Cybersecurity M&A Review: Google’s $23 billion acquisition of Wiz falls through

While there were relatively few mergers and acquisitions (M&A) announcements in the cybersecurity sector in July 2024, several high-profile deals made headlines.

The biggest story was about an acquisition that didn’t happen – Google’s proposed acquisition of Israeli cloud security company Wiz for $23 billion, which was reportedly rejected.

Here it is Information Safety Mergers and Acquisitions Summary for July:

KnowBe4 Completes Acquisition of Egress

On July 9, KnowBe4 announced that it had completed the acquisition of email security specialist Egress, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. The definitive agreement was announced in April 2024.

KnowBe4 now plans to integrate the recently acquired Egress products and operations in the coming months. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Neovera Announces Acquisition of Emagined Security

On July 17, Neovara announced that it has acquired Emagined Security, a company that specializes in information security and compliance services for highly regulated industries.

With the acquisition, Neovara intends to expand its current security operations center (SOC) operations across the United States, with a focus on financial, healthcare and government markets. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Exabeam and LogRhythm complete merger

Cybersecurity providers LogRhythm and Exabeam completed their planned merger on July 17, which was first announced in May 2024. The combined company will leverage the respective capabilities of LogRhythm and Exabeam to create an AI-powered security operations platform. The leadership team was also unveiled, consisting of executives from both companies, led by Exabeam CEO Christopher O’Malley.

Wiz rejects Google’s $23 billion offer

In mid-July, it was reported that Google parent company Alphabet was in advanced talks to buy Israeli cloud security company Wiz for an estimated $23 billion.

However, a week later, it was reported that Wiz had rejected the offer as the company opted to pursue an initial public offering as originally planned. Antitrust and investor concerns are believed to have played a role in the deal falling apart.

Mimecast acquires Code42

On July 24, email security specialist Mimecast revealed a significant development in its journey with the acquisition of Code42, an insider threat management and data loss prevention company. Mimecast will leverage Code42’s capabilities to expand its Human Risk Management (HRM) platform with insider threat visibility. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Exiger acquires aDolus to increase supply chain visibility

Exiger announced the acquisition of supply chain visibility platform aDolus Technology on July 30. The deal is intended to enhance Exiger’s software supply chain visibility by integrating aDolus’ capabilities to generate software bills of materials (SBOMs) and analyze binaries for software provenance. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

ProtectAI acquires attack simulation company GenAI

AI security specialists ProtectAI have struck a deal to acquire SydeLabs, a company focused on automated attack simulation for generative AI systems. The acquisition, announced July 31, is intended to enhance ProtectAI’s platform’s ability to rest and improve the security of its large language model (LLM). Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.