According to a statement, Morpheus Purchaser Inc., described as a newly created corporation controlled by U.S.-based software investment firm Thoma Bravo, will buy Magnet Forensics in a deal valued at about $1.35 billion USD.
Magnet’s services include case management, incident response, digital forensics and HR investigations. The company also serves enterprise clients as well as military and intelligence operations.
After the deal closes, Thoma Bravo plans to combine Magnet with Grayshift LLC, which is majority controlled by the investment firm. The idea is to offer what the statement called “a powerful end-to-end digital investigations platform empowering more public safety agencies around the world.” Grayshift focuses on mobile device digital forensics.
According to the statement, Adam Belsher and Jad Saliba, founders of Magnet, will take on “critical leadership roles in the combined company” along with David Miles and Braden Thomas, the founders of Grayshift.
“We believe the combination of Magnet and Grayshift will unlock tremendous value for our customers by further integrating and expanding our product suite which will result in more seamless workflows in the recovery and analysis of critical digital evidence to investigations and ultimately contribute to our shared mission of the pursuit of justice,” Belsher said in the statement. “We look forward to partnering with Thoma Bravo and Grayshift to build upon our digital investigation suite to further innovate and continue to serve a growing number of organizations and use cases.”
The deal stands as one of the largest gov tech buyouts on record, following 2021's $2.3 billion Tyler-NIC merger and Siemens' $1.75 billion purchase of Brightly in 2022.
