Of over 50 deals that came across my desk this week, some of the largest ones were in the cybersecurity sector. The two that really caught my attention were Ivanti’s purchase of RiskSense, a tech company offering risk-based vulnerability management and prioritization, and Crosspoint Capital’s leading of a $56 million investment round in ReversingLabs, a technology company that protects against software supply chain attacks. Various sources offered some explanation for this turn of events.
Ivanti is an automation business that discovers, manages, secures, and services IT assets. It is backed by private equity firms Clearlake Capital, Charlesbank and TA Associates.
A survey from technology research and advisory company Technavio projected that the cybersecurity market will grow by $189.7 billion, progressing at a compound annual growth rate of close to 15 percent during 2021-2025.
“Cybersecurity has been a core focus of Clearlake since we were founded, and the number of opportunities continue to expand rapidly as the risk of ransomware attacks and other threats grow exponentially,” Behdad Eghbali, co-founder and managing partner at Clearlake, told Mergers and Acquisitions.
From a dealmaker’s perspective, the causes for this increase are clear. The protection these companies offer is vital to software providers.
“Ransomware attacks, supply chain attacks, it’s all not going away,” Thoma Bravo partner Chip Virnig told Mergers and Acquisitions at a panel about mega deals during our Rising Stars of Private Equity SPEAK event last month. “Cyber is just so exciting. If you look at the TAM of the cybersecurity market in all the segments, and we’ve been fortunate enough to invest in almost every category of cyber in the last decade, it’s such a prolific category.”
Both the projection and comments suggest is that if investors seek out opportunities where they crop up in new segments, this rapidly changing sector is rife with potential. The scope of the Ivanti and Crosspoint deals point to a rising tide for the cybersecurity.
This seems like a trend to watch out for in the coming weeks. Are you a dealmaker or business noticing the same uptick in this market? I’d love to hear your insights, email me at: [email protected]
– John Melendez
