BY Brenon Daly
At Black Hat last year, we half-cleverly noted how information security (infosec) vendors should feel right at home in Mandalay Bay, since exits were hard to find in both the infosec industry and the casino itself. Now, as the annual security conference gets set to open this weekend, it’s a much different picture. The exit door has been thrown wide open, with an unprecedented level of both IPOs and M&A in the cybersecurity market.
Start with IPOs. At this point last year, only one cybersecurity provider had made it public (Okta). As the conference gets set to open this weekend, three infosec startups have already debuted on Wall Street this year (Zscaler, Carbon Black and Tenable). Collectively, this year’s trio of new listings has created $9bn of market value, more than 10 times the amount of venture backing they raised altogether.
More significantly, the long-expected wave of consolidation in the overpopulated infosec market is beginning to take shape. For instance, 451 Research’s M&A KnowledgeBase lists 18 infosec acquisitions in July, which matches the highest-ever monthly total for the sector. Last month’s acceleration continues the already-strong dealmaking activity posted earlier this year, putting 2018 on track for the most infosec transactions in any year in history. This year’s unprecedented rate of M&A activity is being driven by an ever-increasing number of buyers that have been attracted to the fast-growing market.
Subscribers to 451 Research can look for a full report on the exit environment for infosec companies on our site early next week.
