Searchlight Cyber has announced its first acquisition, snapping up Australian attack surface management (ASM) specialist Assetnote.
Founded in 2018, Brisbane-based Assetnote specializes in providing continuous vulnerability discovery and management to help organizations effectively manage their cybersecurity posture.
The firm’s customer base includes the likes of Linktree, Afterpay, and Canva, while its vulnerability research team has established itself as a prolific entity in the industry.
The acquisition will see Searchlight combine Assetnote’s ASM offering with its own dark web intelligence and monitoring capabilities to create a holistic continuous threat exposure management (CTEM) platform.
Post-integration, Assetnote’s technology will leverage the attacker’s perspective to identify critical vulnerabilities in customers’ infrastructure early on, while Searchlight will serve up visibility and context of attackers targeting organizations.
Searchlight said this combination will enhance cyber security teams’ ability to prioritize the most pressing threats and mitigate attacks before it is too late.
“ASM was always going to be the next area of expansion for Searchlight, and when we met the Assetnote team we very quickly recognized the opportunity to incorporate the best solution on the market into our company,” commented Ben Jones, co-founder and CEO at Searchlight Cyber.
Since a strategic growth investment from Charlesbank Capital Partners back in January 2024, Searchlight has been working to expand both its headcount and global partner network.
The firm said its debut acquisition marks the next stage of this growth journey, with Assetnote’s integration set to considerably expand its customer base and global reach.
“The expertise within the Assetnote team, its industry-leading research, and its impressive customer base bring huge value to Searchlight and our customers,” Jones added. “We are delighted to welcome the Assetnote team into the business and celebrate this critical step in our continued growth.”
Alongside the product integration, Assetnote’s entire team will join Searchlight, including founders CEO Michael Gianarakis and CTO Shubham Shah, who will head up the ASM side of the business, as well as its engineering and research teams in Australia.
“Having built our business from the ground up, the next phase of Assetnote’s journey is all about how we can best expand our options and proposition for our customers,” Gianarakis commented.
“With Searchlight, we found a company that is similar in terms of culture, vision, and opportunities for growth; everything naturally clicked into place.
“There is real excitement from across the team for the next chapter, and we can’t wait to see the benefits that our shared customers will experience as a result.”
Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
