Tigard identity protection company IDX is being acquired by Baltimore-based cybersecurity firm ZeroFox.
In the same announcement, ZeroFox said it is also entering a merger with a special purpose acquisition company to go public on the New York Stock Exchange. Part of this SPAC deal will facilitate the acquisition of IDX, according to a transcript of a call with investors filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
IDX has 150 employees and the combined company will have 650 employees and roughly 2,000 customers. ZeroFox CEO James C. Foster told investors that IDX’s Portland-area headquarters will be ZeroFox’s West Coast Operations Center, according to SEC filings.
IDX has been a customer and partner of ZeroFox for years, according to the transcript.
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IDX helps customers, including companies and government organizations, monitor and protect themselves from identity theft. The company bills itself as the largest provider of data breach response services and has millions of users. It has been a fast-growing company for several years thanks to some large contracts, including a $400 million multiyear deal with the federal Office of Personnel Management to monitor the identities of government employees and contractors.
ZeroFox created a cybersecurity platform that supplies customer intelligence and disrupts phishing, impersonations, data leakage and other services. With the acquisition of IDX, the company says it now has an end-to-end platform to work with customers to protect and respond to a breach.
“Since ZeroFox was founded in 2013, we have helped companies address emerging security challenges caused by the transformational shift to a ‘digital everything’ world. This rapid digital transformation has made companies vulnerable to attackers, resulting in the highest breach rate the industry has ever seen,” Foster said in a written statement. “We believe that external cybersecurity must be a top three priority and part of the critical security tech stack for chief information security officers because perimeter firewalls and internal endpoint agents alone are not enough to protect company assets and customers.”
IDX has raised a total of $47 million from investors, according to the startup tracker Crunchbase. It was founded in 2003 and previously was known as ID Experts. The company’s technology is used by customers to protect more than 40 million identities.
“Joining ZeroFox is the result of a long-standing partnership based on shared values, a vision for a safer digital world and strong alignment on the market opportunity,” Kelly said in a written statement. “We look forward to leveraging our proven technology and deep tradecraft to support the mission of providing our combined customers with a platform and expanding set of capabilities.”
ZeroFox intends to merge with the SPAC L&F Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: LNFA). Barring any redemptions by SPAC investors the final combined company would have an equity value of $1.4 billion.
ZeroFox CFO Tim Bender told investors that the company, which has a January year-end, is finishing its 2022 fiscal year. So far this fiscal year, the company has $155 million in revenue either earned to date or committed on its balance sheet, according to the call transcript. It is forecasting a 30% growth rate next year.
