$2-million asset sale leads to launch of new startup RootSecure

A new Waterloo Region tech company called RootSecure Corp. has emerged from the $2-million sale last week of the assets of RootCellar Technologies to Vancouver-based Uniserve.

RootCellar was a managed service provider that provided a variety of IT offerings, including print services, server setup, computer networking and the like.

RootSecure, now based out of the former offices of RootCellar at 1244 Victoria Street, operates in the cyber security space, doing cyber risk assessment of equipment, networks and people.

“Leaving the incubation nest provided by RootCellar couldn't have come at a better time,” said RootSecure CEO James Mignacca. “We're excited to focus on developing industry-leading solutions and ultimately grow and get recognized as yet another successful technology story in the region.”

In effect, RootCellar was used as a means to bootstrap RootSecure’s product development, explained RootSecure Vice-President of Product and Marketing Ian Hassard.

“Revenue from RootCellar Technology service provider business was funding the development of RootSecure the product,” said Hassard. “In August of last year, the [RootSecure] product reached a level of maturity that enabled us to be self-sufficient with revenue,” leading to the sale last week to Uniserve.

Hassard said RootSecure’s core business of cyber security assessment is manifested in “an intelligence tool and dashboard” product “that enables the end user to assess their own risk level and then remediate.”

RootSecure has 15 employees, more than half of whom once worked with Sandvine, the Waterloo internet traffic management company that was acquired last July by equity firm Francisco Partners. Including its incarnation as RootCellar, the company has doubled the number of its employees since last August and it’s looking to do so again by late next summer.

“We’ve got a fairly aggressive growth strategy for the next fiscal year, starting in August,” said Hassard. “We are looking to double our team by the end [of the next year], adding sales and engineering staff.”