San Antonio-based cybersecurity company Jungle Disk is about to get much bigger.
The company has acquired three complementary cyber businesses — Los Angeles-based KeepItSafe, LiveVault and OffsiteDataSync — from tech holdings company J2 Global Inc. (NASDAQ: JCOM), adding on a large enterprise component to the local cyber company that in the past has solely focused on providing cybersecurity services to small- to medium-sized companies. All of the companies will be headquartered in downtown San Antonio.
Together, the three acquired companies have more than 33 global data centers and provide end-to-end physical, virtual, hybrid and cloud-to-cloud cybersecurity services such as cloud backup, disaster recovery and mobile endpoint. Combined they have thousands of customers are in heavily regulated industries such as health care, information technology and financial services across four continents, according to a press release.
The acquisition also provides Jungle Disk with additional proprietary software from the companies, according to the release.
Jungle Disk was able to complete this deal with the backing of its business owner Porthcawl Holdings LLC and a recently created private equity fund, Dry Line Partners LLC, which has global investors and focuses on acquiring tech companies within the business to business space.
With the acquisition, Jungle Disk is working with a marketing firm to undergo a "branding exercise" over the next few months to bring in the three new companies, which may lead to a new brand and name for the company.
Ultimately, the combined company will become the second largest privately owned tech company headquartered in San Antonio, Michael Girdley, a partner of Dry Line and local tech investor told the San Antonio Business Journal, a sibling publication of L.A. Biz, declining to specify any exact financial details about the deal.
This deal is the first for the San Antonio/Austin co-headquartered Dry Line, which was created in July 2020 by Girdley, Jungle Disk's CEO Bret Piatt and Austin-based investor Matt Morris to leverage regional strengths to complete private equity deals in both Texas cities, Girdley said.
Piatt is also a lead investing partner and co-founder of Porthcawl, which is comprised by a local base of investors, including its other co-founder, Huw Edwards. Along with Jungle Disk, the locally based Porthcawl has two additional companies in its portfolio, cyber insurance company CyberFortress and Modern Managed IT, a managed information technology services company focused on small businesses.
The deal took nine months to complete, Girdley said, adding that the group received a call from one of J2's investment bankers around Christmas 2020.
Jungle Disk will keep all of its current employees and will work with leadership from the other companies to determine whether they will each relocate, Girdley said. The company will look to hire in and outside of San Antonio for an undisclosed amount of jobs in areas such as tech and customer support, sales and marketing roles, Girdley said.
"These are going to be high-quality, white-collar real tech jobs," Girdley said.
