Mastercard said Thursday it will buy Recorded Future from Insight Partners for $2.65 billion, more than three times what the firm paid for the threat-intelligence specialist five years ago.
The deal marks the second major exit this month for Insight, following the $1.9 billion sale of cloud-data security company Own to Salesforce.
Recorded Future was acquired in 2019 in a $780 million buyout led by Insight. Previous VC backers of the company include include GV, Atlas Venture and IA Ventures.
Founded in 2009, the Somerville, Mass.-based company uses machine learning to analyze data from multiple sources and provide threat assessments for cyberattacks. Recorded Future’s clients include Disney, Microsoft and TD Bank, as well as government agencies from around the world.
Cybersecurity acquisitions have been muted in 2024. According to PitchBook’s Q2 2024 Information Security report, $11.3 billion in M&A value was generated across 169 deals, tracking well below last year’s pace.
The industry is showing some signs of life, however.
Cloud security company Rubrik went public in April, raising $752 million for its New York Stock Exchange debut. In June, the API security startup Noname Security was purchased by Akamai Technologies for about $450 million.
Many cybersecurity investors expressed bullishness about a rebound in exits despite the collapse of talks that Google held with Wiz to acquire the cloud security company for $23 billion.
As for the broader landscape for exits, the VC and PE markets are worlds apart. VC exits in the first half of 2024 already surpassed the previous year’s figure at $6.8 billion generated from 41 deals. Within PE-backed companies, the picture is bleaker: Only $1.6 billion in exit value was recorded from 18 deals during the period.
Mastercard’s acquisition of Recorded Future is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025.
Featured image from iStock Editorial / Getty Images
