Vector Capital invests $100 million in Malwarebytes to improve cyberprotection for organizations

Vector Capital announced it will make a strategic $100 million minority investment in Malwarebytes. As part of the transaction, Vector Capital Managing Directors Sandy Gill and Dave Fishman will join the company’s Board of Directors.

Malwarebytes plans to leverage the investment to further innovate the company’s product portfolios, accelerate momentum with channel partners and consolidate its ownership structure. Malwarebytes will add intuitive new features to its award-winning consumer protection and privacy suite and continue to launch new modules that enable organizations to reduce their attack surface from the same cloud platform they trust for detection and remediation. The investment will also enable Malwarebytes to enhance and scale its international channel partner program and rapidly growing Managed Service Provider (MSP) business.

Founded in 2008, Malwarebytes built on its unmatched remediation to simplify cyberprotection for consumers and organizations. Harnessing its team of threat hunters worldwide, deep threat intelligence and the latest artificial intelligence and machine learning, Malwarebytes detects and mitigates existing and never-before-seen threats daily for millions of customers. As one of the resources IT and security professionals trust most, Malwarebytes is uniquely positioned to protect resource-constrained organizations with intuitive prevention tools and effective defenses that don’t require customers to hire an army of experts.

“Vector Capital’s investment is a testament to the transformational work our team has done to evolve our best-in-class endpoint protection to comprehensive offerings for both individuals and organizations, while driving profitable growth,” said Marcin Kleczynski, co-founder and CEO of Malwarebytes. “Importantly, Vector Capital shares our mission to protect those most vulnerable to cyberattacks through cutting-edge technologies and the power of community. We believe Vector Capital’s collaborative approach and proven ability to help build global software businesses make them ideal partners in our ongoing efforts to build a safer digital world.”

Sandy Gill, Managing Director at Vector Capital, said, “Malwarebytes is a global market leader with one of the most widely recognized brands in cyber remediation and protection. It has become an essential business that keeps the internet safer for millions of people and organizations worldwide every day. We look forward to supporting the company by leveraging our strong track record in building and scaling technology companies and working alongside management to further accelerate growth across both the consumer and corporate business lines.”

Dave Fishman, Managing Director and Head of the Private Equity team at Vector Capital, added, “Malwarebytes represents exactly the kind of transformational opportunity that aligns with our strategy. We have been extremely impressed by Marcin and the Malwarebytes executives. Along with Vector’s Value Creation Team, we have an incredible opportunity to drive and unlock value.”

The funding by Vector Capital follows investments led by Highland Capital Partners and Fidelity Management and Research Company.

The transaction is subject to standard and customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Paul Hastings LLP acted as legal counsel for Vector Capital. Fenwick & West LLP acted as legal counsel for Malwarebytes and Jefferies LLC acted as its exclusive financial advisor.

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