Cybersecurity Acquisitions in 2021

Funds advised by Apax Partners LLP (the Apax Funds) are backing the merger of Herjavec Group and Fishtech Group to create a combined cybersecurity services company. The new, PE-backed entity will combine complementary managed detection & response (MDR), co-managed SIEM, identity and professional services capabilities and will be led by Robert Herjavec as CEO with Gary Fish as Chairman; financial terms were not disclosed.

CACI International acquired Ashburn, Virginia–based ID Technologies, a mid-tier provider of enterprise IT, CSfC-compliant cybersecurity products, and managed services to U.S. federal customers. The acquisition, which closed on December 29, 2021 for $225 million, expands CACI's secure network modernization, remote-access, and cloud/IaaS capabilities for defense, intelligence, and federal civilian markets.

Promon AS, an Oslo-based provider of application shielding software, has accepted a strategic investment led by GRO with participation from Kirk Kapital; Trifork will also invest and enter a strategic partnership. The GRO consortium becomes a majority investor to accelerate global growth, expand across industry verticals, and fund product innovation for Promon's SHIELD application-protection platform.

Corbett Technology Solutions, a portfolio company of Wind Point Partners, has acquired Star Asset Security, a systems integrator and managed services provider headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The add-on deal expands CTSI's physical and cyber security integration footprint across the south and central United States and strengthens its managed security and monitoring capabilities through Star's ION247 Center of Excellence.

GoSecure, a leading Managed Detection and Response (MDR) provider, has acquired Columbus-based cybersecurity and AI firm Covail to augment the GoSecure Titan platform with Covail's AI/ML, automation and risk-optimization capabilities. The deal will expand GoSecure's capabilities in alert analysis, GRC services and establish a stronger regional presence in Central Ohio; terms were not disclosed.

Wipro Limited has signed an agreement to acquire Austin-headquartered Edgile, a cybersecurity consulting firm focused on risk and compliance, cloud security and digital identity. The acquisition will help Wipro launch "Wipro CyberTransform" to expand its strategic cybersecurity consulting capabilities; minority investor Abry Partners will fully exit its investment.

ESI Technologies' cybersecurity subsidiary Virtual Guardian acquired NaviLogic, Inc., a Saint Paul-based cybersecurity and IT integration firm, with the deal closing on December 17, 2021. The acquisition expands Virtual Guardian and ESI Technologies' cybersecurity and GRC capabilities in the United States and provides NaviLogic clients access to a broader suite of resources and services.

Godspeed Capital Management LP has made a strategic, cornerstone platform investment in Varen Technologies, a Columbia, Maryland-based provider of cybersecurity, software, and intelligence solutions for the U.S. Defense and Intelligence communities. The undisclosed investment will support technology and talent investments, business development, corporate infrastructure, and strategic acquisitions as Varen continues to be led by its existing management team.

Kroll has acquired Security Compass Advisory, a Canada-headquartered cybersecurity consulting firm, to expand its red team, penetration testing and cloud security capabilities. Key Security Compass Advisory leaders will join Kroll's cyber risk practice, and the deal strengthens Kroll's managed security and assessment offerings across North America.

Crosspoint Capital Partners has completed a strategic investment in DigiCert, joining existing owners Clearlake Capital and TA Associates. The capital and Crosspoint's cybersecurity expertise are intended to support DigiCert's next phase of growth in digital trust solutions; the company also appointed Dave Morton as CFO and added Crosspoint partners to its board.

Lightview Capital made a growth investment in CyberSheath, a Reston, Virginia–based managed security and CMMC services provider, to help the company scale its offerings for the Defense Industrial Base. The capital will fund product and service expansion, support potential acquisitions, and enable CyberSheath to reach more DoD contractors needing compliance and cybersecurity solutions.

Impero Software, a Portland-based provider of student safety, classroom management and secure remote access software, has acquired ContentKeeper, a Canberra-headquartered leader in web filtering and mobile security for schools. The add-on expands Impero's cloud-based, device-agnostic product portfolio for education and corporate clients and accelerates its SASE/zero-trust strategy; financial terms were not disclosed.

Sverica Capital Management LP made a strategic growth investment in ShadowDragon, an open-source intelligence (OSINT) threat-intelligence software provider. ShadowDragon's founder and CEO Daniel Clemens will remain in place, and Sverica partners Frank Young and Michael Dougherty will join the company's board to support accelerated product development and commercial expansion.

NetNordic Group, majority owned by Norvestor, has acquired Fiarone Oy, a Finnish Security Operations Center (SOC) provider. Fiarone has 32 employees across Turku and Espoo and estimated 2021 revenue of EUR 2.1 million; Fiarone shareholders are reinvesting and will remain involved. The acquisition strengthens NetNordic's security capabilities and accelerates its expansion in Finland and the broader Nordic market.

Immunefi has acquired smart-contract security tooling firm Klevoya to expand its DeFi security products and engineering capabilities. The deal brings Klevoya's developer-focused testing framework, blockchain execution engine and security analysis tools into Immunefi's bug-bounty and security services platform.

Exclusive Networks (Paris:EXN) has acquired Networks Unlimited, a South Africa‑based value‑added cybersecurity and infrastructure distributor, marking Exclusive’s first presence in sub‑Saharan Africa. The deal expands Exclusive Networks’ MEA footprint, providing vendor and reseller partners access across 38 African markets; Networks Unlimited’s management and B‑BBEE partner will remain involved post‑transaction.

Aqua Security has acquired Argon, a Tel Aviv–based pioneer in software supply chain security, adding Argon’s agentless CI/CD protection and code-tampering detection to Aqua’s Cloud Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP). The deal expands Aqua’s “shift-left” capabilities to protect the full software development lifecycle from code through build to runtime, reinforcing its CNAPP leadership.

CrowdStrike has completed its acquisition of SecureCircle, a SaaS-based data protection company that extends Zero Trust controls to data on, from, and to endpoints. SecureCircle founders Jeff Capone and Artem Tsai and key staff are joining CrowdStrike as the company integrates SecureCircle technology into its Falcon platform to enforce data-layer Zero Trust protection.

One Equity Partners (OEP) has made a growth investment in Armis to accelerate the cybersecurity company's platform development, global go-to-market expansion, and to support future acquisitions. OEP will join Armis' board and help lead acquisition strategy while Armis continues to be operated by its co-founders from its headquarters in California.

OpenText has acquired Maryland-based network detection and response (NDR) provider Bricata and integrated its technology into the OpenText Security & Protection Cloud. The purchase brings NDR capability and engineering talent to OpenText’s security portfolio; the purchase price and Bricata revenues were not disclosed and described as not material to OpenText’s financials.

GB Group plc (GBG) has agreed to acquire Acuant, a leading identity verification and KYC/AML provider, for a cash-free, debt-free enterprise value of $736 million. The acquisition—sold by Audax Private Equity—adds Acuant's ~200+ employees and ~1,000 customers to GBG, accelerating GBG's expansion into the US and strengthening its global identity verification and fraud-prevention product suite.

Sift, the digital trust and fraud-prevention platform, acquired Keyless, a UK-based pioneer in passwordless biometric authentication, to integrate privacy-preserving, zero-knowledge authentication into Sift’s account defense and fraud-prevention offerings. The acquisition brings Keyless’ FIDO-certified, PSD2-capable biometric technology and team into Sift to reduce account takeover (ATO) risk for regulated businesses and online merchants globally.

Buchanan & Edwards Inc. (BE) has completed its acquisition of RenXTech (formerly Renegade Technology), merging the firm with BE subsidiary R2C under the RenXTech brand. The deal expands BE’s cyber, analytics, and operational support capabilities for federal and commercial national-security customers and consolidates leadership with Daniel Smith as President of Intel Operations.

KnowBe4 has completed the acquisition of SecurityAdvisor to integrate real-time user behavior analysis and micro-learning into its security awareness and simulated phishing platform. The deal will enable a new "Human Detection and Response (HDR)" capability by correlating training and testing with real-world user behavior and feeding insights to SOCs and existing security controls.

Immersive Labs has acquired Pennsylvania-based Snap Labs to integrate hyper-realistic, multi-player cyber simulation capabilities into its platform. The deal brings Snap Labs' cloud-based, environment-specific lab and crisis-exercise technology into Immersive Labs to deepen its cyber training realism and broaden capabilities for technical and executive teams.

Lacework has acquired Soluble, an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) remediation company, to extend its data-driven cloud security platform with DevSecOps and IaC scanning/remediation capabilities. The acquisition adds static analysis and remediation for Terraform, CloudFormation and Kubernetes to Lacework’s runtime and build-time security offerings, enabling developers to detect and fix misconfigurations earlier in the CI/CD pipeline.

DomainTools has acquired Farsight Security to integrate Farsight's passive DNS intelligence into DomainTools' Iris investigation platform, enhancing real-time and predictive threat intelligence capabilities. The deal expands DomainTools' data assets and analytics to improve detection, investigation and risk scoring for enterprise and government customers.

IK Partners’ IK IX Fund has signed an agreement to acquire Truesec Group AB from Sobro, with management and employees reinvesting; financial terms were not disclosed. Truesec, founded in 2005 and headquartered in Stockholm, is a leading independent Swedish cybersecurity services provider (~180 employees) and IK will support its international expansion and continued capability development.

An investor group led by Advent International and Permira, with Crosspoint Capital, CPP Investments, GIC and ADIA, has acquired McAfee Corp. for $26.00 per share in an all-cash take-private transaction valued at over $14 billion enterprise value. The deal, which values McAfee at roughly $12 billion equity value, will position the company to focus on expanding its consumer cybersecurity offerings with private capital and operational support.

OpenText completed the acquisition of Zix Corporation, a SaaS-based email encryption, threat protection and compliance cloud provider for SMBs, for $8.50 per share in a transaction valued at approximately $860 million. The deal expands OpenText's SMB cloud portfolio, brings roughly 5,600 managed service partners, deepens its Microsoft relationship, and is expected to be accretive to adjusted EBITDA and ARR.

SecureAuth, an identity and access management provider based in Irvine, California, acquired Acceptto, a Portland-based startup specializing in AI-driven passwordless authentication and behavioral modeling. The deal bolsters SecureAuth's continuous authentication, adaptive MFA and Zero-Trust capabilities by integrating Acceptto's contextual behavior threat intelligence and passwordless solutions.

CyberRisk Alliance has acquired After Nines Inc., the operator of digital information brands ChannelE2E and MSSP Alert, expanding CRA's portfolio of cybersecurity-focused media and intelligence services. Co-founders Amy Katz and Joe Panettieri will join CyberRisk Alliance in their existing roles; transaction terms were not disclosed.

Entreda, a cybersecurity software provider and wholly owned subsidiary of Smarsh, acquired Privva, a cloud-based vendor/third-party risk assessment platform. The deal integrates Privva’s vendor risk capabilities into Entreda’s Unify platform to expand its cybersecurity compliance offerings for regulated industries such as wealth management, financial services, legal and healthcare.

AE Industrial Partners’ affiliate AE Industrial Partners Structured Solutions I, LP made a significant equity and debt investment in Fire Team Solutions, a Reston, Virginia-based provider of cloud, cyber, and software development services to the U.S. intelligence community. Financial terms were not disclosed; Fire Team’s founder and CEO Nicholas Harscher will remain in place as AEI provides operational support and industry relationships to accelerate growth and capability development.

IK Partners' Development Capital team has agreed to acquire a significant minority stake in Pr0ph3cy Group, a newly formed French cybersecurity group created from the merger of consulting firm Silicom and e-learning SaaS platform Seela. The investment will support Pr0ph3cy's organic growth (including hiring >100 people), technology development (AI-enabled SOC and SIEM capabilities) and targeted acquisitions to expand its footprint in France, Europe and Canada while founder Arthur Bataille retains control.

BlueVoyant has acquired 202 Group to combine its cloud-native third-party cyber risk management capabilities with 202 Group's data-driven supply chain risk management platform, creating BlueVoyant Supply Chain Command. The combined offering targets U.S. federal government entities, providing continuous, machine-learning-driven monitoring of strategic, cyber, operational, financial, and compliance risks across vendor ecosystems.

HelpSystems (now Fortra) acquired Digital Guardian, a provider of SaaS and managed service-enabled data loss prevention (DLP) solutions, to strengthen its data security portfolio. The deal brings Digital Guardian’s endpoint, network and cloud DLP capabilities and managed services into Fortra’s security offering to improve data classification and protection across environments.

VC3, a Nautic Partners–backed managed services provider, has acquired ThinkGard, a Birmingham-based specialist in data protection, backup/disaster recovery and cybersecurity for local governments. The deal is an add-on to VC3’s platform to expand its municipal footprint and augment its data protection and cybersecurity offerings for government and commercial clients.

TransUnion has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Sontiq, a consumer identity protection company headquartered in Nottingham, Maryland, for $638 million. The deal (from portfolio owner The Wicks Group) expands TransUnion’s consumer identity and cyber protection offerings—Sontiq generated about $85 million of revenue in 2021 with an ~40% adjusted EBITDA margin and was acquired at ~19x FY2021 adjusted EBITDA; the transaction was expected to close in Q4 2021.

Forcepoint completed its acquisition of Security Service Edge (SSE) leader Bitglass on October 22, 2021. The deal brings Bitglass's cloud-native CASB, SWG, ZTNA and DLP capabilities into Forcepoint's Data-first SASE platform to expand Forcepoint's SSE/SASE product footprint and simplify hybrid-work security for enterprise customers.

Invicti Security, a leader in web application security (Acunetix and Netsparker), has secured a $625 million growth investment led by Summit Partners, with existing investor Turn/River Capital remaining a significant shareholder. The financing will support product expansion and global growth as Summit joins the board to help accelerate the company's rapid expansion.

HelpSystems (now operating as Fortra) acquired PhishLabs, a digital risk protection and cyber threat intelligence provider. The deal brings PhishLabs' threat intelligence and mitigation capabilities into HelpSystems/Fortra's cybersecurity portfolio to strengthen email security, vulnerability management, and data protection offerings.

Keysight Technologies acquired SCALABLE Network Technologies, a Culver City–based provider of communications network simulation and modeling solutions, to augment its 5G and cybersecurity software portfolio. The deal (terms not disclosed) will integrate SCALABLE’s network digital-twin and cyber-assessment capabilities into Keysight’s offerings for commercial, government and defense customers.

Computer Design & Integration LLC (CDI) has acquired SecOps Partners, a Rochester, New York–based ServiceNow Security Operations and Integrated Risk Management (IRM) services firm. The deal expands CDI's ServiceNow security and governance, risk and compliance (GRC) capabilities and will make SecOps Partners' services immediately available to CDI customers; financial terms were not disclosed.

Herjavec Group, the global cybersecurity firm led by Robert Herjavec, has acquired SEGMENTECH, a North American cybersecurity services specialist focused on Identity and Privileged Access Management (IAM/PAM). The acquisition expands Herjavec Group's IAM and PAM capabilities and adds SEGMENTECH's CyberArk-focused implementation and DevSecOps expertise to its service offering.

Appgate, a Zero Trust cybersecurity company, completed a merger with Newtown Lane Marketing (OTC: NTWN) on October 12, 2021, enabling Appgate to become a publicly quoted company on the OTC Bulletin Board with plans to uplist to Nasdaq or NYSE. Magnetar Financial LLC invested $25 million in convertible notes (in addition to a prior $50 million), implying a $1 billion post-money valuation; BC Partners retained its ownership interest following the merger.

An affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. has acquired NetCentrics Corporation, a Herndon, Virginia-based provider of cybersecurity, enterprise IT, and telecommunications services to the U.S. government and private sector. The Cerberus investment provides NetCentrics with additional capital to strengthen financial flexibility and support capability investments and long-term growth; Kenny Cushing was named CEO in connection with the transaction.

RealDefense, a security software holding company, has acquired STOPzilla, a consumer anti-malware and privacy product founded in 2001 with over two million active customers. Corbel Capital Partners partnered on the transaction to provide financing support; terms were not disclosed.

MasterPeace Solutions, a Columbia, Maryland-based provider of government cyber and intelligence services, has acquired Reston, Virginia–based Full Suite Solutions (FSS). The acquisition expands MasterPeace’s presence in Northern Virginia, integrates FSS’s software and services for the Intelligence Community, and adds Jeanine Callahan as SVP of Technology Services to lead the integration.

F5 has completed the acquisition of Threat Stack to integrate cloud-native workload protection into its application and API security portfolio. The deal adds Threat Stack’s cloud security capabilities and technical talent to strengthen F5’s visibility and threat detection across application infrastructure and workloads.