Vista Equity Partners will gain cybersecurity organization KnowBe4 for $4.6B

Vista Equity Partners has agreed to a $4.6 billion all-cash deal to gain KnowBe4, a publicly traded cybersecurity organization specializing in assisting enterprise laborers with keeping away from phishing attacks.

“Under Vista’s ownership, we will have access to additional resources and support, which will help us achieve our goals and deliver enhanced value to our customers,” KnowBe4 founder and CEO Stu Sjouwerman noted in a press release.

Established in 2010, Clearwater, Florida-based KnowBe4 delivers simulated phishing attacks by means of the browser, offering a range of programs spanning videos, games, interactive modules and more. Everything revolves around getting laborers to know how to recognize an attack, and lessen the "human error" factor from an organization's attack surface.

The organization hit the public markets in 2021 subsequent to raising more than $300 million in VC funding, yet its shares have performed to some degree mildly in the intervening months, drifting at around the $20 mark (give or take) since its IPO. Vista Equity Partners' proposal of $24.90 per share represents a premium of around 44% on KnowBe4's $17 shutting cost on September 16, the date at which Vista first made its proposed bid.

The present news represents KnowBe4's agreement to be gained after the organization set up a special committee to evaluate the initial proposal and potential alternative deals. It actually must be approved by the shareholders, yet the organization said that it anticipates that the deal should shut in the first half of 2023.