TRG Screen Buys Axon to Weld Policy, Compliance Skillsets

New York-based data inventory management and usage monitoring platform vendor TRG Screen has acquired Belfast, Northern Ireland-based Axon Financial Systems, a provider of exchange data usage policy information, for an undisclosed sum.

TRG will take on Axon’s 14 staff, including its three founders—CEO Chris Hutton, COO Steve Cowler, and CIO Aaron Garforth.

The move capitalizes on TRG’s new ownership: Last November, private equity firm Pamlico Capital acquired a majority stake in the vendor, providing a cash injection to fund further product development and acquisitions. With new investment, TRG created a list of potential acquisitions as part of its strategy, and that “Axon was right at the top of that list,” says TRG CEO Steve Matthews.

“When I first joined TRG [in 2014], I wanted to get a clear idea of the landscape and potential competitors or partners… We found ourselves in situations where clients were starting to use the Axon systems, and so there were obvious synergies and opportunities to cross-sell. PEAR [Axon’s Policies, Explanations And Reporting database] and its managed services were a natural fit,” he adds. “We had looked at that space, and we knew it was a pain point for clients…that could be automated. And we always wanted that expertise in our portfolio.”

The companies had known each other for several years, but began formal acquisition talks in February, and closed the deal on June 4. “Because we had built a good relationship over the past few years… we were able to get this done in a very clean deal, and were able to work very efficiently together,” Matthews says.

“It was always our intent to get acquired somewhere down the line,” Hutton says. “We met Steve and the TRG team shortly after starting Axon, and we kept in touch. We always felt we had synergistic products, rather than overlapping ones. And when we started talking to clients and developing our product set, we could see there were bigger opportunities to be had—but the lack of our own inventory system limited what we could do. So we kept in touch with Steve.”

Specifically, clients made clear that they wanted to deal with a single company for everything relating to data usage, cost management, and compliance, and that they at least wanted Axon’s platform to integrate with inventory management systems, Hutton says, adding that some even suggested directly that Axon should merge with TRG.

The initial focus will be integrating the products and teams into TRG—for example, using APIs to integrate Axon’s PEAR into TRG’s FITS (Financial Information Tracking System) inventory platform and the InfoMatch system acquired via TRG’s purchase of Screen Consultants, which led to the TRG Screen moniker.

“This is something our clients have asked for: they want to use the data from PEAR programmatically, not just via a user interface,” Hutton says.

Then over the coming months, the vendors will ensure core functions such as finance, administration, and the sales teams are “properly integrated” and understand the full range of products now available to clients, with Hutton retaining overall responsibility for the Axon business lines. “The last thing I want is to lose the culture, creativity, and entrepreneurial mindset they have,” Matthews says.