The Logiq story
Rarely are companies built overnight. In the case of Logiq, a NCSC assured cyber security specialist, the firm’s founding was the process of multiple projects and discussions between four industry experts over the course of almost a decade.
“As far back as 2008, the other Founders and I were working together on a large scale security project across Government,” Forder says.
Shortly afterwards, the pair found themselves sat across the table from Logiq’s now Chief Technology Officer (CTO), James Walker, during an interview, with James and Rob having met two years prior on a project for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in Paris. Following that, James Morgan – Logiq’s fourth founder and currently CEO – entered the picture after meeting Forder on a client site.
“We were, and still are, four like-minded people. We had all experienced what it was like working in small specialist cybersecurity cells for major global organisations, and had all found that it rarely worked well, with many structural, operational and cultural challenges and hindrances.
“We shared the view that a cyber security provider could be built which did things better, and if we were ever going to try to make that happen, this was the group of people we’d want to do it with. In 2018, after a final chat between the four of us in a quiet pub corner, we decided to go for it!”
Encountering growing pains
The company quickly grew, establishing itself at the forefront of a booming public sector cybersecurity market. By 2021, Logiq was outpacing the sector’s impressive 20% CAGR, recording annual revenue growth of 60% as it secured contracts from major government departments such as the MoD. However, the high growth provided its own set of challenges.
“We found ourselves in a situation where we had grown headcount significantly,” Forder says. “Between the four of us, we had been maintaining oversight of everything, but that became more and more difficult as we grew.
“We were just about holding on, but it wasn’t sustainable as we hit 80 employees, 100 employees.”
With the ultimate ambition of challenging the major industry service integrators, the founders knew that they would need to continue to grow the Logiq headcount to upwards of 300 employees, yet couldn’t see a path that would allow them to do so while sustaining the firm’s service excellence, reputation and reliability.
“This was the rationale for seeking a partner for growth. We wanted to find someone that could help us build the sustainable foundations and organisational processes that the company needed.”
Naturally, there were apprehensions about taking this step.
“Would our brand be diluted? Or the culture we’d worked hard to build be compromised?” Forder says that it was critical to find a partner that shared Logiq’s values and truly understood its vision. Indeed, the founders sought a firm that could provide a credible plan of support for the coming years, who was also knowledgeable about public sector defence.
“We immediately felt Phoenix met this criterion – not only does Phoenix have a great reputation, but when the four of us met with them we really got the impression that they were interested in us as individuals.
“We always wanted our business to be people-focused; to be a place that we would want to work ourselves. And it felt like they really understood that. They understood what Logiq is, why it was successful, how it was viewed in the marketplace.”
Breaking the glass ceiling
Since June 2023, Phoenix has continued to support Logiq’s ongoing growth journey, helping the firm establish key processes and structural improvements.
That support has involved bringing in the right set of complementary expertise, helping Logiq to appoint a Chair that fitted with the firm’s vision, culture and ethos, and supporting the company with Phoenix’s roving CFO to advance its financial baseline. Phoenix also encouraged Loqiq to bring more structure to the sales team, providing support with metrics and pipeline tracking as well as suggesting investment in high-quality people across the security and managed service business lines.
“This has really helped in maturing our understanding of data utilisation, customer demand and financial metrics,” he adds. “When our own CFO did arrive – which Phoenix also helped to find, and they’ve been brilliant – we had a fantastic set of data that was ready to be used.”
In addition, Phoenix has facilitated connections between Logiq and its broader network of portfolio companies which are proving particularly valuable as Logiq seeks to broaden its service offering.
“We’ve developed a subscription managed service offering, which is growing quickly, yet relatively new to us. Phoenix have put us in touch with other industry players, we’re able to share our pain points and pick their brains, so we can learn from one another. And that has been truly valuable.”
In taking these logical steps forward, Logiq has been able to successfully break through the glass ceiling it faced pre-investment, continually expanding as an agile innovative player that is renowned for delivering best-in-class work. And looking ahead, the firm remains ambitious for the future.
“As we grow, it’s important to remember why we started.
We set out to create an environment where talented cybersecurity professionals could excel and support vital national security missions. For our clients, above all else, it’s about delivering outstanding outputs.
We are all perfectionists and want to be brilliant in everything we do. That means exceeding the expectations of our customers, but it also now means becoming the best company that Phoenix has ever invested in.
We’re incredibly pleased to have them as partners, and there’s no doubt that we’ll continue working towards making that a reality.”
