At a glance.
- Check Point acquires Avanan.
- IronNet goes public via SPAC.
- Databricks raises $1.6 billion in Series H round.
Mergers and acquisitions.
Israeli cybersecurity company Check Point has acquired New York City-headquartered email security provider Avanan. Dr. Dorit Dor, Check Point’s Chief Product Officer, stated, "By integrating Avanan into Check Point Infinity, organizations will be able to modernize legacy solutions with email security as-a-service and protect cloud email and collaboration suites from the most sophisticated attacks. We’ve been using the Avanan technology as an OEM for the last 3 years and I am confident that with this new addition, customers will enjoy the best email security with the best cyber security capabilities."
New Jersey-based cloud data backup and recovery company OwnBackup has acquired California-headquartered Salesforce security and governance provider RevCult. OwnBackup stated, "We believe that this acquisition will help enhance OwnBackup’s market-leading position and allow us to accelerate our long-term growth opportunity."
Copenhagen-based SIEM provider LogPoint will acquire Tel Aviv-headquartered threat detection company SecBI. LogPoint stated, "This acquisition will further expand LogPoint’s capabilities by adding playbook-based automation that accelerates cyber threat detection and response. SecBI’s universal SOAR and XDR platform will integrate natively with LogPoint and further deliver on the company’s mission to revolutionize the customer cyber resiliency by simplifying the difficult job of security operations through innovation."
Hewlett Packard Enterprise has completed its acquisition of cloud data management and protection provider Zerto. HPE stated, "Zerto’s cloud data management and protection software will remain available as a standalone service and will be available as a service through the HPE GreenLake platform and the Data Services Cloud Console."
Investments and exits.
McLean, Virginia-based threat sharing platform provider IronNet has gone public on the New York Stock Exchange by merging with LGL Systems Acquisition Corp. IronNet's founder and co-CEO General (Ret.) Keith Alexander said, "We are excited to complete this business combination, which will position IronNet to truly transform and scale cyber defense for more organizations around the world. As a public company, we intend to apply our increased financial resources to accelerate product innovation for our customers and expand our portfolio of offerings." The company's press release states, "The transaction results in gross proceeds of approximately $136.7 million to IronNet, which includes cash from LGL’s former trust account and proceeds from a private investment in public equity (PIPE) transaction funded concurrently with the closing of the business acquisition. IronNet will use the proceeds to generally support continued global growth. All IronNet shareholders have rolled 100% of their equity holdings into the new public company."
San Francisco-headquartered data analytics company Databricks has raised $1.6 billion in a Series H round led by Morgan Stanley's Counterpoint Global, with participation from Baillie Gifford, ClearBridge Investments, UC Investments, and existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, CPP Investments, Coatue Management, Fidelity Management & Research, Franklin Templeton, GIC, Greenoaks, Octahedron Capital, funds and accounts managed by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., Tiger Global Management, and Whale Rock Capital Management. The funding round brings the company's valuation to $38 billion. Databricks says the funding "will be used to accelerate the company’s lead in the massive and rapidly growing data lakehouse market."
San Francisco-based national security technology provider Vannevar Labs has raised $12 million in a Series A round led by Costanoa Ventures and Point72 Ventures, with participation from General Catalyst. The company's CEO Brett Granberg stated, "This new round of funding will allow us to significantly grow our team and develop new technology for some of the most critical national security missions of our time."
Executive moves.
AwareGO has appointed Dr. Ari K. Jónsson, a former NASA Ames Center Research Scientist, as its new CEO.
Votiro has named Ravi Srinivasan as its new CEO.
TrueFort has appointed Paul Ciesielski as Chief Revenue Officer. Ciesielski most recently served as Chief Revenue Officer at ReversingLabs.
Aqua Security has hired Matt Richards as Chief Marketing Officer. Richards previously served as CMO at Datto.
Anomali has appointed Kash Sharma as its country manager for Australia and New Zealand, CRN reports. Sharma previously served as the ANZ channel director at Radware.
Deloitte has added Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Chris Weggeman to its "Government and Public Services (GPS) practice to oversee mission-critical operations within the organization’s Cyber and Strategic Risk portfolio."
MorganFranklin Consulting has hired Perry Menezes as a managing director in its cybersecurity practice.
Keeper Security has hired Erin Howe as VP of Global Sales Strategy & Operations.
SolCyber has added General (Ret.) Keith Alexander to its board of directors. Alexander is the former director of the National Security Agency and founder of IronNet.
BAE Systems has added former CIA director Gina Haspel and retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Stephen W. Wilson to its board of directors, Virginia Business reports.
ZeroFox has added Sam King, CEO of Veracode, to its board of directors.