Cybersecurity Acquisitions in Minnesota

LevelBlue has acquired Fortra’s Alert Logic managed services business—covering Alert Logic’s MDR, XDR, and WAF managed services—under a broader long-term strategic partnership that makes Fortra a leading technology partner for LevelBlue. The deal expands LevelBlue’s global managed detection and response platform and provides Alert Logic customers access to a larger global footprint and broader threat telemetry; Santander and Stephens served as financial advisors to LevelBlue and Fortra/Alert Logic, respectively.

Sectigo has acquired Entrust's public certificate business, a transaction that doubles Sectigo's enterprise footprint and expands its Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM) capabilities. The company completed a migration of more than 500,000 certificates to Sectigo Certificate Manager, ensuring continuity for Entrust customers and partners while boosting Sectigo's scale and PQC readiness.

Mimecast has acquired Code42, a leader in insider threat management and data loss prevention, to expand its Human Risk Management (HRM) platform and enhance visibility into insider threats. Financial terms were not disclosed; Code42's Incydr product will be made available to Mimecast customers and integrated into its platform over the coming months.

Cyber Advisors, a Goldner Hawn portfolio company, has acquired White Oak Security, an offensive cybersecurity firm based in Plymouth, Minnesota. The deal expands Cyber Advisors’ offensive testing and adversarial simulation capabilities and brings White Oak’s experienced talent into Cyber Advisors’ security services platform.

DeepSeas, a Nautic Partners-backed cyber defense platform, has acquired RedTeam Security, a Minneapolis-based offensive security testing firm. The acquisition strengthens DeepSeas' offensive testing and assessment capabilities to better serve enterprise and mid-market clients, while expanding its talent base for security and compliance engagements.

KKR is increasing its investment in NetSPI with a $410 million growth funding round to support the company's technology innovation, talent acquisition, and global expansion while recapitalizing NetSPI's first institutional investor, Sunstone Partners. The funding comes from KKR's Technology Growth strategy and follows prior investments in NetSPI as the company scales its PTaaS, Attack Surface Management, and related offensive security offerings.

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.

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.

NetSPI, a Minneapolis-based leader in penetration testing and attack surface management, raised $90 million in growth funding led by KKR with participation from Ten Eleven Ventures (and existing investor Sunstone Partners). The capital will be used to accelerate product innovation, expand cyber security and client experience teams, and deepen U.S. and international operations.

Funds managed by Harvest Partners SCF, LP signed a definitive agreement to lead a minority investment in HelpSystems, joining existing investors TA Associates, Charlesbank Capital Partners and HGGC alongside HelpSystems employees. The growth investment will support HelpSystems' continued expansion of its cybersecurity and IT automation software offerings and further product, acquisition and geographic growth.

Private equity firms TA Associates and Charlesbank Capital Partners have signed definitive agreements to become additional investors in HelpSystems, joining existing investor HGGC as well as management and employees. The minority growth investment will provide capital to accelerate HelpSystems' organic growth and support complementary acquisitions of cybersecurity, automation and analytics solutions.

Courion, an identity governance and administration (IGA) provider, acquired Core Security, a vulnerability management and attack intelligence company, to combine identity and vulnerability intelligence into an integrated Vulnerability and Risk Management (VRM) solution. The deal brings together Courion's IGA capabilities with Core Security's analytics-driven attack intelligence to provide customers a more comprehensive view of attack surface, detection and remediation.