archTIS Ltd banked $4.6 million in revenue for the 2021 financial year, an astonishing 743% increase year-on-year, as the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for its cybersecurity technology.
A global provider of innovative software solutions for the secure collaboration of sensitive information, archTIS also improved its bottom line, reducing its full-year loss by 25% to $2.99 million.
The company’s annual report, released on Thursday, follows a “record-breaking” June quarter in which it completed a “transformational” merger with US-based global information protection business Nucleus Cyber.
Transformational and record-breaking year
archTIS chairman Dr Miles Jakeman AM said FY21 had been a defining year focused on establishing product-market fit and associated sales opportunities.
“Our financial performances this year were substantially higher in every single reporting metric,” he said.
“This outstanding performance has us well-positioned as we enter into FY22 with a strong year-end cash balance of $12.7 million, marquee global customers on recurring contracts, industry-leading solutions that solve some of the largest security challenges facing organisations today and lastly, and most importantly, a very seasoned and experienced executive team that has done this before and is delivering significant value to shareholders.”
Remote working boom
Dr Jakeman outlined how the COVID-19 pandemic had silver linings for archTIS, despite the economic devastation it has wrought worldwide.
“It brought on new business opportunities with the massive global growth of the remote worker and a US$10 billion data-centric security market,” he said.
“Remote work has brought new challenges to collaboration and has exposed a broader need around security; particularly associated with breaches and loss of sensitive information originating from employees and contractors.
“Nation-states, corporate espionage and human error have exponentially added to the challenges global organisations are facing in securing their data.
“Despite increased spending on security, the daily papers are filled with headlines touting the latest breaches of personal data, intellectual property, classified military documents and simple mistakes such as emailing the wrong file or putting something sensitive into the wrong folder.”
He described the prevailing security model as “broken” and instead pointed towards archTIS’ innovative collaboration methodologies as more secure, easier to use and deploy and more scalable.
FY21 highlights
Dr Jakeman outlined two defining operational moments in the financial year, namely the merger with Nucleus Cyber and its $4.2 million contract with the Australian Department of Defence, the biggest in company history.
“The merger immediately expanded our global footprint with new markets across North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa,” he said.
“The business merger has created product diversity with increased cross-selling opportunities created by tapping into Nucleus Cyber’s existing product offering within the Microsoft software suite.
“The landmark contract with the Australian Department of Defence confirms our ability to digitally protect the sharing of highly sensitive information.
“The Department of Defence subsequently procured $1.4 million of NC Protect; thus, demonstrating the cross-marketability for both our offerings.”
archTIS’ rapid growth amidst the pandemic also required stronger governance and operations handling internally, and thus it made three hires and appointments in that area:
- Optimising its board to include seasoned technology executive at Xero Ltd Leanne Graham;
- Appointing co-secretaries in Erlyn Dale and Winton Willesee; and
- Hiring Kylie Sheather as our full-time CFO from TechnologyOne.
Looking ahead
Dr Jakeman said the events of FY21 had not only validated the company’s technology but also laid a foundation for an even stronger FY22.
“We are focused on driving shareholder value through continued top-line revenue growth via high margined licensed offerings, providing key investments in the continued expansion of sales distribution channels and market awareness, product innovation to support our innovative approach toward data-centric security and opportunistically seek an acquisition strategy that expands product offerings and geographical distribution,” he said.
- Daniel Paproth