In a landmark move catalyzing its expansion into the application and data security market, French aerospace and defense titan, Thales Inc., has inked a deal to acquire cybersecurity firm, Imperva. The significant transaction, worth a hefty $3.6 billion, entails the purchase of Imperva from private equity colossus Thoma Bravo.
The announcement comes on the heels of Thoma Bravo's previous acquisition of Imperva - a $2.1 billion deal negotiated four years ago that transitioned the San Mateo-based enterprise from a public to a private firm, eight years post its listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
With an operational history tracing back to 2002, Imperva has made a name for itself in the data and app security space with a portfolio of services that include web application firewalls (WAFs), API security, DDoS protection, account takeover (ATO) protection, data activity monitoring (DAM), among a full suite of other cybersecurity services.
Thales Group has gone to great lengths over the recent years to fortify its cybersecurity arm via an aggressive acquisition strategy. This includes the colossal $5.5 billion deal in 2017 to secure digital identification and data safeguarding solutions provider, Gemalto. In more recent strides, the group has strategically acquired cybersecurity solutions providers Excellium and S21SEC. Furthermore, Thales is in the midst of finalizing a deal to acquire Australian cybersecurity startup, Tesserent, for an estimated $176 million (AUD).
With the acquisition of Imperva, Thales marks its foray into application security market specifically, while broadening its pre-existing stronghold in the data security domain.
This acquisition is instrumental in turbo-charging our cybersecurity capabilities. It brings us a step closer to our ambition of becoming a globally leading integrated player in cybersecurity, with a comprehensive suite of products and services, quoted Patrice Caine, the CEO of Thales, in a recent press release.
Thales has affirmed that with Imperva becoming a part of its portfolio, the company’s comprehensive cybersecurity business is projected to rake in revenues exceeding €2.4 billion ($2.65 billion), with Imperva earmarked to contribute around $500 million.
Considering the tremendous rise in preference for no-code and low-code platforms like AppMaster for developing mobile and web applications, this marked shift by Thales into application security spotlights the escalating importance of robust cybersecurity solutions in the software development landscape.
