One of many big purchases in the industry: While the terms are confidential, sources have reported the price of the Hornetsecurity purchase, which is expected to close in the second half of 2025, to be well over $1 billion. This would make it Proofpoint’s largest acquisition, and also one of the biggest cybersecurity deals in recent years.Proofpoint is also reaping the benefits of Hornetsecurity’s own acquisition strategy. In March 2024, it acquired Vade, an AI-based email security platform that analyzes more than 2.5 billion messages daily. This helped Hornetsecurity bolster its detection capabilities for business email compromise (BEC) and spear phishing. The company has also enhanced its platform through several other acquisitions, including Altospam (anti-phishing software), IT-Seal (cybersecurity training), Zerospam (email security and anti-spam), and Everycloud (email security).Proofpoint has also been exploring other acquisitions and different funding routes as it reportedly prepares to return to public markets in 2026. Earlier this year, it also expanded its global partnership with Microsoft, using Microsoft Azure’s AI capabilities and cloud infrastructure to enhance threat protection and data security.With this strategy, it is reflecting trends in the security market. In March, Google stunned the industry when it announced it was buying cloud security company Wiz for $32 billion, its biggest acquisition of any kind to date. Meanwhile, Palo Alto Networks is purchasing AI and ML security company Protect AI in a deal valued at roughly $700 million; Cisco paid $28 billion last March for cloud security platform Splunk (also its biggest ever, and following a slew of other acquisitions); and Thoma Bravo bought Darktrace for $5.3 billion in April. Not to mention, Proofpoint itself was purchased by Thoma Bravo for $12.3 billion in 2021.”All of these acquisitions signal two main themes: Innovation by acquisition and growth velocity through strategic market penetration,” said Lee.Large companies need to move quickly in increasingly competitive markets, and without acquisitions, it can take years to expand into new areas, he noted, and potentially requires internal reorganizations, tough recruiting cycles, and untold expenses. Acquisitions bring in customers and MSPs, as well as talent with a “proven working culture.”Ultimately, this represents a “growth point” for cybersecurity, said Lee, where the traditional approaches of software and SaaS-based companies are making their way into the industry.
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