DigiCert Acquisition by Clearlake Capital Group and TA Associates Closes
DigiCert to accelerate investment in automation and certificate management solutions to support customers and fuel new growth
LEHI, Utah (October 16, 2019) — DigiCert, Inc., the world’s leading provider of TLS/SSL, IoT and PKI solutions, announced today that leading private equity firms Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. (“Clearlake”) and TA Associates have completed their previously announced investment in DigiCert. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed.
“DigiCert is excited to work with Clearlake and TA Associates as our new lead investors, and to continue our leadership in providing the best TLS/SSL products and solutions, focused on improving and automating certificate management,” said DigiCert CEO John Merrill. “We are confident in our vision for growth and the increasing value we’ll bring to our customers.”
TA Associates made its first investment in DigiCert seven years ago.
“TA has had a front-row seat to DigiCert’s impressive rise as the industry leader in its space, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with the management team to invest in and support DigiCert’s innovation and growth efforts,” said Jason Werlin, a Managing Director at TA Associates. “DigiCert has a unique opportunity to capitalize on new growth initiatives that we believe will help them better serve their customers and their industry.”
“DigiCert has an exciting business and a compelling vision for internet security based on the company’s legacy of innovation and roadmap for building trust in identity and digital interactions,” said Behdad Eghbali, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, and Prashant Mehrotra, Partner, of Clearlake. “We are ready to leverage Clearlake’s O.P.S.® framework to help the company to continue to build upon its product offerings for customers and fuel new growth through organic investments and acquisitions.”
DigiCert has a history of industry leadership, including being the first certificate authority to provide post-quantum cryptography for digital certificates, the first to launch an independent log for Google Certificate Transparency, and the first to offer TLS for the TOR browser. The company’s award-winning certificate management platform, DigiCert CertCentral®, automates the tasks of certificate issuance, renewal, discovery and remediation, with features including ACME protocol.
DigiCert also leads with its certificate-based encryption, authentication, integrity and identity for the IoT. The company operates PKI for enterprise authentication and many IoT device industry consortia and manufacturers, and has issued billions of device certificates to-date. DigiCert is also developing solutions in related emerging technologies, such as blockchain.
About DigiCert, Inc.
DigiCert is the world’s leading provider of scalable TLS/SSL, PKI solutions for identity and encryption. The most innovative companies, including 89% of the Fortune 500 and 97 of the 100 top global banks, choose DigiCert for its expertise in identity and encryption for web servers and Internet of Things devices. DigiCert supports TLS/SSL and other digital certificates for PKI deployments at any scale through its certificate lifecycle management platform, CertCentral®. The company is recognized for its enterprise-grade certificate management platform, fast and knowledgeable customer support, and market-leading security solutions. For the latest DigiCert news and updates, visit digicert.com or follow @digicert.
About Clearlake
Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. is a leading private investment firm founded in 2006. With a sector-focused approach, the firm seeks to partner with world-class management teams by providing patient, long-term capital to dynamic businesses that can benefit from Clearlake’s operational improvement approach, O.P.S.® The firm’s core target sectors are software and technology-enabled services; industrials and energy; and consumer. Clearlake currently has over $10 billion of assets under management and its senior investment principals have led or co-led over 100 investments. More information is available at www.clearlake.com.
About TA Associates
TA Associates is one of the most experienced global growth private equity firms. Focused on targeted sectors within five industries – technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer and business services – TA invests in profitable, growing companies with opportunities for sustained growth, and has invested in more than 500 companies around the world. Investing as either a majority or minority investor, TA employs a long-term approach, utilizing its strategic resources to help management teams build lasting value in high quality growth companies. TA has raised $32.5 billion in capital since its founding in 1968 and is committing to new investments at the pace of over $2 billion per year. The firm’s more than 85 investment professionals are based in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong. More information about TA Associates can be found at www.ta.com.