| | | Alpine’s ASG backs legal tech and payments provider Headnote, Anthem in late-stage negotiations to buy CareCentrix, but deal is far from certain, Northleaf’s GP-stakes-like deal to pave the way for succession | | | | Wednesday, September 23, 2020 | | | | | Happy Wednesday, Dear Tech Take Readers!
Lots going on in the tech world. Last week I wrote about Clearlake's deal for Aurora Capital-backed insurtech provider Zywave, and separately, GI Partners' purchase of Sectigo, a provider of digital identity solutions.
Cybersecurity heats up
Sectigo provides a variety of digital identity solutions, including transport layer security (TLS) and secure sockets layer (SSL) certificates, DevOps, Internet of Things, enterprise-grade public key infrastructure (PKI) management and multi-layered web security.
GI bought the company from Francisco Partners for around $900 million, which translates into roughly 10x revenue, one source told me. For more on that — read my recent story on PE Hub.
GI’s recent bet underscores investors’ growing interest around cybersecurity and digital identity – issues that have become common topics of discussion with industry sources.
The space has long seen inflows of capital (well before the global pandemic), and is growing even more attractive as companies transition to a remote work environment, I’m told. Employers have become more vulnerable to cyberattacks as workforces enter corporate systems from home and other locations. Consequently, cybersecurity providers are seeing greater demand – and gaining in value.
In August, I spoke to Mike Zappert, a partner at TPG Growth, about this phenomenon.
“Now people are working from home, they are working from their vacation homes, they’re working from friends’ and family homes, so there is a whole range of new environments people are accessing their devices from, their corporate systems from,” Zappert said. “So the need for authentication tools and identity tools to understand what’s happening on the companies’ network and what’s happening within the companies’ systems is much more.” |
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| | | Top Scoops | | | | Another digital identity company to keep tabs on is Imprivata, which helps healthcare providers protect patient information. Thoma Bravo called off its potential $2 billion-plus sale of Imprivata early this year as coronavirus-related fears weighed on global markets, my colleague Sarah Pringle wrote in March. If you’ve heard any recent developments, send me a note at mvinn@buyoutsinsider.com. |
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| | Alpine Investors-backed software platform ASG has invested in Headnote, Steve Reardon, CEO of ASG, told me.
Headnote, based in San Francisco, is an online payments platform providing compliant ePayments and AR (accounts receivable) management for law firms of all sizes.
“We are excited about legal in general; there is a lot of consolidation happening in the industry,” Reardon said. “Very large on-premise legal providers are going to be seeing a lot of migration from on-premise to on-cloud solutions.”
Read more in my story on PE Hub.
Have a great day! Reach me at mvinn@buyoutsinsider.com.
HOUSEKEEPING: Deadline extension! Invitation to Perspectives 2021
In its ninth year, Perspectives is Buyouts's annual study of how institutional investors will approach private equity over the coming year. If you are an institutional investor, your participation in the study is greatly appreciated.
CLICK HERE TO PARTICIPATE. Deadline to participate: 03 October, 2020
Participating takes less than 10 minutes (I promise!) and in return you will be provided with a complimentary copy of the full results of the study. A $5 donation to UNICEF will be made for every completed set of responses, with your answers remaining strictly anonymous. For any questions, please email Nicole Douglas, Head of Investor Research: nicole.d@peimedia.com | | |
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Freeletics raises $25m for fitness app | | European fitness app Freeletics raises $25m in Series B funding as it aims to bulk up its presence in the US. Round was led by JAZZ Venture Partners and Causeway Media Partners and included KKCG. More... |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | NextCapital raises $30m | | NextCapital in Chicago raises $30m in a Series D round led by FP Credit, the credit investment arm of Francisco Partners. Oak HC/FT and IA Capital Group also participated. More... |
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