ScanSafe, a pioneer and market leader of SaaS Web security has been acquired by Cisco for $183 millions. TechCrunch was one of the first to post it.
Let’s have a closer look..
The company was founded by brothers Eldar and Roy Tuvey in 2004. These two former British investment bankers are set to share about $60m after selling their company. The London and San Mateo-based company raised about $43.5m in venture capital funding from groups such as Balderton Capital, Scale Venture Partners and Montagu Newhall Associates.
Balderton Capital, a London-based VC firm that was spun off Benchmark Capital and which first invested in the company at a very early stage and in other rounds, netted between $55 and $65 million from the sale of its stake. The return is unknown but most probably very impressive. Yahoo Finance believes “Balderton was the largest single shareholder with a 35 per cent stake and is set to see a return of 10 times on its initial investment, with a total return of about four times from its total investments in four rounds of funding.” The article has also other insights about the company’s growth.
In early 2008, Balderton earned $140 million by selling its 15.7% stake in the social networking website Bebo to AOL. That represented a ninefold return on its $15 million investment in May 2006.
That’s very good news for the european venture capital community, and can maybe give a better perspective to the recent Dow Jones Report shared on TechCrunch Europe.
“ScanSafe pioneered the market for SaaS Web security and continues as a leader in this rapidly growing market,” said ScanSafe CEO Eldar Tuvey. “At a time when enterprises are increasingly focused on a flexible and mobile workplace, the need for hybrid-hosted Web security solutions is greater than ever. By joining the Cisco team we will be able to offer even better and more flexible protection to our customers.”
