San Francisco-based private equity firm Vector Capital has agreed to acquire a majority stake in cybersecurity vendor Watchguard Technologies, acquiring interests previously owned by Francisco Partners and other co-investors.
During Vector Capital’s and Francisco Partners’ joint ownership for more than a decade, WatchGuard transformed from a network security vendor to a cybersecurity platform provider.
It provides a unified security platform that enables more than 17,000 MSPs to protect the environments, users and networks of more than 250,000 businesses worldwide.
“This transaction is a testament to WatchGuard’s current success and the opportunity ahead,” said Prakash Panjwani, CEO of WatchGuard Technologies. “We believe Vector is well-positioned to further accelerate WatchGuard’s growth strategy while preserving our company culture and commitment to security delivery through the MSP community.”
Vector Capital said it will partner with WatchGuard’s management team to further accelerate the company’s growth.
“WatchGuard is uniquely positioned to lead the market in enabling those MSPs with its Unified Security Platform,” added Sandy Gill, MD of Vector Capital. “We are excited to further invest both organically and via acquisitions in the company’s mission to deliver security-focused MSPs one vendor, one platform and one vision to build their business upon.”
Terms of the deal, which is expected to close by the end of the third quarter this year, were not disclosed.
