www.acquisition-international.com • February 2025 Featuring:
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Contents 4 TRUFORM Longevity Center and North Star Holistic Medicine Announce Maine Practice Merger 5 BMI Mergers & Acquisitions Advises on Falcon Electric’s Acquisition by Avnan Capital Ltd. 6 Scalable Security with Waratek 7 Agentic AI and Data Protection: Safeguarding Against New Threats 8 How RevOps Is Transforming the Approach to Sustainable Business Growth 10 The Benefits of Applying Project-Management Techniques to Everyday Business Life 7 6 10
NEWS TRUFORM Longevity Center and North Star Holistic Medicine Announce Maine Practice Merger Combined Practice will Offer Unparalleled Access to Comprehensive Integrated Functional and Advanced Regenerative Medicine to Maximize Healthspan TRUFORM Longevity Center is pleased to announce the expansion of its medical practice with the addition of Allison Gray, NP and North Star Holistic Medicine effective January 1, 2025. The combined practice will operate at TRUFORM’s clinic location in Falmouth, ME. “We have admired Allison Gray as a practitioner, and highly regarded her functional medical practice. Bringing these practices together is transformational in terms of expanding our clinical capabilities in the areas of functional medicine and women’s health,” said Andre Couture, MD - TRUFORM Longevity Medical Director. “When combined with our existing capabilities in regenerative medicine, we’re confident that patients will appreciate the unique long term value of our new integrated care programs.” added Dr. Couture. “After working in the field of functional medicine for many years, the opportunity to bring North Star Holistic Medicine together with TRUFORM Longevity Center achieves my goal to provide patients with expanded access to the entire range of functional medicine and longevity health breakthroughs that are continuously emerging,” said Allison Gray, NP - North Star Holistic Medicine Founder, and new TRUFORM Director of Functional Medicine & Women’s Health. “TRUFORM has an excellent clinical team, state of the art systems & processes, and provides an upscale & modern clinic environment. Partnering with TRUFORM will increase my focus on patient care, and I am proud to welcome my patients from all across Maine to share our incredible resources.” added Gray. TRUFORM Longevity offers personalized treatment programs for Men and Women starting with extensive diagnostics, which can include comprehensive functional medicine evaluations, genetic methylation screening, food sensitivity, and biological age testing which establish key biomarkers to inform clinical care. Treatment plans for gut health, detoxification support, autoimmune management, injury recovery, and biological age reversal include combinations of hormone replacement therapy and testosterone (HRT/TRT), peptides, exosomes/stem cells (MSC), platelet rich plasma (PRP), customformulated nutritional supplements, infusion therapies (IV), medical weight management (GLP-1) and aesthetic dermal & vein treatments. Aging affects everyone in a variety of ways and at different times. Factors influencing aging include lifestyle, nutrition, exercise, hormone levels, environmental factors, and genetics. As early as the age of 30, individuals frequently report reductions in energy levels, motivation, focus and concentration; declining strength & stamina; chronic muscular, nerve or joint pain, slowed recovery following workouts or injuries, in addition to chronic GI issues and often debilitating inflammation. TRUFORM’s functional & regenerative healthspan programs safely deliver results based on evidence-based clinical protocols, consistent patient communication & monitoring, and continuous treatment optimization throughout the patient journey.
NEWS Capital Ltd., an investment firm specializing in electronic design, engineering, manufacturing, and distribution, will provide strategic support to drive Falcon Electric’s continued growth. Falcon Electric retained BMI Mergers & Acquisitions to manage the sale process and secure a successful outcome. Founded in 1988, Falcon Electric has established itself as a trusted provider of UL-listed industrial and military COTS UPS solutions and frequency converters. The company’s engineering-focused approach and commitment to technical support have resulted in field-proven products recognized for their reliability. Avnan Capital Ltd., based in Mississauga, Canada, invests in and partners with companies focused on innovating processes to enhance customer experience and drive sustainability. Their areas of expertise include electronic manufacturing services, printed circuit board assembly, electronic controls and components, and electronic design and engineering. This acquisition aligns with Avnan Capital Ltd.’s strategy of partnering with companies that deliver high-value, innovative solutions in the electronics industry. Falcon Electric’s deep expertise in power solutions aligns with Avnan Capital Ltd.’s commitment to advancing sustainable and technology-driven innovations in the electronics industry. BMI Mergers & Acquisitions Advises on Falcon Electric’s Acquisition by Avnan Capital Ltd. BMI Mergers & Acquisitions successfully advised Falcon Electric, Inc., a California-based manufacturer of industrial and militarygrade Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems and frequency converters, on its acquisition by Avnan Capital Ltd. Avnan Capital Ltd, an investment firm specializing in electronic design, engineering, manufacturing, and distribution, will support Falcon Electric’s continued growth. Founded in 1988, Falcon Electric has built a strong reputation for reliable, UL-listed industrial and military COTS UPS solutions. Avnan Capital Ltd., headquartered in Mississauga, Canada, focuses on investing in companies that drive innovation and sustainability in the electronics industry. The acquisition aligns with Avnan Capital Ltd.’s strategy of partnering with companies that offer high-value, technologydriven solutions. BMI Mergers & Acquisitions facilitated the sale process on behalf of Falcon Electric, highlighting its expertise in guiding lower-middle market businesses through successful M&A transactions. BMI Mergers & Acquisitions, a leading advisory firm specializing in sell-side M&A for privately held businesses, is pleased to announce the successful acquisition of Falcon Electric, Inc. by Avnan Capital Ltd. Falcon Electric, based in Irwindale, California, is a manufacturer of industrial and military-grade Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems and frequency converters with a strong reputation for delivering reliable power solutions. Avnan
6 | Acquisition International, February 2025 Scalable Security with Waratek Waratek believes security should be scalable and is helping organisations achieve that with control through policy. Its Securityas-Code suite protects applications at scale for enterprises around the world. With an original focus on effecting changes in compilers to improve the efficiency of applications, the firm soon realised that it could do the same thing from a security perspective. We find out more as the company is recognized in the Global Excellence Awards 2025. Contact: Douglas Ennis, CEO Company: Waratek Web Address: Waratek.com Email: [email protected] As the leader in the next significant shift toward proactive security platforms, organisations of all sizes rely on Waratek’s solutions to prescriptively secure their business-critical applications to deliver financial services, supply chain management, and communications and entertainment platforms. Waratek is committed to building a unique application and API security company with a different approach. Rather than focusing on lagging indicators like network traffic and regex, the firm fixes vulnerabilities in the code while applications run, meaning security professionals and developers love these solutions for the low friction and ease of scalability. “We are changing the game for application security by using a fresh approach that tackles vulnerabilities like no one else can: within the code,” explains James E Lee, the Executive Vice President for Waratek. “We are deeply passionate about our work and the difference we make for our customers and community.” The firm’s journey began with a singular mission: to build the world’s best compiler. But on a fateful day back in 2014, a major financial institution challenged the company to solve SQL injection. Going back to the drawing board, the Founders discovered that they had accidentally created a groundbreaking way to fix vulnerabilities directly in the code. This pivot has positioned Waratek as a leader in runtime application self-protection (RASP). By tracing data flow through the application or API, Waratek can identify when untrusted network data interacts with vulnerable code, including open source, proprietary, and custom code. When such interaction occurs, Waratek instantly replaces the vulnerable code in memory with a remediated version. This real-time swap ensures future references to the code will use the remediated version, guaranteeing every request - not just one out of a thousand - is thoroughly protected as there’s no longer any vulnerability to exploit. That real-time security detects and eliminates threats in code at runtime without affecting performance in any way. Unlike traditional tools that rely on pattern matching or static signatures, Waratek’s lexical analysis and taint tracking to detect and remediate vulnerabilities in real time makes our solution uniquely effective against zero-days and runtime exploits like SQL injection. James elaborates: “Our technology delivers ultra-low false positives while providing nearperfect application protection that integrates seamlessly into enterprise workflows. “Organisations need solutions that are active, adaptable, and do not interfere with application functionality.” The company’s primary solution - Waratek Secure - offers the ability to block attacks against known and Zero Day vulnerabilities using rules that can be applied instantly without app downtime or source code changes. The same solution also allows teams to instantly remediate flaws by applying virtual patches, also without app downtime or source code changes. This approach allows teams to reduce time to protect apps or remediate flaws from months to minutes. Then there is Waratek Elevate that ensures legacy constraints don’t compromise security. Elevate virtually upgrades apps and APIs to meet compliance like TLS 1.2 and eliminate EOL version vulnerabilities. Elevate allows security teams to package legacy applications in a portable, infrastructure-agnostic container to take advantage of modern infrastructure innovations while meeting security and regulatory requirements, including ultralow performance overhead; enhanced performance in some apps; refreshed legacy platforms like Apache Tomcat and Weblogic; and automatic application of Java Critical Patch Updates. “Waratek secures legacy and modern applications alike, which helps us retain our customers long-term, our average install lasts over 4.5 years,” enthuses James. “Our platform is incredibly versatile, as demonstrated by our ongoing OEM agreements with multiple other platforms.” For its innovative solutions, Waratek recently gained notable recognition in the Global Excellence Awards 2025, receiving the status of Best Open-Source App Protection Solutions Provider 2025 – USA. Now, the firm has its sights firmly set on the future and is dedicated to continuing to innovate its offering to match the changing needs of the market, with a roadmap including advancements in shift-left security, which will help it secure applications from development through production.
February 2025, Acquisition International | 7 Agentic AI and Data Protection: Safeguarding Against New Threats hat Threats Does Agentic AI Pose? Just as generative AI introduced novel cyberattack types, so will agentic AI. Threat actors want to manipulate the freedom these models have to execute new kinds of data breaches. This makes autonomous cyberattacks the most threatening outcome. Prompt injection is one method threat actors can use. This is when hackers force agentic AI to submit malicious inputs that appear normal. These could encourage AI to generate malware or distribute phishing attempts faster than a human could. Data poisoning is another concern, primarily as agentic AI could work among multiple datasets. A hacker could quickly disrupt wellcurated, ethical training. The now-poisoned information trains the AI to contradict compliance, leading to harmful activity on a large scale. Case studies show poisoning 0.01% of a massive dataset would only cost $60, proving how accessible this is to criminal organizations. Smart malware, which can be a part of any attack strategy, works well with AI tools. In agentic AI, it can tactfully avoid being found as the machine learning algorithms learn. Evading discovery is its strategy, and it uses agentic AI’s biggest strength — dynamic operating behaviors. How Can Businesses Stay Safe? Staying safe against these threats will protect data governance efforts. What actions can companies take to strengthen defenses against agentic AI? Robust Encryption Data leakage is a high risk with any AI, especially with these models. Hackers can prompt them to release unprotected information with a few clicks. The need for strong encryption has never been higher because of this increased chance of exposure. It will protect against attacks like double extortion ransomware and social engineering by protecting employees’ privacy. Continuous AI Monitoring Most agentic AIs work without human intervention. This makes identifying an oncoming or current threat more challenging. They operate independently, driven by their decisions. It can be a breath of fresh air in the tech world to trust an asset and leave it unmonitored to execute tasks. However, teams must avoid this with agentic AI. Oversight is just as, if not more, crucial. Early detection, isolation and remediations only occur with monitoring tools and automation to alert teams of potential breaches. Monitoring strategies can include: • Anomaly detection • Explainable AI • Advanced authentication • Data cleaning Segmentation Other AI varieties operate within specific parameters, and their datasets are fixed. Agentic AI goes between multiple network areas and can pull from several information sources. Therefore, they travel over a greater surface area, which leaves them more vulnerable. The expanded attack surface demands segmentation, especially if deploying multiple agentic AI. Companies can isolate agentic AI to the places where it provides the greatest benefit, although this may limit its functionality. The goal is to prevent hackers from moving laterally in networks if they find a backdoor. Compliance and Governance Adherence Numerous regulations offer support on how to establish foundational protections against AI attack variants, while agentic-specific insights are forthcoming as they become mainstream. Teams should still refer to pivotal frameworks, like NIST, ISO and the GDPR, to establish defenses. Other entities, such as the Department of Defense, also have comprehensive rules on protecting unclassified information contractors handle. Additionally, business leaders should encourage analysts to regularly review AI compliance, as the self-learning nature of these tools could cause them to eventually deviate from these rules. Generative AI is accessible to anyone in a workplace. When employees use it without permission, known as shadow AI, it threatens the sanctity of managed agentic AI tools. Any staffer could unintentionally submit a malicious prompt and cause a breach. Corporations must institute strict permissions to prevent unmonitored AI usage that could compromise governance. Having Agency Over Agentic AI Attacks Cybercriminals see opportunities in AI every time experts innovate. Companies and analysts must be several steps ahead of them. Engineers, data scientists, IT professionals and other colleagues are responsible for designing well-defended workplaces for AI to navigate. Additionally, the models need measures to withstand incoming threats. In a world of never-ending technological creativity, the defenders need greater resourcefulness. Agentic artificial intelligence (AI) seems like an enterprise’s ideal. Most AI requires constant oversight and guidance, while agentic versions are autonomous and self-motivated. Theoretically, the adaptability should reduce burdens on workers. However, it may need more attention than ever as new security threats take advantage of these independent decision-makers. W
8 | Acquisition International, February 2025 How RevOps Is Transforming the Approach to Sustainable Business Growth hat Is RevOps? RevOps takes the silo removal and rapid collaboration philosophies of DevOps and applies them to revenue. It brings sales, marketing and customer service teams together and encourages ongoing communication and data-driven decision-making to create a cohesive, efficient model for continued revenue growth. The core idea behind DevOps is that teams can create high-performing software faster and with less downtime by aligning their efforts and combining unique specialties. RevOps centers on the same concept. Because customer service, sales and marketing all affect revenue, bringing them under the same umbrella should promote a stronger financial strategy. While RevOps is a relatively new philosophy, many organizations have already bought into it. Gartner predicts 75% of the highest-growth companies in the world will deploy it by the end of the year. Of course, popularity alone should not be the deciding factor for whether to invest in a given strategy. Leaders should take a closer look at how this model drives success. How RevOps Drives Efficient and Sustainable Growth One of RevOps’s key benefits is that it enables a more cohesive customer journey. When marketing, sales and service teams work together and share their insights, lead generation, nurturing conversion and post-sale communication, all follow the same goals and strategies. As a result, customers get a smoother experience, generating longerterm loyalty. Such consistency also benefits internal workflows. Increased datasharing between departments builds transparency and trust, which makes it easier to implement new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). Successful AI deployment relies on trust more than any other technology, so bringing teams together and boosting visibility leads to better AI outcomes. Removing silos and encouraging frequent communication also involves consolidating and streamlining workflows. Consequently, revenuedriving processes take less time, leading to faster innovation and lower costs to sustain growth. When multiple related but typically separate departments align, data volumes and variety increase. Marketing efforts can analyze customer service trends to anticipate needs. Sales teams can personalize offers based on marketing insights. Across all applications, professionals will have more information at their disposal, which leads to higher accuracy in decision-making. That data diversity is key to long-term growth. Effective revenue planning requires reliable insights into the future, which is only possible with a large pool of varied information. Considering data management is the most common technical challenge to AI adoption, this edge provides a critical advantage. How to Implement RevOps Effectively Businesses hoping to capitalize on RevOps should begin by outlining specific revenue goals. Start with broad targets like sales increases or customer retention improvements before breaking these into smaller objectives for each department. RevOps workflows should involve regular revaluation and progress reports on small and overall goals. Breaking down communication and data barriers is another important step. Looking for information in siloed ecosystems wastes 2.4 hours a day at many companies, so RevOps teams must consolidate everything into a single, accessible cloud database. Automation is also key. Automating repetitive processes like data entry, documentation and reporting will make it easier for separate teams to find what they need and share resources with others. Tools that bring multiple insights together, like customer relationship management platforms, are helpful for the same reason. Finally, leadership should set specific targets based on relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) before implementing RevOps. By tracking these KPIs over time, it should become clear where workflow changes have succeeded and where inefficiencies or other issues still lie. Regular review and optimization will ensure continued growth. RevOps Brings DevOps Efficiency to Financial Teams Revenue-driving practices need the same speed and collaboration as software development. RevOps is the answer to this demand. Once company leaders understand how RevOps can benefit their strategies, they can tailor their approach to integrate this philosophy. Doing so may prove critical in maintaining a competitive edge in a faster-moving, data-driven future. Development operations (DevOps) have redefined software workflows, and a similar approach could benefit financial teams. As the push for business efficiency has accelerated, many organizations have turned to this field for inspiration. Applying a software development philosophy to revenue production could yield impressive results. The revenue operations (RevOps) model is quickly gaining steam as demands for speed and accuracy rise. Learning how this strategy can benefit a company’s finances and how to deploy it could prove vital in this new market environment. W
How RevOps Is Transforming the Approach to Sustainable Business Growth
10 | Acquisition International, February 2025 any company leaders envisage a clear distinction between the methods and skills needed to run a specific project and the day-to-day management of their firm. But, as someone who has spent years helping organisations implement effective project management strategies, I think this perception is always correct. I’ve observed that the fundamental principles which drive successful projects can be invaluable if they are applied to almost every aspect of organisational life. The power of inclusive planning Successful projects usually begin with a crucial first step: establishing clear, realistic goals and expectations through comprehensive stakeholder consultation. This tends to work much better than traditional top-down planning methods, where decisions often flow from a small group of senior leaders with limited perspectives. When planning an initiative to develop an IT system, for example, a good project manager will undertake systematic consultation with everyone from HR administrators to suppliers and engineers to see how a new solution can work for them. This helps identify specific pain points in existing systems and clarifies exactly what changes different teams need to perform their jobs more effectively. Involving as many staff as possible in early planning is every bit as valuable for everyday work, such as running a product-marketing campaign or building maintenance, as it is for one-off initiatives. It’s an approach that not only helps to avoid identify and avoid potential problems, further down the line, but it also gives staff a sense of ownership of initiatives. Teams that feel their voices are heard and reflected in company plans are more likely to engage positively with changes and actively contribute to their successful implementation. This sort of comprehensive consultation works for existing procedures and systems, too. Managers should regularly check in with staff to make sure that a process helps them do their job efficiently, rather than just helping the manager. Does it allow employees to fulfil their potential and keep motivated or is it unnecessarily holding them back? Communication is critical While clear goal setting provides the foundation, effective communication serves as the essential thread that weaves projects together. A major company reorganisation, for instance, requires that department managers, HR and IT support, Senior leadership, and individual staff members all know what each other is doing at any one time. This helps prevent work overlap, maintains budget controls, allows people to continue their work with minimal disruption and keeps all stakeholders informed of progress and potential issues. All businesses will benefit from such transparent, frequent communication, whatever they are doing. It avoids silos, doubling up of work and encourages all staff by showing them exactly how they are working with others to bring company success. The power of centralised reporting Real-time reporting systems can be invaluable tools for projectmanagement. New software solutions allow all team members to access and contribute to a single source of truth about project progress. This enables teams to see exactly when colleagues will complete tasks that affect their work, when resources will become available, and how different aspects of the project are progressing. When senior leaders have real-time visibility into project progress, they can identify potential issues early and intervene before small problems escalate into major setbacks. This can save significant time and resources while maintaining project momentum. Real-time dashboards and automated alerts ensure that nothing falls through the cracks and that teams can respond quickly to changing circumstances. Such systems, such as Flowlio’s SaaS are terrific for PM, but everything they do can be extremely valuable for other company activity, too. From reporting of C-suite goals and achievements to the board to helping a marketing team develop campaigns, having a system that provides a golden thread from deliverables back to the reasons for doing a project in the first instance, ensures business and project alignment. Getting things on record A crucial aspect of good project management that often gets overlooked is the importance of quality data and information. A project’s success should be measurable not just in its outcomes, but in the detailed record of how it achieved its objectives and managed its budgets. Project information serves multiple crucial purposes: it provides accountability and traceability for all activities, enables proper recognition of individual and team successes, facilitates thorough investigation of problems and failures, and creates a valuable reference for future projects and improvements. The prospect of compiling extensive information might seem daunting for day-to-day work. But modern software systems and AI, with automated reporting tools, can significantly streamline this process and achieve the right balance between comprehensive recordkeeping and avoiding excessive administrative burden. Maintaining a clear, detailed account of what people and departments have done, what they have achieved and where they need praise or guidance is something that managers and senior leaders frequently fail to do. Clear road maps to implementation Some organisations have a bad habit of investing heavily in developing new solutions or processes, then failing to consider properly how they should be integrated into business as usual. The most satisfying projects tend to have well-defined tasks and check points that must be achieved and signed off by numerous stakeholders, before a project is allowed to go live and its solutions and developments are used routinely by staff. This structured approach should be adopted by any manager, whether it’s for the creation of a new product or a minor team reorganisation. Op-ed/interview pitch by Stephen Repton, CEO and founder of Flowio M The Benefits of Applying Project-Management Techniques to Everyday Business Life
It ensures that new systems or processes are introduced only when teams are fully prepared to adopt them. It provides confidence that changes will enhance existing operations rather than causing confusion, and that new tools or methods will genuinely improve specific tasks and roles. The Benefits of Applying Project-Management Techniques to Everyday Business Life Stephen Repton is CEO and founder of Manchester-based company Flowlio. It offers -management training for all staff and a SaaS tool for managing projects from initial idea to implementation into businessas-usual. For more information, visit www.flowlio.co.uk/
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