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Trustwave for Sale? MSSP, MDR Security Company May Gain New Owner, Report Suggests

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Trustwave may be up for sale, and the MSSP's valuation could be roughly $200 million to $300 million, Bloomberg reported.

Trustwave, a Top 250 MSSP based in Chicago, has been owned by Singtel (Singapore Telecommunications) since 2015.

Trustwave offers MSSP and MDR (managed detection and response) security services to customers across nearly 100 countries. The MSSP employs roughly 2,000 security professionals. Key Trustwave teams include SpiderLabs -- which provides threat research and intelligence to the cyber market.

Trustwave for Sale? The Early Clues

Speculation about a Trustwave asset sale first surfaced in May 2021. Here's the timeline tracing the chatter:

Meanwhile, Trustwave has continued to launch new managed security services. Key introductions include supply chain security services (December 2021) and more managed detection and response (MDR) services (June 2022).

MSSP and MDR Security Services: M&A Activity

M&A activity across the MSSP and MDR security markets has remained steady to strong.

At least five factors are driving the M&A activity, MSSP Alert believes.

  1. Talent: The cyber skills shortage is driving MSSPs to find talent through M&A.
  2. Threats: The growing, shifting threat landscape is inspiring M&A deals to close technology and expertise gaps.
  3. Speed to Market: Acquiring companies can often be a faster path into a new or evolving technology market or business region.
  4. Scale: Smaller MSSPs are merging to counter the scale of larger rivals.
  5. Growth: The traditional MSP market will experience 10% or so compound annual growth rates (CAGR) in the years ahead. The MSSP market, in stark contrast, is growing at an 18 percent CAGR.

See more than 130 MSSP M&A deals listed here.

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.