Welcoming Apax Partners to Herjavec Group
February 11, 2021
A letter from Herjavec Group Founder & CEO, Robert Herjavec
We recently held a virtual company-wide kick off and marveled at how seamless it was to see 300 of our team members, on screen, from home, all at once, all over the world. We’ve come a long way in the last 12 months in terms of adapting to the “new normal”. Our theme was “Mask On, Blast Off”. We spoke a lot about what we did to “make it work” and how we came together as a resilient team to support our enterprise customers in 2020. We wanted to acknowledge the personal, emotional, and physical challenges we have all been grappling with but make it clear that as we look forward, we are poised for acceleration. As a business, and as a team, we have never been stronger.
It’s time to take Herjavec Group to the next level.
|
There’s a purpose to every good analogy and in this case I feel like I outdid myself (insert tap on back!). With Herjavec Group being the rocket accelerating towards a future of hypergrowth, we needed to add some additional rocket fuel into the mix. I couldn’t be more thrilled to confirm our new relationship with Apax Partners. We announced today that Apax will acquire the majority share in Herjavec Group. I wanted to take this opportunity to share my view on why this is such a critical opportunity for our team, and most importantly for you, our customers. |
 |
When we started Herjavec Group in 2003, we had the vision of building a cybersecurity company that would help enterprises navigate security challenges. That was the goal.
We learned an important lesson in that first year: Customers will not leave “good enough” for “potentially better”. Value was the differentiator. And it was our responsibility to ensure that Herjavec Group’s value – to the industry, to our team and to you our customer base, was tangible.
Business growth is never linear and during our history HG has pivoted to adapt to evolving threats, market trends, and to our customers. We initially grew across Canada by architecting and deploying commercial firewall protection then transitioned to managing those tools. We rolled out the market’s first SIEM solutions and developed a Managed Security Services Practice (MSSP). Then we introduced incremental advisory and implementation services. In time we realized that to truly scale our business – we needed to have a global perspective. Security does not follow national borders and our viewpoint needed to broaden. In 2015 we entered the United States and then made an acquisition to enter United Kingdom. We continued to refine and expand our services offerings.
The rocket was preparing for Lift Off.
Today, Herjavec Group is 300+ people strong. We operate across Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, and India – and service companies in many more countries. We have 5 state of the art SOC facilities but have successfully transitioned to a fully cloud-based, geo-redundant, SOC Service Model. We have been recognized as one of the world’s most innovative cybersecurity companies, earning accolades from industry analysts including Gartner, Forrester, IDC, and MSSP Alert. We pride ourselves on attracting top security talent, and continuously advancing our cyber services which include Advisory Services, Architecture & Implementation of best of breed technologies, Identity & Access Management, 24/7 Managed Security Services, Threat Management, and Incident Response. We have built a great business. But we couldn’t do it without you – our customers. Through every step of the way we have accelerated with you in mind and remained steadfast in our mission – to make enterprises around the world more secure.
As we go forward into the next phase of Herjavec Group’s growth story I want to be clear – Apax is the right partner to help us achieve our mutual objectives. The Apax Tech team has a deep understanding of the cybersecurity market through the Apax Funds’ prior investments in Sophos, a world-leader in the space, and Coalfire, a cybersecurity advisory business which was acquired by the Apax Funds in 2019. Apax is committed to cyber innovation and have challenged me every step of the way to address how we plan to drive MORE value for you our customer.
The answer?
We invest in people, in process and technology. Simple but effective.
The partnership with Apax will be prioritized in three key areas:
- Helping us augment our impressive talent bench with additional threat & identity expertise – driving more knowledge and industry leading experience in specialized areas critical to supporting your business.
- Accelerating our international expansion efforts to continue to bolster our localized support models – helping us service you when and where you need it, offering time to value and broadening our intel across verticals & geographies.
- Advancing our HG Identity and HG SOAR proprietary platforms– furthering our platform development to enhance customer-facing automation and incremental efficiencies, helping us drive greater return on your security investments. We have made significant strides in offering a truly threat-centric managed service and further investment in this area means we are not relying on commercially available threat feeds to support our customers as so many do today… We are building a leading platform with open source, commercial, government and HG engagement specific information to support our global customer base.
It’s easy to say that this acquisition won’t change your experience with Herjavec Group. I struggled with that thought, because in fact, it should. It should make it better. More talent, more investment, more automation, more support. More Value.
It’s up to us to show you the tangible benefits and let me be the first to reinforce, I couldn’t be more excited, or up to the challenge.
As we go forward into the new “new normal” (see what I did there?), your key contacts with Herjavec Group remain the same and I am remaining in place as the active CEO. Apax is letting us do what we do best. We are here to support you and keep your enterprise secure.
That being said - We do have some very exciting announcements coming over the next few weeks in terms of additional leadership talent and new partnerships – so stay tuned!
Again, let me reinforce, this acquisition and the growth funding that results is a testament to our entire team, and to you our loyal customer base who has entrusted us with your mission-critical assets. I am excited for this next phase in our growth trajectory as we continue to earn your trust. It’s a privilege we will not take for granted - Thank You.
I want to thank the entire HG team for their commitment to being customer obsessed, and for continuously prioritizing innovation and improvement as we navigate this important next step in our history.
Lastly, thank you to Apax Funds for believing in us, and providing the fuel to help accelerate Herjavec Group to the next level.
We’re here at the Right Time, in the Right Place, with the Right Team.
Mask ON, Blast OFF.
To Your Success,
Robert Herjavec
To review the official Herjavec Group and Apax Partners Communication click here.
Media Contacts:
For Herjavec Group
Erin McLean: +1-647-535-3126/ emclean@herjavecgroup.com
Kristin Glover: +1-416-844-9591/ kglover@herjavecgroup.com
For Apax Partners
Katarina Sallerfors: +44 20 7666 6526 / Katarina.Sallerfors@apax.com
Luke Charalambous: +44 20 7872 6494 / Luke.Charalambous@apax.com
Matthew Goodman / James Madsen, Greenbrook: +44 20 7952 2000 | apax@greenbrookpr.com
Take the First Step
In Transforming Your Cybersecurity Program
Enterprise security teams are adapting to meet evolving business needs. With 5 global Security Operations Centers, emerging technology partners and a dedicated team of security specialists, Herjavec Group is well-positioned to be your organization’s trusted advisor in cybersecurity. We’ll help you understand your risk exposure, increase your visibility and ROI, and proactively hunt for the latest threats.
