Tech startup bought by Canadian IT firm

Tyler Power, co-founder of Christchurch software company Appsecute. Photo / Supplied

A small Christchurch start-up has been scooped up by a Canadian software company.

Appsecute, founded in 2012 by Christchurch's Mark Cox and Tyler Power, builds tools for a branch of cloud computing known as "platform as a service".

In a press release issued this morning Vancouver-based software firm ActiveState said they had acquired the Christchurch company, which employs four people.

The terms of the sale were not disclosed.

The Appsecute team, although now part of a larger organisation, will not need to shut up up shop and head to Canada, as their Christchurch headquarters will now become ActiveState's New Zealand office.

ActiveState, founded in 1997, makes solutions that allow companies to develop and manage software applications.

Ninety-seven per cent of Fortune 1000 used ActiveState's products and its customers include financial services firms including Credit Suisse and Bank of America, according to the company's website.

"This deal gets ActiveState some great technology. But just as important, it comes with some great people. ActiveState chief executive Bart Copeland said in a blog post today.

"When Mark Cox and Tyler Power founded Appsecute, they aimed to provide the next generation of cloud application management tools, and they've more than achieved that," he wrote.

An investor and advisor to Appsecute, Ben Kepes, said this morning:

It's news that is exciting for me on a number of levels - as an early backer of Appsecute I get to see their initial vision taken to a higher level with the addition of resource and market traction that ActiveState has. As an advocate for technology companies in New Zealand I see a local startup make good - and the local ecosystem benefit from the creation of what will become ActiveState's New Zealand operation. Most of all though I'm excited that Cox and Tyler will be able to continue developing and growing the Appsecute community under the umbrella of the broader ActiveState organisation, Kepes said.