ExtraHop to be acquired by private equity firms in $900m deal

Network detection and response specialists bought by Bain Capital and Crosspoint Capital

Network detection and response business ExtraHop has been acquired by private equity firms Bain Capital and Crosspoint Capital in a deal worth $900m.

Extrahop works with the likes of UK police forces, Adobe and PayPal to help them protect against advanced threats, with the transaction expected to close in the summer of 2021.

ExtraHop CEO Arif Kareem and co-founders Jesse Rothstein, chief technology officer, and Raja Mukerji, chief customer officer, will continue in their respective roles while both Rothstein and Mukerji will also remain significant investors in the company.

"Organisations today face an array of incredibly sophisticated cyber attacks with diverse motivations that run the gamut from theft of sensitive personal and business data to illicit profit," Kareem said.

"By combining our exceptional team, market need, and technology with the deep domain expertise and resources of Bain Capital and Crosspoint Capital, ExtraHop has the opportunity to grow faster and accelerate our innovation to help our customers defend their operations from even the most advanced threats."

According to research from IDC, ExtraHop is among the top three players in network detection and response (NDR), and the company says its growth has "far exceeded" that of the NDR sector.

The business is "among the first investments" in Crosspoint Capital Fund, a $1.3 billion private equity fund focused on the cybersecurity, privacy and infrastructure software sectors, and is the first dedicated investment made from Bain Capital Fund XIII, the firm's latest flagship $11.8 billion private equity fund, ExtraHop says.

"After many years of building and delivering network visibility into the cyber industry, I was very impressed with the capabilities of ExtraHop in their ability to protect the evolving network as workloads shift to the cloud and networks expand beyond what corporations' control," said Greg Clark, managing partner at Crosspoint Capital.