At a glance.
- US Justice Department sues to block HPE's acquisition of Juniper Networks.
- Arctic Wolf completes acquisition of BlackBerry’s Cylance.
Mergers and acquisitions.
The US Justice Department has filed a lawsuit to block Hewlett Packard Enterprise's (HPE's) proposed $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks. The Justice Department stated, "HPE and Juniper are the second- and third- largest providers, respectively, of enterprise-grade WLAN solutions in the United States. The complaint, filed in the Northern District of California, alleges that the proposed transaction would eliminate fierce head-to-head competition between the companies, raise prices, reduce innovation, and diminish choice for scores of American businesses and institutions, in violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act."
HPE and Juniper said in a press release, "We will vigorously defend against the Department of Justice’s overreaching interpretation of antitrust laws and will demonstrate how this transaction will provide customers with greater innovation and choice, positively change the dynamics in the networking market by enhancing competition, and strengthen the backbone of U.S. networking infrastructure. Consistent with the conclusions reached by all other major antitrust regulators who have reviewed the deal, this transaction brings together two complementary networking offerings and will create a networking player with the scope and scale to more effectively compete with global incumbents."
Minnesota-based cybersecurity firm Arctic Wolf has completed its acquisition of BlackBerry’s Cylance endpoint security assets. Nick Schneider, president and CEO of Arctic Wolf, stated, "By integrating Cylance’s advanced AI-driven capabilities into the Aurora Platform, and combined with the expertise of one of the world’s largest commercial security operations centers (SOCs), Arctic Wolf’s Aurora Endpoint Security offerings help organizations reduce risk exposure with better prevention and threat detection, eliminate alert fatigue and false positives, and build stronger, more resilient defenses."
Maryland-based vulnerability management firm Tenable has signed an agreement to acquire Israeli exposure risk management company Vulcan Cyber for approximately $150 million. Tenable says it "plans to expand the Tenable One Exposure Management Platform with Vulcan Cyber’s robust capabilities, including enhanced visibility, extended third-party data flows, superior risk prioritization, and optimized remediation."
Arizona-headquartered Sectigo has acquired Entrust's public certificate business. Sectigo stated, "This strategic move significantly expands Sectigo’s enterprise business, doubling its footprint and reinforcing its position as a leader in delivering trusted digital security solutions."
Colorado-based identity management company JumpCloud has acquired Menlo Park, California-based identity security and access visibility platform Stack Identity. Greg Keller, JumpCloud's co-founder and CTO, stated, "Stack Identity’s world-class team and advanced data analytics technology will accelerate our ability to productize the billions of data signals our platform generates each month."
Online fraud prevention company CHEQ has acquired synthetic identity fraud detection firm Deduce. CHEQ stated, "[T]he combined offering will enable and protect the digital journey, keeping it secure, compliant, and friction-free for human, agent-enabled, and machine customers - the foundation for enterprise go-to-market effectiveness in today's increasingly AI-fueled economy."
Searchlight Cyber, a dark web threat intelligence company based in Portsmouth, England, has acquired Australian attack surface management company Assetnote. Searchlight says it "will integrate Assetnote’s industry-leading ASM solution with its dark web intelligence and monitoring capabilities, creating a holistic Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) platform that enables customers to zero in on the highest-priority threats and take action to prevent cyberattacks."
Investments and exits.
Austin, Texas-based real estate fraud prevention company Closinglock has raised $34 million in a Series B round led by Sageview Capital, with participation from Headline and RWT Horizons. The company says the funding "will allow Closinglock to evolve and expand, particularly as the fraudulent use of artificial intelligence and deepfake content proliferates."
Palo Alto, California-headquartered enterprise browser security provider Seraphic Security has secured $29 million in a Series A round led by GreatPoint Ventures (GPV), with participation from the CrowdStrike Falcon Fund and existing investors Planven, Cota Capital, Storm Ventures, Eastlink, and Secure Octane. Seraphic says the funding "will enable the organization to accelerate its product roadmap and market expansion in North America and EMEA."
Conifers.ai, an agentic AI SOC technology provider based in Israel and Texas, has secured $25 million in funding from SYN Ventures.
Israeli non-human identity security startup Token Security has raised $20 million in a Series A round led by Notable Capital, with participation from existing investor TLV Partners.
Virginia-based Hypori, a secure access provider for mobile devices, has raised $12 million in a Series B extension from UBS AG, Carahsoft, and AE Industrial Partners. The company stated, "This funding round was strategically designed to align Hypori with partners who bring industry expertise and strong customer relationships. These alliances will enable Hypori to scale deployments, deepen its foothold in industries such as defense, healthcare, financial services, and government, and expand into new sectors."
Executive moves.
ThreatModeler has named Matt Jones as CEO. The company's founder and current CEO Archie Agarwal will transition to Chief Innovation Officer, stating, "In partnering with Matt Jones to lead the company through its next phase of growth, I will have more time to focus on the cutting-edge features."
Cynet has appointed Jason Magee as CEO. Cynet's founder and former CEO Eyal Gruner will join the company's board of directors and serve as a strategic advisor for Cynet’s executive team.