Cybersecurity M&A transactions started quickly in January 2024, with a series of major deals unveiled in the first week of the year.
A particularly notable announcement came on January 9 from HPE, who agreed to pay $14bn for Juniper Networks to enhance its security offerings.
This followed a relatively slow year for cybersecurity M&As in 2023, with investors showing caution amid economic uncertainty.
SentinelOne Agrees Deal to Buy PingSafe
On January 3, AI-security platform provider SentinelOne agreed a deal to acquire PingSafe through a mix of cash and stock. The acquisition will see PingSafe’s cloud native application protection platform (CNAPP) integrated into SentinelOne's cloud data security capabilities. The transaction is expected to close in SentinelOne’s first quarter of fiscal year 2025, subject to applicable regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
SonicWall Acquires SSE Provider
Cybersecurity company SonicWall announced its acquisition of Banyan Security on January 3, with the deal completed on December 26, 2023. Banyan’s security service edge (SSE) solutions will help SonicWall provide zero trust security to its customers. The acquisition follows SonicWall’s purchase of Solutions Granted, Inc. in November 2023.
Mimecast Announces Acquisition of Elevate Security
Email security vendor Mimecast announced on January 4 it had acquired Elevate Security for an undisclosed fee. The deal is designed to enable Mimecast to enhance its offerings with Elevate’s human risk management solutions, helping customers better protect the digital workplace. This technology integration is due to begin in upcoming quarters.
MC2 Security Fund Completes Purchase of Trustwave
MC2 Security Fund, affiliate of investment firm The Chertoff Group, announced the completion of its acquisition of Trustwave on January 5. The deal is designed to expand the global reach of Trustwave, a managed security services company providing services such as managed detection and response, cyber advisory and penetration testing.
Delinea Buys Identity Security Specialist
On January 9, Delinea announced the acquisition of identity security firm Authomize. The deal aims to enhance the capabilities of Delinea’s privileged access management (PAM) platform by integrating Authomize’s identity-based solutions. The initial release of the integrated solution is planned for the second quarter of 2024.
HPE Agrees Deal to Acquire Juniper
US-based IT giant HPE reached an agreement to buy Juniper Networks for approximately $14bn. The deal, announced on January 9, will enable HPE to leverage Juniper’s AI capabilities to provide customers with a secure unified, cloud and AI-native networking portfolio. The transaction is expected to close in late 2024 or early 2025, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
Snyk Announces Acquisition of Helios
On January 16, developer security specialist Snyk revealed it had acquired Helios, a firm that specializes in capturing application runtime data. Snyk will now combine Helios’ full-stack runtime data collection and insights with its Developer Security Platform to provide security teams with a comprehensive picture of their applications across the entire software development lifecycle.
Protect AI Announces Acquisition to Enhance LLM Security Capabilities
AI and machine learning security firm Protect AI announced on January 31 the purchase of Laiyer AI. Following the acquisition, Protect AI will offer a commercial version of Laiyer AI’s open-source large language model (LLM) guard with expanded features, capabilities and integrations. The transaction forms a key part of Protect AI’s ambition to boost confidence in deploying LLMs at an enterprise scale.