ESentire – owned by investment firms Warburg Pincus, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) and Georgian – is working with investment bank Evercore on a sale process that could attract interest from other private equity firms, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the talks are confidential.
The owners of Waterloo, Ontario-based eSentire hope to achieve a valuation for the company that is more than seven times its annual revenue of about $150 million, the sources said, but cautioned that no deal is guaranteed.
Warburg Pincus, CDPQ and Evercore declined to comment. Georgian and eSentire did not respond to requests for comment.
Founded in 2001, eSentire is a maker of artificial intelligence-based cybersecurity tools that help organizations investigate and stop security threats before they disrupt operations. Its customers include more than 2,000 organizations in over 80 countries and across multiple industries.
Warburg Pincus first invested in eSentire in 2017. Canadian pension fund CDPQ and Canadian venture capital firm Georgian acquired a significant stake in eSentire from Warburg in 2022.
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The cybersecurity industry has seen strong deal momentum due to increasing spending by large companies on AI-based security software. In early August, Reuters reported that Japanese cybersecurity company Trend Micro was exploring a sale after attracting acquisition interest. In July, Google parent company Alphabet attempted to close a $23 billion deal to buy cybersecurity startup Wiz, but talks fizzled out.
