Cyber Security Solutions Integrator METAMINDS Looking Into Tapping Financial Support For Its Regional Expansion Plans
We could do this by means of an IPO, a Merger or an Investment Fund, says CEO Andrei Cruceru
Written by: Alexandra Cepăreanu and published on 16th March 2022 in both the subcribers’ online edition and print edition of Ziarul Financiar. Full Romanian version available at this link: https://www.metaminds.com/andrei-cruceru-_-ziarul-financiar_16-03-2022/
“We were faced with delivery delays up to 200 days from some of our providers, which was unimaginable prior to the pandemic.”
METAMINDS, a Romanian provider of complex IT architectures and cyber security solutions based in Bucharest, is planning to tap into additional financing in 2022, to support its regional expansion plan. “Some of the ways to do this would be via an IPO, a potential merger or with an investment fund.”, says Andrei Cruceru for ZF.
To this effect, the company – formerly known as Nova Tech Integrated Solutions – is relying on its team of experts, that it is planning to increase to 50 members by the end of the year. Some of the new hires could very well be Ukrainian specialists.
We are currently advertising various job openings for technical and support roles, to support our future projects.
“Most of our customers speak Romanian, so anyone wishing to join us would have to be comfortable with the language. But for our English-speaking customers, anyone meeting the professional standards we require cand definitely become a member of our team regardless of nationality. ”, added METAMINDS’ CEO
When asked about the workforce crisis all Romanian companies are facing, Andrei Cruceru noted several underlying root causes, starting with the incipient factors: a very high rate in school drop-out, low levels of literacy; then, a public education system of out sync with the actual current needs and future trends on the labor market and, finally, the brain drain phenomenon Romania has been passively witnessing for over 10 years.
“We are proactively supporting education and we are urging all private players to support any such initiative; I believe this can make up, to some degree, for the current gap between workforce demand and offer. This applies especially to the niche segment of IT solutions integrators, where there’s a requirement for a very high and specific level of expertise.
The local government crisis and the global industry crisis had a direct impact on the company’s financial statement for 2021. The former reflected negatively on all public contracts that were delayed as a result, whereas the latter were triggered by the supply chain crisis and the steep increase in prices from the global providers.
“As a result, not only did we face a sharp increase in costs, but we also had to account for all penalties ensued from delays in delivery up to 200 days from some of our providers. What was an unimaginable scenario prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, has unfortunately almost become the rule.”
According to the official information, METAMINDS ended 2020 with an approximately RON 156M in turnover, up +23% compared to 2019. But the various market disruptions of 2021 lead to a decrease in turnover for the year, according to Andrei Cruceru.
“The current highly volatile context leaves little room for predictions, unfortunately. Still, with the first months of 2022 above expectations, we aim to at least regain at least the level reached 2020 in turnover”, concluded METAMINDS CEO, Andrei Cruceru.