Vista Equity Partners to accumulate cybersecurity firm KnowBe4 for $4.6B

Vista Equity Partners has agreed a $4.6 billion all-cash deal to accumulate KnowBe4, a publicly-traded cybersecurity firm specializing in serving to enterprise employees keep away from phishing assaults.

“Under Vista’s ownership, we will have access to additional resources and support, which will help us achieve our goals and deliver enhanced value to our customers,” KnowBe4 founder and CEO Stu Sjouwerman famous in a press release.

Founded in 2010, Clearwater, Florida-based KnowBe4 delivers simulated phishing assaults through the browser, providing a spread of applications spanning movies, video games, interactive modules, and extra.

The firm hit the public markets in 2021 after elevating greater than $300 million in VC funding, however its shares have carried out considerably tepidly within the intervening months, hovering at across the $20 mark (give or take) since its IPO. Vista Equity Partners’ provide of $24.90 per share represents a premium of round 44 p.c on KnowBe4’s $17 closing value on September 16, the date at which Vista first made its proposed bid.

Today’s news represents KnowBe4’s settlement to be acquired after the corporate arrange a particular committee to evaluate the preliminary proposal and potential different offers. It nonetheless needs to be permitted by the shareholders, however the firm stated that it expects the deal to shut within the first half of 2023.