Cybersecurity M&A

The consolidation continued in the cybersecurity market during the first three months of the year, both among top vendors in the industry and major solution providers in the channel. We’ve collected details on 10 notable acquisition deals in cybersecurity that were announced or completed during the first quarter of 2023.

[Related: 15 New Cybersecurity Products To Know: Q1 2023]

The M&A activity ranged in size from combinations of large security tool vendors to pickups of small-but-promising startups in cyberdefense. Among the well-known cybersecurity companies that unveiled new acquisition deals in Q1 were Zscaler, which announced a startup acquisition to expand its capabilities for protecting software-as-a-service (SaaS) apps, and Rapid7, which landed an acquisition to enhance its managed detection and response (MDR) platform.

Meanwhile, a number of tech giants that have a broader IT focus announced acquisition deals during Q1 to bolster their security offerings, including Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and OpenText. Several solution providers in the channel disclosed notable security-focused acquisitions during the quarter, as well.

Our list doesn’t cover private equity buyouts, though the first quarter did see some activity there, with Vista Equity Partners closing its $4.6 billion take-private deal for security awareness training vendor KnowBe4.

What follows are the details on 10 key cybersecurity acquisition deals in Q1 of 2023.