Herjavec, Fishtech Merge To Create Managed Security Goliath

The merger of Herjavec and Fishtech will form a 600-person channel titan with one of the largest managed security engineering teams. Herjavec Founder and “Shark Tank” star Robert Herjavec will lead the firm.

Private equity firm Apax Partners has brought together Herjavec Group and Fishtech Group to form one of the world’s largest pure-play security solution providers.

The merger of Toronto-based Herjavec, No. 104 on the 2021 CRN Solution Provider 500, and Kansas City-based Fishtech will create a 600-person channel titan with six security operations centers (SOCs) across three continents and one of the largest managed security engineering teams in the world. The company will adopt a new name this year and be led by Herjavec Founder and “Shark Tank” star Robert Herjavec (pictured).

“We are very impressed by Fishtech’s MDR [managed detection and response] offerings and its proprietary platform built on Google Chronicle, which we consider highly differentiated,” Herjavec said in a statement. “Jointly, we want to double down on the investment behind this market-leading solution and strengthen what are already deep partnerships.”

[Related: MSSP Herjavec Group To Be Purchased By Apax Partners]

The deal joins together Fishtech’s strength in enterprise MDR with Herjavec’s expertise in co-managed SIEM (Security Information and Event Management). The combined organization will have best-in-class MDR, professional services, and identity offerings. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, and Herjavec-Fishtech will likely be the third-largest security solution provider behind Optiv and GuidePoint Security.

Herjavec was founded in 2003, employs 360 people, and was acquired by London-based Apax in February 2021, according to LinkedIn. Fishtech was established in 2016, employs 214 people, and was founded and led by Gary Fish, who will become chairman of the board for the combined business. The merger between Herjavec and Fishtech was announced Thursday.

“We’re exceptionally proud of our results to date and even more excited about the growth to come,’ Fish said in a statement. “We’re honored that so many organizations trust Fishtech to be their managed solutions provider. With complementary offerings from Herjavec, we will transform the security industry globally.”

This is Fish’s third exit of a company he founded and mirrors the trajectory of solution provider FishNet Security, which in February 2015 merged with fellow security channel giant Accuvant to form Optiv (Fish served as FishNet CEO until November 2013). Fish also established network security policy management firm FireMon, serves as the company’s chairman, and help orchestrate its 2014 sale to Insight Partners.

Apax will hold a majority stake in the combined Herjavec-Fishtech, with both Herjavec and Fish retaining significant equity in the new business. Apax first got into cybersecurity with its $830 million purchase of Sophos in May 2010, and remained majority owner until the Oxford, U.K.-based platform security firm went public in a June 2015 initial public offering that valued Sophos at $1.6 billion.

Then in December 2019, Apax agreed to purchase Louisville, Colo.-based cybersecurity advisory firm Coalfire. At Herjavec-Fishtech, Apax said it plans to enhance international expansion efforts, continue to invest behind differentiated technology, and augment the workforce with additional threat intelligence and identity resources.

“We are truly excited by the combination of Herjavec and Fishtech,” Apax Partner Rohan Haldea said in a statement. ”By putting together two best-in-class organizations, we are confident that the combined platform will become an undisputed leader in cybersecurity services in the enterprise segment and have an opportunity to redefine the market category.”

Since being acquired by Apax, Herjavec in October purchased Aurora, Ontario-based Segmentech, a cybersecurity services firm specializing in CyberArk Identity and Access Management (IAM) & Privileged Access Management (PAM) implementations for enterprise clients. Herjavec’s then-SVP of Marketing Erin McLean told CRN in February that the company hoped to carry out four or five acquisitions in 2021.

“This partnership is the once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity that entrepreneurs like Gary [Fish] and I dream of,” Herjavec wrote in a LinkedIn post. “Together, with our combined teams of world-class talent, best-of-breed technology, and state-of-the-art facilities, we will transform the industry landscape driving our customers’ success.”