Private equity powerhouse KKR is acquiring email security provider Barracuda Networks from another private equity outfit, Thoma Bravo.
Barracudafocuses on serving small- and medium-sized enterprises with a broad suite of cybersecurity offerings, including email protection, application security, network security and data protection. It also has a partner program for MSPs. Barracuda, founded in 2003, has about 200,000 customers worldwide, according to a company press release.
KKR said it wants to provide the resources to continue expanding the firm’s offerings and revenues, which currently exceed $500 million. Besides expanding into managed detection and response, Barracuda will also continue its aggressive growth into hot security markets such as extended detection and response and SASE technology, according to the statement.
KKR head of Americas Technology Private Equity John Park said: “Given its proven track record of growth and innovation, we believe that Barracuda has the right team and model to capture business in this growing market.”
The planned takeover of Barracuda builds upon KKR’s previous investments in the cybersecurity sector, such as investments in Ping, Cylance, DarkTrace, ForgeRock, NetSPI and Optiv, among others.
Barracuda CEO Hatem Naguib said: “We believe that with the support of KKR, we will continue to invest in growth and foster a culture that gives our team the resources and inspiration to continue to create and deliver the next generation of leading cybersecurity solutions for our customers and partners.”
