Data Encryption Deal: Wave Acquires Safend

Wave Systems Corp. has completed the acquisition of Safend Ltd., provider of endpoint data loss protection solutions, including port and device control, encryption for removable media, content inspection and discovery, for approximately $12.8 million, as addressed below.

The addition of Safend’s product suite creates cross-selling opportunities into the healthcare, financial and government verticals where data loss protection is a high priority. Safend’s reseller channel, combined with its direct sales force and strong presence in EMEA, gives Wave new sales resources with access to new market opportunities.  

Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, with offices in Philadelphia, Safend has approximately 70 employees.  

Prior to the acquisition, Safend was backed by technology venture capital investors including Elron Electronics Industries Ltd., Intel Capital and Walden Israel Venture Capital.

"With the escalation of cyber threats and an increasingly mobile workforce, many customers are looking for an integrated and cohesive security solution across the data lifecycle – from data-at-rest to data-in-motion and, ultimately, to archiving," said Steven Sprague, Wave CEO and President. "Safend’s award-winning suite of DLP, port control and removable media encryption software strengthens our existing portfolio of data encryption and device authentication solutions. The acquisition will enable Wave to deliver a holistic trusted computing management platform that roots software security to trusted computing hardware and provides the enterprise with interoperability across all platforms."

"Having gotten to know the Safend principals, the technical team, their products and the market opportunity over the last several months, the benefits of joining forces became clear to all of us," Mr. Sprague continued.

Wave will retain Safend’s executive team, including Safend Founder Gil Sever.

"Wave and Safend share a complementary vision for the future of data security, work with the same types of industry-leading customers, and have a respect for each other’s cultures of innovation," said Mr. Sever. "Joining Wave is a strategic move that we believe will deliver significant benefit for Safend customers, partners and employees. Together, we have an opportunity to further strengthen our leadership position in data security by creating new, innovative and integrated products and capabilities to solve our customers’ most complex security challenges."

Safend’s FIPS 140-2
and Common Criteria-Certified DLP suite includes:

• Safend Encryptor: Provides transparent hard disk encryption
• Safend Protector: Granularly controls ports and devices;
• Safend Inspector: Inspects and blocks leakage of sensitive content through email, instant messaging, Web, external storage, and printers;
• Safend Discoverer: Maps, classifies and locates data stored on organizational endpoints and networks;
• Safend Reporter: Creates detailed graphical reports used for compliance assessment; and,
• Safend Auditor: Non-intrusively scans endpoints for past and present connected devices and Wi-Fi networks.

"With this acquisition Wave has a unique opportunity to advance our relationships with our OEMs, customers and channel partners, as the Wave portfolio increases in depth and breadth," commented Brian Berger, Wave’s Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales. "Safend has cultivated relationships with an extensive network of distributors, resellers and VARs that we believe will provide expanded sales opportunities, especially those in key vertical markets and in regions of the world where Wave has had a limited footprint."

The $12,761,966 purchase price consisted of $1.1 million in cash and 5,267,374 shares of Wave’s common stock valued at the trailing 10-day average closing price of $2.214 per share. Wave plans to file a registration statement to register shares being issued in the transaction.