An analyst has talked up the potential MSP opportunities surrounding Proofpoint’s acquisition of Varonis as he branded the betrothed duo a “sensible pairing”.
Proofpoint on Friday headed off media speculation by confirming plans to grab Varonis for $6.3bn – the largest of a string of acquisitions it has made since Thoma Bravo took it public for $12.3bn in 2021.
In a blog post, Varonis CEO Yaki Faitelson said email and collaboration security specialist Proofpoint and data access governance ace Varonis solve “two halves of the same problem”.
“Proofpoint understands how attacks begin: with people and, increasingly, with AI agents acting on their behalf,” he wrote.
“Varonis understands what those attacks are after.”
“Sensible” pairing
In an analysis piece following the deal, Futurum Group VP Fernando Montenegro claimed Proofpoint’s case for the deal – namely that AI has moved to the centre of the security problem – “holds up”.
“With attackers moving faster and agents getting broad access to sensitive information, the answer, in Proofpoint’s telling, is to connect what it sees about people, threats, and behaviour with what Varonis knows about data, access, and usage,” Montenegro wrote.
“That logic holds up, and the pairing is a sensible one.”
Varonis is the largest of a string of acquisitions for Proofpoint under Thoma Bravo that also includes InteliSecure, Tessian, Normalyze, Nuclei, Acuvity and Hornetsecurity.
Zoning in on the last of these deals, Montenegro said the MSP partners Proofpoint inherited via its $1.8bn acquisition of Microsoft 365 security for MSPs provider Hornetsecurity last year could provide a new route to market for Varonis.
“How will channel partners and managed service providers fit in?,” he wrote.
“Hornetsecurity gives Proofpoint a managed service provider channel that Varonis never built, which could take data access governance down-market if the two are connected.”
“The eventual IPO is why it got done”
In a LinkedIn post, Kevin Skapinetz, General Partner at venture capital firm TechOperators, said Varonis will give Proofpoint a story it can “bring back to the public market” as it reignites plans for an IPO.
“The Varonis deal makes a lot more sense if you stop thinking of Proofpoint as the buyer and start thinking of Thoma Bravo as the seller,” he wrote.
“A $2bn ARR email company, plus a data security franchise bought on sale, minus $100m of overlap, equals a $3bn Data & AI security platform at PE margins…. The eventual IPO is why it got done.”
Proofpoint and Varonis claim their proposed union – which is set to close in the first half of 2027 – will create “the industry’s largest data and AI cybersecurity organisation”.
“By connecting communications, identities, permissions, data, and AI, we are creating an intelligence advantage that helps customers see risk more clearly, respond faster, and defend against the next generation of AI risks,” Proofpoint CEO Sumit Dhawan stated.
“This is a defining step in Proofpoint’s evolution into a cybersecurity platform built for the future of AI.”
