US-based digital identity company Keyfactor is going international with the acquisition of Spanish firm Redtrust.
The acquisition, financial terms of which were not disclosed, brings together the two digital identity solution providers to form an organisation with international reach.
“This gives us a beachhead immediately in the European market. Prior to that, we were solely a North American-based organization,” Keyfactor’s CEO Jordan Rackie told a local Cleveland news source. “We’ve been gaining traction across Europe, landing a couple strong, Global 2000 brands. We were looking at ways to expand and this seemed like a great fit.”
We’re now on an unstoppable mission to secure the digital identities for companies of all sizes, in any market
Daniel Rodriguez, CEO, Redtrust
Both companies specialise in digital identity solutions, but in addition to primarily operating in different regional markets, have slightly different areas of focus in terms of the size of companies their solutions are aimed at.
“Keyfactor has been focused on Global 2000 companies and what Redtrust does is solve the use case that is more apparent and readily available to be addressed in the S&P and midmarket,” said Rackie. “There is a quicker cycle and transactional formula baked into their product that I think over time we can bring back into the States and cross-pollinate product lines across both sides.”
“We found the perfect partner with Keyfactor, and I’m thrilled for Redtrust to reach this important company milestone,” said Daniel Rodriguez, CEO of Redtrust. “Together we have a shared vision for the future of trust, and an obsession with technical excellence and customer success. We’re now on an unstoppable mission to secure the digital identities for companies of all sizes, in any market.”
It’s been a big year for Keyfactor so far. In January, it announced a $77 million growth funding round led by Insight Partners, and in June, it saw several changes to senior management: Rackie took over as CEO from Kevin von Keyserling, who changed role to Chief Strategy Officer, and new hires Jim DeBlasio and Tim Harvey were brought in as CFO / EVP operations and Executive Chairman, respectively.
As Chief Strategy Officer, von Keyserling will oversee the company integration plans, which are expected to take off in 2020.
“Pervasive cyber-threats that exploit common Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) vulnerabilities, digital certificates and unsecured code are on the rise due to digital transformation, IoT adoption and evolving DevOps environments,” said von Keyserling. “We acquired the best company with the best technology to address these threats.”
Rather than being fully absorbed into Keyfactor, Rackie said that the plan is for Redtrust to continue operating, but to do so as ‘a Keyfactor company’. Its offices in Barcelona and Madrid come with approximately fifty employees, and will most likely be a significant element in Keyfactor’s plans for European growth, though the recent appointment of UK-based Kevin McGill as Vice President for EMEA Alliances suggests that channel partners will be a significant element in European activities outside of Spain.
“This is the start of an exciting journey in Europe,” said Rackie. “We do have high growth expectations for Europe. And this is just the beginning.”
