Kiwi cyber consultancy Bastion continues Australian push through Phronesis
Quadrant-owned Kiwi cybersecurity firm Bastion has continued its push across the Tasman with its third Australian acquisition in the space of a year; Melbourne-based consultancy Phronesis.
Established in 2021 by ‘chief realist’ Elliot Dellys, Phronesis has since grown to a team of 20 cyber professionals across the country providing security assessments, strategy, testing, risk & compliance and certification services to public and private sector clients.
Bastion, meanwhile, was formed in 2023 through the roll-up of three New Zealand-based cybersecurity firms acquired by Quadrant Private Equity, having since added cyber service providers Cythera in Melbourne and Seamless Intelligence in Perth.
“Phronesis’ reputation for quality, integrity and technical excellence made them a natural partner for Bastion, and their expertise will play an important role in shaping our next phase of growth,” said CEO Eugene Gibney. “We’re thrilled to welcome a team that shares our commitment to elevating the industry, and excited about the opportunities this creates for our customers and people.”
Phronesis in turn said its customers will benefit from access to what is now an almost 200-strong team on both sides of the Tasman and Bastion’s comprehensive portfolio of services, which covers among other areas managed security operations, governance, risk & compliance, penetration testing, cloud and network security, strategy advisory, and threat intelligence.
Dellys noted Phronesis’ status as Australia’s first cyber B Corp; “Since day one, we’ve been committed to ‘cybersecurity for good’ – a mission to create tangible, real-world impacts for our clients and the world around us. Accordingly, we couldn’t be more excited to join forces with Bastion, which intimately shares our core values of trust, innovation, and social responsibility.”
Headquartered in Wellington with an office in Auckland, Bastion first expanded to Australia this time last year through Phronesis’ fellow Melbourne-based cyber provider Cythera, a specialist in managed protection, detection and rapid response, before then acquiring Seamless Intelligence in August, adding a further 25 security operations centre specialists in Perth.
Meanwhile, Quadrant will no doubt be buoyed by Accenture’s recent $1 billion purchase of CyberCX, another cyber roll-up assembled by fellow private equity firm BGH Capital just six years ago. The firm is also home to Australian digital consulting umbrella Connetico, made up of Cevo and Arinco, along with having a minority stake in environment consultancy EMM.
