DigiCert to Acquire Vercara

DigiCert, a leading global provider of digital trust backed by Clearlake Capital Group, L.P., Crosspoint Capital Partners L.P. and TA Associates Management L.P., recently announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Vercara from Golden Gate Capital and GIC.

Vercara is a leading provider of cloud-based services that secure the online experience, including managed Authoritative Domain Name System (DNS) and Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) security offerings that protect organizations’ networks and applications. The acquisition will expand DigiCert’s capabilities to protect organizations of all sizes from the growing number of cyberattacks organizations experience each day. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The acquisition of Vercara complements DigiCert’s core PKI and certificate management infrastructure that protects and authenticates people, websites, content, software and devices. Vercara’s industry-recognized UltraDNS product is an enterprise-grade managed authoritative DNS service that securely delivers fast and accurate query responses to websites and other vital online assets, ensuring 100% website availability along with built-in security for superior protection. Vercara’s UltraDDoS Protect, UltraWAF, UltraAPI and UltraEdge solutions provide layers of protection for organizations’ web applications and infrastructure. By combining with Vercara, DigiCert will be positioned to provide customers with a unified DNS and certificate management experience, including more efficient domain control validation and simplified DNS configuration.

“The addition of Vercara into our portfolio further advances DigiCert’s goal of delivering digital trust for the real world,” said Amit Sinha, CEO of DigiCert. “We believe the combination of Vercara’s talent and suite of products with DigiCert’s technology, distribution and scale will help ensure customers will get a broader set of solutions that protect them at every stage and layer of online engagement, all from a single vendor. We look forward to working with the Vercara team to continue delivering digital trust to our customers.”

“The team at Vercara has created leading DNS and application security solutions that serve and protect the world’s largest brands, including top e-commerce, financial and media companies,” said Colin Doherty, CEO of Vercara. “The combination of Vercara’s and DigiCert’s talent and industry-leading product portfolios is expected to further bolster Vercara’s dedication to securing the online experience and building digital trust. Together, we will help position customers for continued success in operating increasingly complex enterprises.”

“This strategic acquisition represents an important milestone in our growth vision for DigiCert,” said Prashant Mehrotra, partner at Clearlake. “Vercara further strengthens the technology DigiCert provides its customers to protect against an increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity threat environment, and we believe this additional product offering will accelerate DigiCert’s leadership position in digital trust.”

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close this year.

Sidley Austin LLP served as legal advisor to DigiCert. Barclays served as the exclusive financial advisor to Vercara. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP served as legal advisor to Vercara.