Plurilock expands reach of behavioral biometrics with subsidiary acquisition, fundraising

Plurilock has completed the first stage of a long-term debt financing arrangement and its subsidiary Aurora Systems is acquiring assets from Atrion Communications, Inc. to reach a wider customer base with its behavioral biometrics.

New Jersey-based Atrion provides IT and cybersecurity consulting and solutions, and will begin selling Plurilock’s behavioral biometrics and machine learning technologies. With the deal, Atrion’s management team remains in place, and it will integrate Aurora’s offerings into its full life-cycle network infrastructure and security solutions.

Plurilock sees the deal as a way to expand the reach of its zero trust identity technology in the public and private sectors and expand its operations on the American East Coast.

The agreement between Aurora and Atrion is for $3.7 million, with the majority payable in cash, and the remainder in 1,285,700 shares of Plurilock at closing and again a year later, each at $0.30 Canadian (US$0.23).

Atrion reports $14 million in revenue for its fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, with a gross profit of $3.3 million and EBITDA of $533,300. The company has major enterprise customers in facility management and pharmaceuticals, and also serves well-known hospitals and medical centers. It has been in operation for over 37 years.

“The Transaction represents our third as a public company and serves as another milestone in our mission to acquire accretive cybersecurity and IT assets with great customers, capabilities, and distribution channels where we can cross sell our high-margin solutions to deliver economies of scale,” says Ian L. Paterson, CEO of Plurilock.

Aurora Systems also reports it has received purchase orders totaling just under $3 million for the month of July from various customers. Many of those orders are related to a Solution for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) program at U.S. space agency NASA. Contracts booked by Plurilock and its subsidiaries since January 1, 2022 are now up to $14.2 million.

Plurilock will continue to consider acquisition targets that will expand its distribution channels, according to the announcement of the deal with Atrion.

First tranche of private placement closed

Plurilock also closed a tranche of convertible debenture units in a non-brokered private placement for aggregate gross proceeds of C$1,245,000 (US$960,000).

The terms were described in a recent announcement from the company. The funds are expected to be used for Plurilock’s acquisition pipeline (see above) and general corporate purposes.

The second tranche is expected to close on or about August 31, 2022.

Finally, Plurilock has announced what it calls a strategic push for profitability, which includes seeking synergies from recent acquisitions.

As part of this shift, CRO Garr Stephenson is leaving the company during the third quarter to pursue other opportunities.

“We have a clear plan to unlock our operating leverage and bring the Company to breakeven,” says Paterson. “Given market conditions, capital allocation is more critical than ever. We are very well positioned to take advantage of strong performers who are embedded in different parts of the Plurilock organization and will be counting on these individuals to drive the continued growth and success of the business.”

Article Topics

acquisitions  |  behavioral biometrics  |  biometrics  |  cybersecurity  |  investment  |  Plurilock  |  stocks