Harmonia makes first acquisition with private equity support

Harmonia CEO Damon Griggs has led the company to its first acquisition since taking the reins in September.

Harmonia CEO Damon Griggs has led the company to its first acquisition since taking the reins in September. Harmonia Holdings Group

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This purchase of a Veterans Affairs Department cyber specialist adds 250 employees as the buyer pushes toward its goal of $1 billion in annual revenue.

Damon Griggs and the team at Harmonia Holdings Group have closed their first acquisition since making a pledge to turn the company into a more formidable player when they took control in September.

With the backing of private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners, Harmonia has acquired the cybersecurity firm Maveris in a move to grow across the Veterans Affairs Department.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but Griggs said Maveris will bring at least 250 employees to Harmonia. That increases Harmonia’s workforce to around 700 people.

“We are positioning this as a combination. We’re not even using the term acquisition or even merger,” Griggs told us. “We’re bringing our two companies together to bring out the best of both.”

Maveris' senior executives Brian Heder and Casey Woodyard will run the business as part of Harmonia. Maveris CEO Ron Cangley is retiring, but will keep a minority stake in the combined company.

Griggs said they were attracted to the company because of its cybersecurity work. Cyber is one of Harmonia’s key pillars, but the company saw it as probably the weakest before this acquisition.

The other key capabilities are digital modernization, artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

“Now all four are strong and we are confident in our cyber capabilities and the ability to cross-sell what Maveris brings to many of the legacy Harmonia customers,” Griggs said.

Maveris specializes in several cyber areas including threat hunting, threat intelligence, incident response, adversarial emulation and high-value asset assessments. Along with its VA presence, Maveris recently was one of 10 chosen for  $20 billion cyber blanket purchase agreement at the Treasury Department.

The transaction comes as Maveris was approaching graduation from its service-disabled veteran-owned small business status because of its growth. By joining forces with Harmonia, the Maveris team has more access to contract vehicles and infrastructure for competing in the full-and-open market.

"They would've needed to figure out a path if they were going to continue to run things on their own to compete in the full and open environment," Griggs said.

Griggs added that Maveris’ small business contracts are not set to expire for a few years, so there is time to transition work to full-and-open programs as recompetes come up.

The transaction also pushes Harmonia further along its path toward becoming a $1 billion-annual revenue company.

Griggs declined to talk numbers but said, “We are on our way, but we have a lot of work to do.”

In addition to continuing to look for more acquisitions, Griggs is also focused on organic growth.

“We continue to build out our business development teams,” he said. “We are looking to invest more in our growth and innovation teams to help differentiate us more with our customers and provide the solutions they are looking for.”