15 April 2019
NetFort currently employs 16 people at its headquarters in Galway Technology Park
NetFort, the Galway-based developer of network traffic and security monitoring software, has been acquired by the Nasdaq-listed security analytics and automation specialist Rapid7.
Although the financial details were undisclosed, it is understood the deal was worth north of €10 million.
NetFort is also the second Irish business to be acquired by the Boston-based company, which previously acquired UCD-spinout Logentries for $68 million (€60.7 million) in late 2015.
Founded in 2002 by former employees at Digital Equipment, NetFort currently employs 16 people at its headquarters in Galway Technology Park in Mervue.
It has developed proprietary technology that transforms raw network traffic into readable data for security and operations teams. Its clients include the US Department of Treasury, Xilinx, Honda, Trinity College Dublin, the Revenue commissioners, and the Department of Health.
Netfort chief executive John Brosnan, who founded the company along with Morgan Doyle and Gabrielle Kennelly, said the company was “delighted with the terms”.
“Rapid7 will help us apply our network data insights across their cloud-based platform to improve the security posture of our customers,” said Brosnan.
Rapid7 said it did not expect the deal to have a material impact on its annualised recurring revenue growth for its current financial year.
“We were immediately impressed by NetFort’s technology and the deep network protocol expertise inherent across the team,” said Lee Weiner, chief product officer at Rapid7. “By bringing NetFort’s network data and analytics to our own platform, we enhance security analysts’ capability to unearth risk, detech attacks, and investigate incidents more effectively.”
