Cirata: Tech firm renamed after fraud scandal reveals ‘triple digit growth’ target as reduced losses posted
A tech firm which was renamed following a major fraud scandal is targeting continued “triple digit growth” of its data integration products following a major overhaul of the business.
Sheffield and California-based WANdisco was renamed as Cirata in the wake of more than $100m of “false” sales bookings being uncovered in March 2023. An independent probe found the issues to have been caused by an unnamed single senior sales employee.
Stephen Kelly, who took over as chief executive from May 2023, said the company has made recent positive progress on a number of fronts.
He released a video update after Cirata published results for the first six months of this year which showed revenue up to $4.8m (£3.6m) from $3.4m at the same point last year, with bookings also up to $3.8m compared to a previous $2.4m.
Cash overheads reduced from $11.8m to $8.5m, while the firm’s total losses fell from $9.6m to $4.6m for the most recent period.
The results also highlighted a 210 per cent year-on-year increase in bookings for its data integration products.
Mr Kelly said in a video update about the results that the company has also successfully been cutting costs.
"We have taken decisive actions to align our cost base with our growth strategy,” he said.
"By the end of the third quarter, we expect our annualised cash overheads to be in the range of $12m to $13m, down from $16m to $17m earlier in the year and over 70 per cent lower than the peak levels of two years ago.
“I know we still have much to prove but it is encouraging to see the early operating leverage with increase in revenues and a cost base of less than one-third of the peak.
"The company’s challenges have been well documented and we have been transparent during the rescue and recovery phases.”
He said the top priority for the company is improving its ‘go to market’ efforts.
"The company has failed to deliver consistent, high-performance sales and marketing execution. Since I joined pretty much the whole of the go to market team has changed.”
In a written statement accompanying the results, Mr Kelly said: “We've made progress, though I am not satisfied by our speed of execution. Going forward, we need more new customer wins - especially in North America, where sales fell short relative to our plans. We've taken decisive action by reorganising our go-to-market team with Dominic Arcari as our new Chief Revenue Officer. We're putting the sales basics in place for predictable growth.
“In the first half of FY25, bookings grew 58 per cent year-on-year and data integration sales increased by 210 per cent. There is no structural reason why we can't expect continuing triple digit growth as we look to the near-term. Marketing is building stronger pipelines, and our international business is gaining momentum. The operating leverage achieved by reducing the annualized costs by over 70 per cent is starting to show.
"The demand for Gen AI and advanced analytics is exploding and Cirata will be at the heart of it - helping the world's largest companies."