A cybersecurity startup incubated in the Atlanta Tech Village was acquired for $22 million, a win for the early-stage company as investors pull back from the tech sector.
Curricula, a 2021 Fire Award honoree, helps companies train their employees on cybersecurity threats through a storytelling platform. Huntress, headquartered in Ellicott City outside of Baltimore, is a security platform for small and mid-market businesses and will incorporate Curricula's training into its offerings.
Early-stage startups targeted for acquisitions
The deal comes as economic uncertainty has upended the vast amounts of capital flowing into startups nationwide. Investors are now prioritizing profitability, meaning startups with valuations based on growth projections are plummeting. Generally, declining valuations make it a good time for startup buyers to make purchases.
Early-stage companies, or those that have yet to raise a Series B round, are targets for acquisitions, according to PitchBook and National Venture Capital Association’s second quarter Venture Monitor report.
Curricula's most recent funding round was a $3 million Series A in 2020 from RCP Equity. Based on that round, the $22 million sale is most likely higher than Curricula's valuation, signaling success for the founding team.
Although acquisitions of early-stage companies remain relatively strong, a few factors have caused exit activity to decrease overall, according to the PitchBook report. Declines in public company valuations mean public corporations may not have the stock values to fund acquisitions and would have to use cash instead. Public offerings, often the next step for startups valued at more than $1 billion, have almost completely halted.
In Atlanta, seven companies exited in the first half of 2022, compared to 16 in the same period last year, according to PitchBook.
What’s next for Curricula
CEO Nick Santora and the Curricula co-founding team will continue to lead the Curricula brand after the acquisition.
The global market for cybersecurity is expected to almost triple in the next three years, according to Fortune Business Insights. An increasing number of e-commerce platforms and development of artificial intelligence, internet of things and other emerging technologies is driving demand for increased cybersecurity protections.
Curricula has 13 employees, all of whom will remain with the company through the acquisition. The startup will also retain its space in Atlanta Tech Village "for the time being," according to a spokesperson.
The deal started with a conversation about potential partnerships between Santora and Huntress Chief Technology Officer Chris Bisnett at the end of last year.
“The things both our companies said, did and how we thought about things was eerily similar,” Santora wrote in a blog post about the acquisition.
Both companies started in 2015. Santora bootstrapped Curricula for about five years before the 2020 funding round.
Santora sees the acquisition as a way to grow Curricula’s global footprint.
Huntress is partnered with more than 3,000 service providers to protect more than 68,000 businesses from cyber attacks. Huntress raised $40 million and acquired its first company in 2021.
“Effective cyber security education should be widely accessible for every business, no matter how small,” Santora said in the post.
