MINNEAPOLIS, April 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — NetSPI LLC (NetSPI), the leading security testing and vulnerability correlation company, today announced the completion of a strategic growth equity financing led by Sunstone Partners. The investment will allow NetSPI to accelerate development of new products and service offerings, penetrate new verticals, and expand geographically.
NetSPI has grown profitably every year since its founding in 2001, and this financing marks the first institutional capital ever raised by the company. NetSPI currently supports many of the top 10 financial institutions, healthcare providers, and technology companies.
“Our clients are under intense pressure from business, regulatory, and governance perspectives to partner with cybersecurity experts to increase their security posture to safeguard their organization against the volatile and ever-evolving threat landscape. Our solution portfolio comprises of a world-class proprietary software platform, CorrelatedVM®, encapsulated with deep professional services expertise which is empowering global organizations to scale and operationalize their security programs,” said Deke George, NetSPI’s Co-Founder & CEO. “We are looking forward to our partnership with Sunstone Partners given their team’s successful track record and experience in cybersecurity.”
According to the report, “Penetration Testing Market by Testing Service (Network, Web, Mobile, Social Engineering, Wireless, Embedded Devices and Industrial Control System), Deployment Mode (Cloud and On-Premises), Organization Size, Vertical, and Region – Global Forecast to 2021”, published by MarketsandMarkets, penetration testing market size is estimated to grow from USD 594.7 Million in 2016 to USD 1,724.3 Million by 2021, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 23.7% during the forecast period. 2015 is considered to be the base year while the forecast period is 2016–2021.
“We have known NetSPI for several years and have been consistently impressed by the team’s culture, product offering, and loyal customer base,” said Gustavo Alberelli, Managing Director at Sunstone Partners. “NetSPI’s enterprise customers repeatedly stress their satisfaction and growing need for NetSPI’s differentiated solutions, especially given the increasing number of connected applications susceptible to vulnerabilities and advanced persistent threats. Security testing continues to be the fastest-growing subsegment within cybersecurity, and we are excited to partner with the NetSPI team to maximize the company’s full potential.”
As part of the investment, the new board of directors will include Gustavo Alberelli and Michael Biggee, Managing Directors at Sunstone Partners, Scott Hammack, and Stuart Scholly joined by Deke George. Hammack will serve as NetSPI’s Executive Chairman. Hammack and Scholly most recently worked with the Sunstone Partners team while serving as CEO and President respectively of Prolexic Technologies, the leading Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) mitigation provider, which Akamai acquired in February 2014 for $415 million. Mooreland Partners LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor to NetSPI LLC in connection with this transaction.
About NetSPI
NetSPI is the leading provider of application and network security testing solutions that support organizations in scaling and operationalizing their threat and vulnerability management programs. The solution portfolio includes both security testing services and a software platform, CorrelatedVM®, trusted by many of the Fortune 250. NetSPI’s clients consist of financial institutions, healthcare providers, retailers, and technology companies. NetSPI is based in Minneapolis and has additional offices in New York and Portland.
About Sunstone Partners
Sunstone Partners is an investment firm focused on growth equity investments and majority buyouts in technology businesses. The firm is a spin-out of the growth equity team of Trident Capital, a multi-stage investment firm with seven funds and $1.9 billion of capital under management since 1993. The firm is currently investing out of Sunstone Partners I, LP, a fund with $310 million of committed capital. Sunstone Partners is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area.