Dive Brief:
- Cybersecurity firm FireEye has purchased threat intelligence firm iSight Partners for $200 million, FireEye has announced.
- The purchase will strengthen FireEye's intelligence-gathering capabilities on cybercriminals, corporate officials said. Much of FireEye's previous work focused on studying how victims of cyberattacks were affected.
- It also comes amid consolidation and reduced valuations in the cybersecurity sector.
Dive Insight:
The deal makes sense on the surface: iSight focuses on the front end of cybercrime (namely, criminals and hackers), while FireEye generally focused on the back end (victims and the aftermath of cybercrimes).
It comes at a time when many cybersecurity firms have seen their valuations plummet. Reuters reported that iSight CEO John Watters was aiming for a $1 billion valuation when he talked last year about a potential IPO in 2016. This deal is only worth one-fifth of that hoped-for valuation.
Still, there may be a little more money in the deal. If iSight hits sales targets through mid-2018, FireEye says it will pay another $75 million in cash and stock to iSight shareholders.
