The trade-only distributor of technology products works with a range of resellers across Ireland and the UK
Avitor - Founded by: Jared Huet and Eamonn Keller in 2017
Staff: 25
Turnover: €15 million
Avitor, a Dublin-based tech solutions business, aims to grow its turnover by a third to €20 million next year as it expands its operation in the UK.
The business, which provides a range of office screen systems and artificial intelligence solutions, was founded by Jared Huet and Eamonn Keller in 2017. The business has 25 staff and a turnover of €15 million.
“We’re a trade-only distributor of technology. We specialise in Microsoft Teams room systems, digital signage and large displays. The idea came from my prior experience in the audio-visual sector, where I had worked for 10 years,” Huet told the Business Post.
“I decided to go out on my own. I’ve had two companies that didn’t do as well as Avitor. One crashed into the ground and the other one did okay, but I realised that pivoting to trade-only was the way to go.”
It was at this stage that Huet partnered with Keller to set up Avitor. The duo knew each other from past roles and Keller had some experience in the more wholesale-like format of trade only. Rather than business-to-business tech, Avitor is business-to-business-to-business. The company works with a range of resellers across Ireland and the UK to distribute products.
“We’ve a network of managed IT companies and audio visual partners that we sell to. Eamonn had previous experience in that and realised that by selling to the people who sell to other people, we’d be selling to far fewer people but get all the customers anyway,” Huet said.
The business has grown rapidly. Within a year, and entirely self-funded, it had revenue of over €1 million and 10 staff.
“It was a nearly instantaneous success. It was all just by winning customers. We had a really good network and good manufacturers working with us. What made us unique was that we had installation crews working with us as well,” Huet said.
“We didn’t do installation initially, but that changed quickly. One of our customers told us the products were great but [that they] hadn’t enough staff to install. That gave us the idea to include installation as part of the service offering.”
The business is targeting turnover of €40 million within the next five years. Huet said this growth will mostly come from Avitor’s UK expansion, which began in 2021.
“We’ve already seen huge growth there. The UK market is accelerating and growing faster than Ireland has been. We currently have five staff there and we’re going to grow that team out substantially over the next few years,” Huet said.
“We’re also exploring opportunities with new products. We have companies coming to us looking for us to represent them in products around AI and automation. This time next year, we should have 40 people working in Avitor as we continue to expand our offering.”
Source :
EMMET RYAN Nov 12, 2023 . Sunday Business Post
Image : Fergal Philips