Private Equity Firm Buys Majority Stake in IAM Vendor SailPoint

Private equity investment firm Thoma Bravo announced on Wednesday that it would take a significant equity investment in SailPoint, a provider of identity and access management (IAM) solutions.

The company would not disclose the size of the stake, but a company spokesperson told SecurityWeek that the investment firm was committed to owning a majority stake in SailPoint, indicating that the firm has taken at least a 51 percent stake. One source said the firm made a “sizeable” investment in SailPoint of “several hundred million.”

Founded in 2005, SailPoint explains that its technology takes a risk-based approach to identity management and that it currently serves hundreds of customers around the world.

The company’s IdentityNow solution is an enterprise-grade IAM suite delivered from the cloud. SailPoint also offers a “cloud on-ramp solution” that helps customers migrate from the company’s IdentityIQ on-premises deployment option to IdentityNow.

“Thoma Bravo is very excited to partner with the SailPoint team to propel the Company into its next stage of growth,” said Seth Boro, a managing partner at Thoma Bravo. “We believe that the combination of SailPoint’s proven innovation and leadership in the IAM market and Thoma Bravo’s expertise in Enterprise Security will further strengthen SailPoint’s status as the market leader.”

“Today’s news represents a significant inflection point for SailPoint as we work toward our company mission of becoming ‘Identity Inc.’ for the enterprise,” said Mark McClain, founder and CEO of SailPoint. 

Financial details were not disclosed, and the transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2014.

“The IAM market is the hottest it has ever been, and we’re excited by the numerous opportunities in front of SailPoint,” added Kevin Cunningham, founder and president of SailPoint. “Thoma Bravo’s investment in SailPoint is significant validation of our past market successes, as well as our future potential. We’re looking forward to working with them to continue pushing the boundaries of the IAM market to deliver innovative solutions for our customers.”

IBM has also made big moves in the IAM space as of late, announcing two acqusitions this month alone, including Lighthouse Security Group, which offers a cloud-hosted IAM gateway platform, and CrossIdeas, a privately held Italian cybersecurity Startup that makes Access Governance software.

Thoma Bravo has made several moves in the security space in the past years. The private equity firm announced its plans to acquire privately-held TripWire in May 2011 for an undisclosed sum, and was also the leader of an investor group that acquired SonicWALL back in June 2010 in a transaction valued at approximately $717 million, which it ultimately sold to Dell in 2012. In 2012, Thoma Bravo was also the leader of the $1.3 billion buyout of Blue Coat Systems and acquisition of Crossbeam Systems, a maker of network security solutions. The company has other investements in the security space as well.