ReliaQuest to acquire San Francisco firm for $160M

Following a billion-dollar valuation, ReliaQuest has entered into an agreement to acquire a San Francisco threat intelligence firm in a $160 million deal. 

Tampa-based ReliaQuest announced Wednesday it plans to acquire Digital Shadows. While ReliaQuest currently offers a range of threat detection, the new acquisition will add contextual threat intelligence data to ReliaQuest’s GreyMatter platform. 

“The combination of ReliaQuest and Digital Shadows makes a lot of sense for our customers, our partners, and both of our teams. We have a responsibility and opportunity to leverage our collective expertise to continue to tackle what I believe to be the largest technical challenge of our generation, cybersecurity,” ReliaQuest CEO Brian Murphy said in the news release. 

The transaction has received the approval of both companies’ Board of Directors and is subject only to customary closing requirements and regulatory approvals.  

“Combining the internal visibility provided by ReliaQuest with the external threat intelligence and digital risk monitoring brought by Digital Shadows creates an end-to-end picture for enterprises around the world,” Alastair Paterson, co-founder and CEO at Digital Shadows, said in the release. “The complementary technical capability, shared cultural values, and geographic synergies offered by the combined companies make this a great opportunity for our customers and our partners.”

Through the acquisition, ReliaQuest will be absorbing Digital Shadows’ 180 employees. 

The acquisition comes after ReliaQuest secured new funding in addition to a $300 million growth equity round in 2020, which was also led by KKR.

Today, ReliaQuest works with hundreds of Fortune 1000 organizations that use ReliaQuest’s GreyMatter platform to operationalize security investments. Murphy previously said the GreyMatter platform has become more flexible and has been geared toward middle-market customers. 

ReliaQuest has achieved other milestones this year such as surpassing $100 million in annual recurring revenue, more than doubling the number of new customers year-over-year, and adding key executives. 

The firm also recently acquired new space in the Thousand & One building, located in Water Street Tampa.