Sumit Dhawan, Chief Govt Officer of Proofpoint, took the reins as head of the cybersecurity enterprise in 2022, a 12 months after it was gotten by Thoma Bravo for $12.3 billion. He is been urgent the corporate to take into accounts tactical prospects corresponding to mergings and procurements of smaller sized cybersecurity avid gamers to extend the enterprise’s market development and enhance market mixture.
Proofpoint
LONDON â $” Privately-held cybersecurity firm Proofpoint is trying out touching outdoors financiers for pre-IPO funding and the issue to think about of mergings and procurements of smaller sized cyber corporations because it seems to be for a return to public markets in 2026, chief govt officer Sumit Dhawan knowledgeable CNBC.
” We’re having a look at presumably trying out public markets in some unspecified time in the future within the following 12 to 18 months,” Dhawan, that took the reins as Proofpoint’s just lately assigned principal in 2022, a 12 months after the enterprise was gotten by private fairness firm Thoma Bravo.
Dhawan included that the timing of Proofpoint’s IPO would definitely nonetheless proceed to be based mostly on fundamental market issues together with the results of the 2024 united state governmental political election.
As a result of Proofpoint’s 2021 acquistion by Thoma Bravo and Dhawan’s succeeding go to as chief govt officer, enterprise monitoring has really been urgent the corporate to take into accounts tactical prospects corresponding to mergings and procurements of smaller sized cybersecurity corporations to spice up market mixture.
Protecting in thoughts that there are presently method too many avid gamers within the cybersecurity market, Dhawan claimed that Proofpoint is presently looking for buy targets that offer a “tactical match” for the enterprise â $” Â for the most effective charge.
” It is occurred in a number of numerous different innovation rooms â $” Â it occurred with amenities, it has really occurred within the utility system space â $” Â the place you start setting up much less service suppliers nonetheless richer programs and, due to this, there will definitely be mixture,” Dhawan knowledgeable CNBC in an distinctive assembly as we speak.
” There go to this second, 2,000 roughly non-profitable cybersecurity corporations which might be venture-backed, so plainly they’re going to both get hold of mixed or presumably not exist. Since there isn’t any probability any form of market can have that a number of avid gamers. So it is mosting prone to happen, it is certain to happen.”
Dhawan claimed he is discovering there’s a bit of a “bid-ask unfold” within the market presently when it pertains to cybersecurity prospects, suggesting goal corporations are requesting much more money on the checklist worth than the assessments they’re being offered. But he included that he is seeing some “unbelievable prospects” within the market.
The roadway from private to public
Based in 2002 in Silicon Valley, Proofpoint makes innovation that aids corporations shield towards phishing efforts and numerous different cyberattacks all through a wide range of programs, consisting of e-mail, social media websites, cell phones, and the cloud.
Proofpoint went public within the united state in 2012, nonetheless consequently delisted after Thoma Bravo acquired the enterprise in a $12.3 billion deal in 2021. The buyout came after investor concerns over a deceleration in revenue growth.
Now, Proofpoint is once again looking to tap the public markets.
“We are a little bit different from typical companies going to IPO,” Dhawan said. “They tend to be smaller. They tend to have a very different profile. They tend to have uncertainty in terms of profitability, and they tend to not be in position to easily consolidate.”
Taking Proofpoint public wouldn’t mark the first time a company Thoma Bravo acquired in a private equity buyout has done an IPO for a second time. In 2019, cybersecurity firm Dynatrace, which Thoma Bravo took private in a 2014 buyout, went public again in a New York listing.
Proofpoint will go through “multiple rounds” of financing to expand ownership of the company by other private equity investors, Dhawan told CNBC, adding that private placements â sales of shares to pre-selected investors as opposed to general sales to the public â are among options it’s considering.
“We’re close to starting the process” for fundraising from investors beyond its private equity owners, Dhawan said. However, he stressed the firm hasn’t officially set off this process.
Proofpoint’s boss said he hopes that what separates his company from other tech and cybersecurity firms seeking a similar IPO route, is a good balance of growth and profitability, double-digit growth, and strong leadership in its market.
