At a glance.
- Wiz declines Google's $23 billion takeover and will pursue an IPO.
- Vanta raises $150 million in Series C round.
Mergers and acquisitions.
CNBC reports that cloud security firm Wiz has walked away from discussions to be acquired by Google's parent company Alphabet for $23 billion. The company will continue to pursue an IPO instead. CNBC cites an anonymous source as saying "the company weighed antitrust and investor concerns as reasons for abandoning the potential deal."
London-headquartered email security company Mimecast has acquired Minneapolis-based insider risk management firm Code42. Mimecast stated, "Mimecast will continue to maintain and support the existing Code42 customer base. Code42's Incydr™ product is now available for sale to Mimecast customers and these capabilities will be integrated into the Mimecast platform over the coming months."
Reston, Virginia-based cybersecurity provider Neovera has acquired San Carlos, California-headquartered information security and compliance firm Emagined Security. Neovera stated, "Together, Neovera and Emagined Security will combine resources and knowledge to tackle the challenges of the ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape and regulatory requirements, especially within the financial, healthcare, and government markets."
Investments and exits.
San Francisco-based compliance automation platform Vanta has raised $150 million in a Series C round led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, J.P. Morgan, and existing investors Atlassian Ventures, Craft Ventures, CrowdStrike Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, Workday Ventures, and Y Combinator. The funding brings the company's valuation to $2.45 billion. Vanta says it "intends to use the funding to increase its upmarket momentum by replacing cumbersome, manual GRC solutions; deepen its global presence; and accelerate its AI product innovation."
Apple device management and security company Kandji has raised $100 million in capital from General Catalyst, "with $50 million allocated to equity financing for its Series D and $50 million for go-to-market investment." The company stated, "Kandji will use the equity financing to support investment in product innovation and engineering, enabling Kandji to bring further advancements to its integrated platform for the comprehensive management and security of enterprise Apple devices. The investment from General Catalyst’s Customer Value strategy will be used to accelerate growth and scale investments in sales and marketing."
Palo Alto, California-headquartered security remediation company Dazz has secured $50 million in a funding round led by Greylock, with participation from Cyberstarts, Insight Partners, and Index Ventures.
UK-based human risk management platform provider CultureAI has raised $10 million in a Series A round led by Mercia Ventures and Smedvig Ventures, with participation from existing investors Passion Capital and Senovo, UKTN reports.
Executive moves.
Check Point Software has announced that Nadav Zafrir will assume the role of CEO in December 2024. The company's founder and current CEO Gil Shwed will transition to Executive Chairman.
Bedrock Security has appointed its co-founder Bruno Kurtic as President and CEO. The company's other co-founders, Pranava Adduri and Ganesha Shanmuganathan, will serve as Chief Technology Officer and Chief Architect, respectively.
DirectDefense has appointed Kevin Brooks as Vice President of Finance.
Sandfly Security has appointed Rob Joyce, former head of NSA's Tailored Access Operations, to its advisory board.