Seattle-based cybersecurity firm ExtraHop Networks Inc. has laid off a small number of employees, the company confirmed to the Business Journal on Thursday.
Despite the layoffs, Sweety Rath, ExtraHop's vice president of human resources, said in an email the company has grown its headcount 30% so far this year and plans to continue growing next year.
"We are shifting our sales development function to better support our overall go-to-market strategy, including doubling down on our channel and distribution partnerships around the globe," Rath said in an email. "These changes impacted a small percentage of the overall ExtraHop workforce."
The company didn't provide specifics on how many employees were impacted or how many employees it has now.
Private equity firms Bain Capital Private Equity and Crosspoint Capital Partners acquired ExtraHop for $900 million in a deal that was announced in June 2021 and closed the following month. ExtraHop at the time planned to continue growing its team. In February, Patrick Dennis replaced Arif Kareem as CEO. Kareem had been the CEO since 2016 but retired when Dennis took over. Dennis, previously the CEO at the Massachusetts-based customer experience software company Alvaria, told the Business Journal that same month ExtraHop had about 500 employees.
ExtraHop was founded in 2007 by current ExtraHop Chief Technology Officer Jesse Rothstein and current Chief Customer Officer Raja Mukerji. The two were previously senior architects at Seattle-based app and cybersecurity company F5. ExtraHop focuses on what is called network detection and response, which allows organizations to search their networks for bad actors. Its clients include The Home Depot and Adobe.
Dennis in February said the company was focusing on building a strong company rather than chasing a potential IPO, something the company still aspired to after the acquisition announcement in 2021, according to Rothstein.
"Markets do things, and I don't control them," Dennis told the Business Journal in February. "What I can do is, working with Jesse and Raja and the rest of the team, we can build an amazing company."
Multiple local companies have laid off employees recently. Kirkland-based cybersecurity company Tanium in September confirmed "small organizational changes" that included layoffs. Seattle-based biotech TwinStrand Biosciences, meanwhile, had multiple former employees take to LinkedIn this month to report layoffs at the company.
