CyberArk Buys Thoma Bravo-Backed Venafi For $1.5B

began the week with an M&A splash, agreeing to buy machine identity company for $1.5 billion.

The deal involves approximately $1 billion in cash and $540 million in CyberArk shares.

The price marks a 34% increase from Venafi鈥檚 valuation back in late 2020, when private equity giant made a growth investment valuing it at $1.15 billion.

Other investors in the Salt Lake City-based company include and .

The deal is the largest this year for a private cybersecurity company, per SA国际传媒 .

The deal helps CyberArk 鈥� one of the most valuable cyber companies in the world 鈥� delve deeper into the growing area of machine identity security. Machine identity has become a hot topic in cyber as mobile and distributed workforces have led to a proliferation of machines on networks and a widening amount of endpoints.

CyberArk estimates the deal expands its total addressable market by nearly $10 billion.

More deal-making

It鈥檚 been a busy few weeks in the cyber sector for Thoma Bravo, which just bought for a cool $5.32 billion in cash last month.

In general, investors are remaining bullish on deal-making for cyber startups. At the annual in San Francisco two weeks ago, many VCs and private equity investors said there has been significantly more 鈥渃hatter鈥� about potential deals.

One reason is that several large companies have socked away vast amounts of cash as M&A has slowed in recent quarters. Tech giants like have watched their cash reserves balloon during that time.