Xypher
Building one of the UK’s best-in-class cyber security and digital investigations specialists
Sector
Business Services
Date acquired
May 2025
Deal type
Private sale
Website
Status
Unrealised
Location
Berkshire, UK
Overview
Xypher group is a UK-based cyber security and digital investigations services provider, serving both the public and private markets from three locations in Berkshire, Warwickshire and South Yorkshire. The group boasts a broad range of accreditations, including CREST-accredited penetration testing, SOC, vulnerability assessments, incident response and OVS capabilities, NCSC-assured Cyber Incident Response, Cyber Incident Exercising and Cyber Advisory, as well as CHECK accreditation for penetration testing and ISO/IEC 17025:2017 standards for digital forensics and geolocation analysis.
With a team of c.150 employees, the group delivers a variety of services including professional services (audit, compliance, training, penetration testing, red teaming), managed services (managed threat detection and incident response) and investigations capabilities (digital forensics, cell site analysis, eDiscovery) to mid-market private and public sector customers, including those in areas of critical national infrastructure and blue light services.
Limerston identified cyber security as an attractive end market in early 2024 and conducted an extensive market mapping exercise to identify the most attractive subsectors and the best performing target companies, with the first acquisition completed in May 2025.
What we're doing
The investment thesis is centred around a targeted buy-and-build approach, with the inorganic growth strategy focused on strategic acquisitions to (i) add technical capabilities and service lines to the group and (ii) access new end markets. The organic growth strategy will then supplement this with investment for key hires, marketing and business development, and research and development.
The acquisition of CyberCrowd in May 2025 was the foundation of this strategy and was rapidly followed by the acquisition of DigitalXRAID in July 2025. This bolt-on of DigitalXRAID brought substantial managed service capability to the group, as well as additional technical capability.
Following acquisition, each business is aligned to the group’s core operating model, providing customers with an expanded range of services, improved development and progression opportunities for employees, and scale benefits across the wider group.
Overview
Xypher group is a UK-based cyber security and digital investigations services provider, serving both the public and private markets from three locations in Berkshire, Warwickshire and South Yorkshire. The group boasts a broad range of accreditations, including CREST-accredited penetration testing, SOC, vulnerability assessments, incident response and OVS capabilities, NCSC-assured Cyber Incident Response, Cyber Incident Exercising and Cyber Advisory, as well as CHECK accreditation for penetration testing and ISO/IEC 17025:2017 standards for digital forensics and geolocation analysis.
With a team of c.150 employees, the group delivers a variety of services including professional services (audit, compliance, training, penetration testing, red teaming), managed services (managed threat detection and incident response) and investigations capabilities (digital forensics, cell site analysis, eDiscovery) to mid-market private and public sector customers, including those in areas of critical national infrastructure and blue light services.
Limerston identified cyber security as an attractive end market in early 2024 and conducted an extensive market mapping exercise to identify the most attractive subsectors and the best performing target companies, with the first acquisition completed in May 2025.
What we are doing
The investment thesis is centred around a targeted buy-and-build approach, with the inorganic growth strategy focused on strategic acquisitions to (i) add technical capabilities and service lines to the group and (ii) access new end markets. The organic growth strategy will then supplement this with investment for key hires, marketing and business development, and research and development.
The acquisition of CyberCrowd in May 2025 was the foundation of this strategy and was rapidly followed by the acquisition of DigitalXRAID in July 2025. This bolt-on of DigitalXRAID brought substantial managed service capability to the group, as well as additional technical capability.
Following acquisition, each business is aligned to the group’s core operating model, providing customers with an expanded range of services, improved development and progression opportunities for employees, and scale benefits across the wider group.
c.150
Employees
3
UK locations
>50%
50% recurring revenue