The Deal Valuing the Company at $400 Million Reinforces the Company’s Unique Vision, Innovation, and Execution
LEESBURG, VA. – February 26, 2018 – PhishMe®, the leading provider of human-driven phishing defense solutions world-wide, today announced that the company has been acquired and has changed its name to Cofense™. The acquisition by a private equity consortium valued the company at $400 Million.
“PhishMe was founded to challenge the cliché that people are the weakest link in security. Our 1700+ enterprise and mid-market customers affirm that not only can their employees be conditioned to be less susceptible to cyber-attacks, but, in fact they can be turned into sensors that provide very timely intelligence,” said Rohyt Belani, CEO and Co-Founder of Cofense. “The Cofense solution set leverages internal employee-generated attack intelligence in concert with purpose-built response technologies to break the attack kill chain at delivery. Cofense reflects the full breadth of our portfolio of enterprise-wide attack detection, response, and orchestration solutions.”
Cofense now has the added backing of multiple private equity firms to support future innovation via organic and inorganic growth initiatives. With hundreds of enterprise customers in more than 50 countries and across 23 industry verticals, Cofense will continue to deliver leading solutions in phishing defense by offering solutions that sit at the intersection of human intelligence and technology.
“This acquisition further strengthens the alignment between our management team, employees, and investors as we focus on building an enduring company,” continued Rohyt Belani. “With cybersecurity a top priority for organizations everywhere, our goal is to continue bringing innovative products to markets around the globe to help stop active attacks faster than ever.”
The new identity and acquisition comes on the heels of another year of explosive growth for the company, with major milestones including:
- Approximately 80% revenue CAGR over the last four years.
- PhishMe Reporter® deployments on over 10 million end users’ work stations.
- Launch of an industry-first free simulation tool, PhishMe Free™, geared towards the SMB market
- Continued global expansion with new offices opening in Australia, Singapore, and Dubai.
- Expanded partnerships through its Technology Alliance Program (TAP), adding 14 of the world’s leading security providers as partners to help customers maximize their return on investment.
Cofense’s unique approach and stellar management team won a number of industry accolades in 2017, including:
- Being positioned as a leader in the 2017 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Security Awareness Computer-Based Training.
- Ranked for a third year running in the Deloitte Fast 500.
- Recognized as a 2017 Fastest Growing Company and a Best Place to Work by Washington Business Journal.
- PhishMe CEO and Co-Founder, Rohyt Belani, received the EY Entrepreneur of The Year® Award in the Security category in the Mid-Atlantic region, was named a 2017 Washington Business Journal 40 under 40 honoree, and a 2017 Tech Titan by Washingtonian Magazine.
- PhishMe CTO and Co-Founder, Aaron Higbee, was named a 2017 Loudoun Business Journal 40 under 40 honoree, and a 2017 Tech Titan by Washingtonian Magazine.
Cooley LLP served as Cofense’s outside legal counsel, and Boston Meridian served as the company’s financial advisor for the acquisition. Learn more at phishme.com.
About Cofense
Cofense™, formerly PhishMe®, is the leading provider of human-driven phishing defense solutions world-wide. Cofense delivers a collaborative approach to cybersecurity by enabling organization-wide engagement to active email threats. Our collective defense suite combines timely attack intelligence sourced from employees with best-in-class incident response technologies to stop attacks faster and stay ahead of breaches. Cofense customers include Global 1000 organizations in defense, energy, financial services, healthcare and manufacturing sectors that understand how changing user behavior will improve security, aid incident response and reduce the risk of compromise.