Private equity firm TPG Capital has acquired Thycotic from Insight Partners, and will merge the business with Centrify. The combined business will focus on Zero Trust Security and cloud-centric Privileged Access Management (PAM). Financial terms were not disclosed.
This is M&A deal number 151 that MSSP Alert and sister site ChannelE2E have covered so far in 2021. See all technology M&A deals for 2021 and 2020 listed here.
Centrify and Thycotic both develop privileged access management (PAM) solutions, while Centrify also emphasizes Zero Trust security capabilities.
Reports about Insight Partners preparing to sell Thycotic surfaced in February 2021. TPG Capital confirmed the Centrify-Thycotic business merger plan today. PE Hub was the first media site to report rumors about the deal.
Centrify and Thycotic: PAM Merger Chatter
TPG Capital acquired Centrify from Thoma Bravo in January 2021. Symantec enterprise business veteran Art Gilliland joined Centrify as CEO when that deal closed.
Thycotic supports 12,500 organizations worldwide, including 25 of the Fortune 100. The company's channel sales rose 28 percent in 2020. Bob Gagnon, VP of channel sales for North America, has been driving those partner efforts. Also of note: Thycotic grew its cloud-based PAM sales 87 percent in 2020 vs. 2019, adding more than 500 new cloud customers along the way, the company said in February 2021.
Meanwhile, Centrify’s partner program spans channel partners, technology partners, OEM partners and MSSPs. The MSSP offering includes a multi-tenant platform approach from StarLink (a distributor). Licenses are sold as a one-year commitment with a monthly business option.
Centrify and Thycotic Merger: Executive Perspectives
Gilliland will serve as the CEO of the newly expanded business. James Legg, Thycotic’s CEO, will be named president.
In a prepared statement about the deal, Gilliland said:
“The increasing cost and impact of cyber breaches coupled with the explosive growth of cloud services and the interconnection of networks has driven rapid adoption of identity security software. Now more than ever, organizations are looking to strengthen their capabilities to ensure improved protection from the ever-increasing risk of cyber-intrusions. The combined company will deliver one of the most comprehensive product offerings in the business with the ability to adapt and scale to meet the evolving needs of customers.”
Added Legg:
“Combining these two synergistic platforms allows us to offer customers an expanded range of products to address their increasingly complex security requirements. Every company is currently facing sophisticated adversaries who take advantage of the complexity of operating in the cloud and work-from-home. Thycotic and Centrify together will help companies navigate this new environment with an innovative and intuitive product suite, backed by some of the most experienced operators in the identity security sector.”
Concluded Tim Millikin, partner at TPG Capital:
“The combination of Thycotic and Centrify creates a leader in one of the most important and strategic sub-sectors of security software. Identity security is mission-critical to any organization’s cybersecurity infrastructure and is becoming even more essential in a deeply interconnected world constantly under threat of cyber-attacks. TPG has long believed that this sector is poised for rapid growth and we believe this new company will drive the adoption of this essential software.”
Thoma Bravo and Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) will support the combination with minority investments in the business. The merger is subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory reviews. Financial terms were not disclosed.
TPG Capital: Technology Investment Focus
TPG Capital has extensive experience in the cybersecurity, enterprise software and MSP software markets. Key investments have included GuardiCore, Kaseya and Zscaler.
