Portland-based Exterro acquired a data discovery software maker as part of the company’s goal to be the go-to governance, risk and compliance platform for corporate legal and IT departments.
The Oregon company acquired San Francisco-based Divebell. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but all seven of Divebell’s employees are joining Exterro.
The two companies previously worked together. Divebell’s software allows customers to quickly scan huge amounts of data and understand what might be sensitive data and pinpoint risks. This information can then be used to allow collaboration while still ensuring risk compliance.
“In an era where data-centric regulations are tightening and organizational functions are converging under legal oversight, having an agile, accurate, and all-encompassing platform to automatically identify and contextualize all available corporate data has never been more crucial,” said Bobby Balachandran, founder and CEO of Exterro in a written statement.
This deal furthers Balachandran’s goal of creating a platform that meets the evolving needs of legal and IT departments as the work of general counsels and information security combine. Earlier this year, Balachandran outlined that vision following the acquisition of Portland e-discovery software maker Zapproved.
The Diveball acquisition helps Exterro address the emerging area of artificial intelligence and AI-related regulations and governance. For instance, companies need to efficiently and effectively monitor AI training data sets for privacy and IP challenges.
“This acquisition gives organizations the tools they need to understand where their data is coming from and ensures reliable and unbiased outcomes,” Balachandran said.
Exterro plans to immediately incorporate its own responsible AI capabilities into the Divebell software.
“The integration of Divebell with Exterro's established data platform will give customers continuous automatic visibility into their data and the ability to automatically detect, measure and remediate risk across their data ecosystem,” said Vikram Shrowty, co-founder and CEO of Divebell in a written statement.
Exterro is backed by private equity firm Leeds Equity Partners. The company recapitalized last year at a $1 billion valuation. In addition to the Zapproved deal earlier this year, the company acquired data privacy company Jordan Lawrence in 2019 and digital forensics company AccessData in 2020.
