06 Apr Cybersecurity M&A Report, Vol. 1, No. 2: Large Tech Vendors Acquire Niche Cybersecurity Players in Q2 2017
Menlo Park, Calif. – Jun. 30, 2017
Cybersecurity merger and acquisition activity in the second quarter outpaced the first three months of the year with more than 40 deals announced or completed.
“There’s a clear trend of large tech vendors continuing their push into the lucrative cybersecurity space via niche acquisitions” says Steve Morgan, founder and Editor-In-Chief at Cybersecurity Ventures. “Microsoft bought another Israeli company — Hexadite — for $100 million, and numerous small players got snapped up by the likes of Honeywell, EY, General Dynamics, and Accenture.”
CyberArk signaled their appetite for acquisitions with a $42 million deal to takeover DevOps security software company Conjur. Gemalto closed on one of the larger deals in the quarter — with their $850 million purchase of 3M’s identity management business. Cybersecurity Ventures expects M&A activity from the larger cyber pure play firms to pickup in Q3 and Q4 of this year.
June
Jun. 29. Sonatype, a supply-chain automation company, announces it has acquired Vor Security, which maintains the OSS Index, a compilation of known Open Source software vulnerabilities. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Jun. 27. XLMedia announces acquisition of Securethoughts.com, a U.S. cyber security comparison website, for a total cash consideration of $2 million.
Jun. 27. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) announces it’s investing “millions” to acquire Inpedio, a Dutch provider of cybersecurity solutions to governments and companies, and Cytrox, a Hungarian company that provides governments with a solution for cyber intelligence as well as innovative engines for gathering intelligence from devices and cloud services.
Jun. 26. StarHub announces agreement to acquire a 51 percent stake in Accel Systems & Technologies for total consideration of $19.4 million. Accel is a cybersecurity systems integrator specializing in security solutions, consulting and managed security services. StarHub says move will give it the in-house capabilities to be an end-to-end provider of cybersecurity solutions and services.
Jun. 26. Nixu, a cybersecurity services company, purchases Bitsec, a Swedish digital forensics company. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Jun. 20. RoundTower Technologies, a solutions provider and consulting firm, acquires Mainstream Security, an advanced anomaly and cyber threat detection company. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Jun. 19. Citynet, a telecommunications company whose services include network security, monitoring and management, announces acquisition of StratusWave Communications from Gateway Telecom. Citynet says purchase will allow it to broaden its service footprint while also expanding the services available to current StratusWave customers. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Jun. 16. Cognosec, a cybersecurity solutions supplier, announces intent to acquire Intact Software Distribution, which distributes cybersecurity solutions, for €51,000 in cash and new shares in Cognosec valued at €204,000.
Jun. 15. CompassMSP, a managed service provider for comprehensive managed IT, private and public cloud, and cybersecurity services, purchases Cubed Group, a provider of managed information technology, hardware and networking solutions. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Jun. 14. Thoma Brava, a private equity firm, announces it has acquired from Summit Partners the IT management platform company Continuum. With the platform, Managed Service Providers can remotely administer, backup and secure their clients’ IT environments from a single screen. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Jun. 13. Prevalent acquires Datum Security, a developer of third-party risk management and cyber threat assessment services. Prevalent says acquisition will help small and medium-sized businesses with third party risk validation. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Jun. 12. Honeywell signs definitive agreement to purchase Nextnine, a privately held provider of security management solutions and technologies for industrial cybersecurity. The acquisition is expected to complement Honeywell’s cybersecurity portfolio used at more than 6,200 sites globally across the oil and gas, utility, chemical, mining and manufacturing sectors. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Jun. 9. EQT Mid Market Europe acquires a majority stake in Open Systems AG, one of the largest pure-play managed security services providers in Europe. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Jun. 7. Fingerprint Cards completes purchase of Delta ID, an iris recognition company, for $113.1 million. FPC says acquisition will help it expand beyond mobile market where it has a strong position.
Jun. 5. EY, a professional services firm, announces deal to acquire Open Windows, an Australian identity and access management company. EY says purchase will strengthen its cybersecurity service capabilities in the Asia Pacific region. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Jun. 5. Telestra, an Australian telecommunications and media company, announces acquisition of Company 85, a London business that provides data center, workspace, cloud, security and network services. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Jun. 1. Claranet, a managed IT services provider, acquires Sec-1, a vulnerability, penetration testing and IT security services company. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Jun. 1. Affiliate of Pulse Secure, a provider of secure access solutions, agrees to acquire assets associated with Virtual Application Delivery Controller product family from Brocade Communications Systems. The transaction includes a leased research and development facility in Cambridge, UK and associated customer support and maintenance contracts. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
May
May 31. Nixu, a Finnish cybersecurity company, acquires Dutch digital identity management provider Expert Solution Support Center for €2.06 million. Nixu says acquisition will contribute to its strategic goal to become a holistic cybersecurity partner for its clients headquartered in Northern Europe.
May 31. Security On-Demand, a provider of advanced threat detection and analytics services, acquires Infobright Approximate Query technology from Infobright. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
May 31. Gemalto, a digital security company, completes purchase of 3M’s identity management business for $850 million. The units, including Cogent biometric technologies, will be integrated into a new entity to be known as Gemalto-Cogent.
May 26. Vector Capital, a global equity company, acquires Sandvine, a network policy control solutions provider, for $375 million.
May 26. StarHub, a telecommunications company, acquires 51 percent of AccelSystems & Technologies, a cybersecurity consulting and solutions provider, for $14.04 million.
May 25. ControlScan, a PCI compliance and security company, and EchoSat, a provider of payments security, managed firewall and managed network solutions, announce they’re merging.
May 24. Microsoft agrees to acquire Hexadite for $100 million. Hexadite, located in Boston and with its research and development center in Israel, provides technology to automate responses to cyber attacks.
May 24. Insight Venture Partners, a private equity firm, acquires Resolve Systems, which develops incident response and automation solutions for IT departments, security, network, and service desk operations teams. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
May 22. RigNet, a customized systems and solutions provider, announces acquisition of Cyphre Security Solutions. Cyphre offers hardware-based file encryption detection for data at rest and in transit for both public and private clouds. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
May 22. Morson International acquires ESP Group. ESP will be renamed Morson Cyber Security, which will specialize in cyber security managed services for the private and public sector. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
May 22. – Advanced Discovery, a global eDiscovery and litigation support provider, acquires Altep, a leader in eDiscovery, compliance and cybersecurity company.
May 18. Distil Networks, a bot detection and mitigation company, acquires Are You Human, which uses real time data to determine if a website visitor is a human or not. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
May 16. Communicate Technology, which installs and maintains IT, telecom services and cloud based services to business parks in the UK, acquires Landscape Networks, a provider of information security, secure LAN/WAN Infrastructure and data protection products and services. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
May 11. F-Secure acquires Digital Assurance, a provider of information security assessment services. Digital Assurance specializes in security testing services that assess the security of devices, systems and applications, as well as entire organizations and broad infrastructure. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
May 11. CyberArk Software acquires Conjur, a maker of DevOps security software, for $42 million in cash. CyberArk says the acquisition allows it to reach deeper into the DevOps lifecycle to protect secrets and manage machine identities.
May 11. Opaq Networks acquires Drawbridge Networks, a provider of micro segmentation solutions. Opaq says the acquisition will allow its customers to better identify, monitor, and defend against cyberattacks.
May 4. General Dynamics buys Advanced Pacific’s electronics and communications division to grow its cybersecurity and service offerings for its clients in the defense and intelligence industries. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
May 3. Mission Solutions Group, a family of companies providing mission critical support in communications and cybersecurity, acquires Morgan 6, an Agile software developer. MSG says acquisition is part of company’s plans to build out its cyber vertical over the coming months. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
May 2. Private equity firms BC Partners and Medina Capital announce closing acquisitions of CenturyLink’s portfolio of data centers and co-location business, as well as Medina Capital’s security and data analytics portfolio. The transactions are valued at $2.8 billion. The combined assets will form a new business, Cyxtera Technologies, which begins operations immediately.
May 2. Geek, an Australian managed service provider, acquires Valiant IT. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
May 2. HIG Capital agrees to acquire majority stake in Conet Technologies. HIG says it will help strengthen Conet’s capabilities in cybersecurity, cloud computing and big data. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
May 1. PSA Security Network, an electronic security cooperative, acquires USAV, a team of professional audio-visual integrators, and its affiliate CI Edge, a buying group that supports middle market commercial technology integrators. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
April
Apr. 28. Thales agrees to acquire Guavus, a developer of machine intelligent big data analytics platforms, in a cash transaction valued at up to $215 million. Thales designs and deploys security equipment, systems and services.
Apr. 19. European Union approves $2.7 billion acquisition of Morpho, the biometrics and security arm of the French aerospace company Safran, by the U.S. private equity firm Advent International. The deal is contingent upon Morpho selling off its payment card business.
Apr. 18. ECS Federal, a provider of systems, software and expertise to the National Defense, cyber, cloud services and intelligence markets, acquires InfoReliance, a provider of cybersecurity, cloud computing, software engineering solutions and managed services. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Apr. 7. SecureData, a provider of support and managed security services, acquires Cygnia Technologies, a cybersecurity solutions provider. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Apr. 6. F-Secure acquires Little Flocker, a MacOS behavioral analysis program. The software blocks malware, including ransomware, by monitoring apps that attempt to access confidential files and system resources. F-Secure says it is folding Little Flocker into its Xfence product. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Apr. 4. WISeKey International Holding, a Swiss cybersecurity and IoT company, completes acquisition of Quovadis Holdings, a next-generation public key infrastructure company. Consideration to equity holders of Quovadis includes $13 million in cash, plus 1.11 million in newly issued Class B Shares of WISeKey, which is also paying off $2 million of QuoVadis debt.
Apr. 3. Accenture completes acquisition of Arismore, a privately held company in France that specializes in providing security services, including identity and access management. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Apr. 3. Chess, a telecommunications and ICTprovider, acquires Foursys, a cybersecurity consultancy. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Apr. 3. Accenture announces completion of acquisition of iDefense Security Intelligence Services business from VeriSign. Accenture says acquisition will allow it to provide better threat intelligence to its clients. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
John P. Mello, Jr. is a freelance writer specializing in business and technology subjects, including consumer electronics, business computing and cyber security.
