Why Hellman & Friedman Is Buying Checkmarx For $1.15 Billion

By Dan Anderson ● Mar 22, 2020
  • Tel Aviv-based Checkmarx is going to be acquired by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman (H&F) at a $1.15 billion valuation. These are the details.

Tel Aviv-based Checkmarx is going to be acquired by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman (H&F) at a $1.15 billion valuation, which makes this one of the largest acquisitions of an application security company. Checkmarx launched in 2006 and it employs over 700 people. Insights Partners owned the company since receiving an $84 million investment from the company in June 2015. And going forward, Insight plans to retain a significant minority stake in Checkmarx.

The proposed acquisition will bolster Checkmarx’s rapid growth at a time while software security is essential for modern enterprises. There are over 40 of the Fortune 1000 that have turned to Checkmarx for mitigating risk, securing code, and embedding security into the software development lifecycle.

“With more corporations leveraging software development to scale their business than ever before, executives are acutely aware of the increased risks caused by software exposure,” said Checkmarx CEO Emmanuel Benzaquen in a statement. “We are thrilled to partner with H&F in our journey that takes our ‘software equals security’ vision to the next level.”

Over 1,400 customers in 70 countries use Checkmarx’s suite of application security testing tools. And the company’s offerings are focused on enabling developers to bring vulnerabilities in software solutions to light before disaster strikes.

“Even before we invested in the company in 2015, we have been continuously impressed by the leadership to come out of this team of game changers and innovators,” added Insight Partners Managing Director Richard Wells. “We will remain active supporters and vocal champions of the Checkmarx team.”

Hellman & Friedman — which is based in San Francisco and founded in 1984 — has raised over $50 billion of committed capital and invested in over 90 companies.

“As cybersecurity threats continue to intensify, we strongly believe that embedding security early in the software development lifecycle is critical,” explained Hellman & Friedman Partner Tarim Wasim. “We look forward to building on Checkmarx’s tremendous success to date and supporting the company’s rapid growth in the years ahead.”