Here are some of the most prominent venture capital and merger and acquisition news items from the past month. If you’d like SDxCentral to report on your company’s VC or M&A activity in our monthly Money Moves section, or if you have any tips on that activity, please send the information to Sydney Sawaya ([email protected]).
McAfee Sells Enterprise Security Biz for $4BMcAfee said it will sell its enterprise security business to Symphony Technology Group (STG) in an all-cash deal for $4 billion.
About a year ago, STG bought security vendor RSA from Dell Technologies for a little over $2 billion.
The sale came less than six months after McAfee went public on the Nasdaq. And in a surprise move, and after spending the last several years transitioning from a consumer antivirus business to an enterprise security powerhouse, McAfee now plans to pivot to a pure-play consumer cybersecurity company.
The move mirrors similar transactions by McAfee competitors Synamtec and Sophos. In August 2019, Broadcom paid $10.7 billion to acquire Symantec’s enterprise security business and its name. Just five months later, Broadcom sold a piece of it — Symantec’s Cyber Security Services unit — to Accenture for an undisclosed amount. And in October 2019, private equity firm Thoma Bravo bought Sophos for $3.9 billion.
VMware Buys Mesh7, Joins Cloud-Native App Security Feeding FrenzyVMware acquired API security startup Mesh7. The deal bolsters VMware’s growing security portfolio and also reflects the increasing importance of securing microservices and cloud-native applications. VMware and Mesh7 did not disclose the transaction details.
Mesh7 provides cloud-native application security and observability software that detects and mitigates threats. It collects and correlates contextual data from APIs, host processes, user identities, public cloud data-event logs, and threat intelligence, and then continually monitors applications for any API vulnerabilities and behavioral changes that could indicate a breach.
This combination of VMware and Mesh7 will appeal to developers and security teams, Tom Gillis, SVP and GM of VMware’s Networking and Security Business Unit, noted in a blog about the Mesh7 acquisition. It will give both teams “a better understanding of when, where and how applications and microservices are communicating via APIs, even across multi-cloud environments, enabling better DevSecOps,” he wrote.
Orca Security Banks $210M to Battle Palo Alto NetworksOrca Security closed a $210 million Series C funding on a $1.2 billion valuation that pushed the cloud security startup from seed to cybersecurity unicorn in two years. The company has spent the last two years building and selling a comprehensive cloud security platform “that actually works,” and it plans to use the new investment to scale the company and win customers from Palo Alto Networks.
Alphabet’s independent growth fund, CapitalG, and Redpoint Ventures led the round and brings Orca Security’s total raised to almost $300 million. It also follows a successful 2020 during which the startup saw more than 1,000% year-over-year growth. CEO Avi Shua has boasted about Orca’s “dozens” of companies that talk publicly about using Orca’s platform, which is unusual for a 2-year-old security startup, and many of these used to be “Palo Alto logos that moved on to become Orca logos,” he said.
Movers and ShakersWiz, a cloud-security startup founded by the team that built Microsoft Azure’s cloud security stack, closed a $130 million funding round. The Series B round, announced a little over a year since the company’s launch and its $100 million Series A, pushed Wiz’s valuation to $1.7 billion.
AT&T landed a 12-year contract with the U.S. Treasury to upgrade its voice and data networks spanning mobile, fixed, and broadband. The $231 million contract also calls for AT&T to strengthen the cybersecurity stature of the Treasury Department’s telecom networks.
Data integration and integrity service provider Talend was snapped up by Thoma Bravo in a $2.4 billion deal.
Aqua Security joined the cybersecurity unicorn club with $135 million in Series E funding that pushed its valuation above $1 billion. Aqua’s funding now totals $265 million since its founding in 2015.
Hitachi acquired U.S.-based digital engineering services company GlobalLogic for $9.6 billion.
Intel is investing $20 billion to construct two new chip fabs in Arizona this year.
Telecom software infrastructure and data services vendor NetNumber signed definitive agreements to acquire SiRRAN Communications and TD-Mobile AG.
Verizon intends to increase its capex by a cumulative $10 billion through 2023 to expand its 5G network. The operator spent $52.9 billion to acquire and clear an average of 161 megahertz of C-band spectrum in the recent record-high auction.
Yugabyte secured $48 million in new funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. The round brings Yugabyte’s total funding to $103 million.
Cybersecurity startup SentinelOne began preparations for an initial public offering that could value it at more than $10 billion.
Conversational service automation vendor Uniphore closed a $140 million Series D funding round, bringing the total funds invested in the company to $210 million.
Fortinet snapped up multi-cloud security vendor ShieldX Networks.
Tyto Athene penned a deal to acquire AT&T Government Solutions, which comprises AT&T’s Department of Defense IT professional services business and select other contracts.
Docker raised $23 million in Series B funding led by Tribe Capital.
Google shared its plan to spend $7 billion this year on data centers and offices across the U.S., which represents a $3 billion drop from 2020 when CEO Sundar Pichai pledged to spend $10 billion.
Tetrate bagged a $40 million Series B funding round led by Sapphire Ventures.
Open networking software provider Pica8 scored $20 million in Series C funding led by WI Harper Group and Aspiro Capital Management.
Thrive announced its acquisition of managed IT services provider Howard Tech. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Papaya Global collected $100 million in a Series C funding led by GreenOaks Capital Partners, bringing the company's valuation across $1 billion.
Kennet Partners Limited and Goldman Sachs entered into an agreement to sell co-owned cloud-native low-code platform Nuxeo to Hyland Software.
Cloud data governance and security provider Privacera completed a $50 million funding round led by new investor Insight Partners.
Snyk scored a $300 million Series E financing round. The company has now raised a total of $470 million to date with a valuation of $4.7 billion.
Cybersecurity asset management Axonius announced that its seed investor, YL Ventures, sold its stake in the company to late-stage IPO-focused investors ICONIQ Growth, Alkeon Capital, DTCP, and Harmony Partners for $270 million. The deal came a week after Axonius raised $100 million at a $1.2 billion valuation.
Cowbell Cyber raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Brewer Lane Ventures.
Sumo Logic entered into an agreement to acquire DFLabs, a provider of security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) software.
DevOps platform provider Copado purchased DevSecOps provider New Context for an undisclosed amount.
Stack Infrastructure closed a $400 million round of structured debt financing.
Canada’s Rogers Communications announced plans to acquire Shaw Communications in a $20.83 billion deal that the former said will allow it to bolster its 5G deployment plans.
No-code artificial intelligence (AI) data analytics service provider Noogata secured $12 million in seed funding led by Team8.
Sonatype acquired source code analysis platform MuseDev. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Cloud-delivered endpoint and server security service provider Morphisec bagged $31 million in funding led by JVP.
DartPoints penned a deal to acquire colocation, cloud, and managed services provider Immedion.
Qualcomm Technologies completed its acquisition of the CPU and technology design company NUVIA for $1.4 billion.
Iridia raised $24 million in a Series B funding round led by LifeSci Venture Partners.
Cyware bagged $30 million in Series B funding led by Advent International through Advent Tech, as well as Ten Eleven Ventures. The new investment brings Cyware's total funding raised to date to $43 million.
Incredibuild scored a $140 million investment from ScaleUp investor Insight Partners.
UiPath acquired API integration company Cloud Elements for an undisclosed amount.
Real-time data integration platform provider Striim nabbed $50 million in Series C financing led by Goldman Sachs.
Connected2Fiber collected $12 million in Series B financing led by Harbert Growth Partners.
SecurityScorecard secured a $180 million Series E preferred stock financing round. This round brings SecurityScorecard's total funding to more than $290 million.
IFS signed a definitive agreement to acquire Axios Systems, a provider of cloud-based enterprise service management software.
Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) vendor Axis Security bagged a $50 million Series C round, bringing its total raised to date to $100 million.
Aiven collected $100 million in Series C financing, bringing the company’s total investment to $150 million at a valuation of more than $800 million.
Identity verification provider Jumio scored a $150 million investment from Great Hill Partners.
Immersion cooling company LiquidStack made its market debut with a $10 million Series A investment.
Data center operator DC Blox secured a $187 million long-term investment led by Post Road Group and Bain Capital Credit.
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