ExtraHop is the latest channel security vendor to be acquired by private equity, with the network detection and response firm going to Bain Capital Private Equity and Crosspoint Capital Partners for $900m.
Last week, IT Europa reported that the FireEye products business was being acquired for $1.2bn by the private equity firm that had recently moved to acquire the enterprise business of McAfee for $4bn, and which last year had also bought RSA.
According to analyst house IDC, ExtraHop is among the top three players in network detection and response (NDR). It is also active in network forensics and IoT security. ExtraHop's Reveal(x) 360 platform, powered by cloud-scale AI, covertly decrypts and analyses cloud and network traffic in real time to eliminate blind spots and detect threats.
The deal is expected to close in the summer of 2021. ExtraHop CEO Arif Kareem and co-founders Jesse Rothstein (chief technology officer) and Raja Mukerji (chief customer officer) will continue in their respective roles. Rothstein and Mukerji will also remain “significant investors” in the company.
Kareem said: “By combining our exceptional team, market need and technology with the deep domain expertise and resources of Bain Capital and Crosspoint Capital, ExtraHop has the opportunity to grow faster and accelerate its innovation, to help customers defend their operations from even the most advanced threats.”
ExtraHop is the first dedicated investment made from Bain Capital Fund XIII, the firm’s latest flagship $11.8bn private equity fund.
Max de Groen, a managing director at Bain Capital Private Equity, said: “ExtraHop is uniquely positioned to help enterprises defend against the most advanced cyber threats and address the security challenges of multi-cloud environments, enterprise IoT and hybrid workforces.”
Last December, ExtraHop chose Exclusive Networks as its distributor across five European countries. The agreement covered Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands and included the vendor's entire portfolio of products and services.
ExtraHop appointed Kite Distribution to support its distribution operation in the UK in July 2018.
This April, ExtraHop appointed Sandra Hilt as its senior director of EMEA channel sales. Based in Germany, Hilt leads the EMEA channel team while directly engaging with solution and managed service providers in the DACH, META and Eastern European regions to help build the ExtraHop Panorama Partner Program.
