their reputation and the loss of consumer confidence in them.
“The team at Skout understands how to partner proprietary technology with the highest level of customer service to help companies protect themselves.”
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