Editor-DN
Sumit Dhawan, CEO of Proofpoint, took the reins as the head of the cybersecurity company in 2022, a year after it was acquired by Thoma Bravo for $12.3 billion. He is urging the firm to consider strategic opportunities such as mergers and acquisitions of smaller cyber security players to promote the company’s market expansion and industry consolidation.
Proof point
LONDON – Privately held cyber security firm Proofpoint is looking for outside investors to consider pre-IPO financing and mergers and acquisitions of smaller cyber companies as it looks to return to public markets in 2026, CE said. O Sumit Dhawan told CNBC.
“We’re looking at the public markets possibly sometime in the next 12 to 18 months,” said Dhawan, who takes over as the newly appointed chief of Proofpoint in 2022, the company is owned by private equity firm Thoma Bravo. One year after receiving the source.
Dhawan added that the timing of Proofpoint’s IPO will still depend on general market conditions as well as the outcome of the 2024 US presidential election.
Since the 2021 purchase of Proofpoint by Thoma Bravo and Dhawan’s appointment as CEO, the company’s management has been pushing the firm to integrate smaller cybersecurity firms to spur industry consolidation. and consider strategic opportunities such as acquisitions.
Noting that there are currently many players in the cybersecurity market, Dhawan said Proofpoint is currently looking for acquisition targets that offer a “strategic fit” for the company — for the right price.
“It’s happened in a lot of other technology spaces — it’s happened with infrastructure, it’s happened in the application platform space — where you build fewer providers,” Dhawan told CNBC in an exclusive. But start building richer platforms and as a result, there will be consolidation,” Dhawan told CNBC in an exclusive. Interview this week.
“Right now, there are 2,000 or so nonprofit cybersecurity companies that are venture-backed, so obviously they’re either going to get stronger or they’re going to probably not exist. Because there’s no way that There can be so many players in any market, it’s bound to happen.”
Dhawan said he’s finding that there’s some “bid-ask spread” in the market right now when it comes to cybersecurity opportunities, meaning target companies are asking for more than what they’re offering at the sale price. are But he added that he sees some “great opportunities” in the market.
The road from private to public
Founded in Silicon Valley in 2002, Proofpoint creates technology that helps companies prevent phishing attempts and other cyber attacks across a range of platforms, including email, social media, mobile devices and the cloud.
Proofpoint went public in the US in 2012, but was subsequently delisted after Thoma Bravo acquired the company. A $12.3 billion contract in 2021. The purchase followed investor concerns over a slowdown in earnings growth.
Now, Proofpoint is trying to tap the public markets once again.
“We’re a little different from the typical companies that go IPO,” Dhawan said. “They tend to be smaller. Their profile varies greatly. They have uncertainty in terms of profitability, and are not in a position to consolidate easily.”
Proofpoint going public would not mark the first time that a company Thoma Bravo has had a second IPO in a private equity buyout. In 2019, cybersecurity firm Dynatrace, which was taken private by Thoma Bravo in a 2014 buyout, resurfaced in a New York listing.
Dhawan told CNBC that Proofpoint will go through “several rounds” of financing to increase its ownership of the company through other private equity investors, adding that the private placement – shares to pre-selected investors. Sale of as opposed to general sale to the public – these include Considering the options.
“We are close to starting the process” to raise funds from investors other than its private equity owners, Dhawan said. However, he emphasized that the firm has not officially ended the process.
Proofpoint’s boss said he hopes that what separates his company from other tech and cybersecurity firms that are pursuing a similar IPO route is a good balance of growth and profitability, in the double digits. growth, and has strong market leadership.
