Axelo, a Melbourne managed services and outsourcing group, has acquired Cynch Security, a Melbourne company that sells a cyber risk assessment and coaching platform to small businesses, large enterprises and technology partners. The deal was reported by techpartner.news on October 23, 2026.
Neither company disclosed a price or other terms, and no formal announcement had been published by the time the deal was reported. Cynch co-founder Adam Selwood has moved into a cyber advisory lead role at Axelo as part of the transition.
Axelo plans to combine Cynch with 4walls, a cybersecurity consultancy it bought in 2025, and to sell the two under one name, Axelo Protect. Group chief executive Nik Devidas told techpartner.news the brands should be rolled together within six to eight weeks.
What Cynch built
Cynch was set up in Melbourne by Adam Selwood and Susie Jones, according to techpartner.news. The company's website says its founders were working at Australia Post when they concluded that the security industry was serving small businesses, and the larger companies that depend on them, poorly. It dates the launch of Cynch to 2017, while a timeline on the same page lists 2018 as its starting point and notes that it joined the second cohort of CyRise, an Australian cybersecurity accelerator.
The core product, which Cynch calls its Cyber Fitness Platform, launched in 2019. It assesses a business's security posture and gives plain-language steps to fix gaps, backed by human coaches rather than only automated advice. Cynch says the platform holds more than 12,000 recommendations mapped to industry standards and security questionnaires.
The company sells three main offerings. A third-party risk product helps procurement and risk teams at large organisations review their suppliers, showing each vendor's status in a traffic-light view. A small business plan, listed on the website at $149 a month per business, helps smaller firms answer security questionnaires from customers and insurers and connects to Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace for automated scanning. A partner program, introduced in 2023 after pilots with defence, government and critical infrastructure organisations, lets managed service providers and consultants offer the platform under their own brand.
Cynch says it has worked with more than 2,000 organisations. Techpartner.news reported that its customers include Telstra, KPMG and the Victorian state government. The startup has a small team: its website lists Selwood as managing director and Hunter Faulkner as a governance, risk and compliance consultant. Cynch has not disclosed any outside funding rounds or its headcount.
“If you bring those two things together then you have a very holistic approach to not only cybersecurity but also cybersecurity governance.”
Why Axelo is buying
Axelo employs more than 330 people across five countries. It organises its business into three pillars: Protect for cybersecurity, Improve for DevOps and software quality engineering, and Run for back-office work and offshore business process outsourcing. Cynch is meant to expand the Protect pillar.
Devidas, who joined Axelo when it acquired his consultancy 4walls, said the decision came down to whether to build or buy. He told techpartner.news that Axelo had been adding features to the 4walls platform that Cynch already had, including a partner portal and parent and child accounts that let managed service providers see their clients' sub-accounts. He also pointed to Selwood and Faulkner, who both combine compliance consulting with software development.
He drew a line between the two businesses. 4walls has concentrated on human risk, including phishing simulations, e-learning and board reporting, while Cynch focused on technical compliance and maturity. "If you bring those two things together then you have a very holistic approach to not only cybersecurity but also cybersecurity governance," Devidas said. He added that Cynch, although small, had platforms that needed stronger commercial backing.
Why Cynch sold
Selwood said he had known the Axelo team for nearly two years and that the two companies had first discussed working together on projects before talks turned to a sale. He told techpartner.news that Cynch had not been looking for a buyer at the start of those conversations.
Cynch was preparing to expand and would have needed to build several capabilities itself, he said. "It was either go out and raise a bit more cash and come at it ourselves, try to bootstrap it or move in and work with Axelo under that umbrella and really accelerate that from day one," Selwood said.
One detail on Cynch's own website points to how far the combination has already gone: the site's copyright notice now names 4walls Advisory Pty Ltd, trading as Cynch Security, as the operator.
Consolidation ahead of a possible listing
Devidas said the single Axelo Protect brand is intended to give customers a simpler picture of what the group sells. Axelo's customers range from community groups such as the YMCA and Basketball Victoria to large companies including Australia Post and Coles, he said, and larger clients often prefer to deal with one provider for security, back-office work and software development.
Devidas has been on both sides of this kind of deal. Before 4walls, he founded Rock IT, a Melbourne managed service provider that was sold to First Focus in 2023.
He said Axelo is working toward an initial public offering, currently aimed at the early part of 2027, though he cautioned that market and world conditions could change the timing. Further acquisitions remain a priority alongside organic growth, he said.
