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Thoma Bravo Buys Majority Stake in Centrify to Help Boost Competitive Edge

Private equity firm Thoma Bravo has closed a deal to buy a majority stake in Identity and Access Management company Centrify for an undisclosed sum. The deal is expected to officially close in the third quarter of this year.

According to a note posted by Centrify’s CEO on the company’s blog, the organization is looking forward to investing the fresh infusion of cash into increasing the pace of innovation, as well as expanding product capabilities both organically and through acquisitions. According to Centrify management, this would have no discernible change on the company’s current transactions or customer experience.

A vast majority of Centrify’s current customer base comes from those using the SaaS platform as a secure waypoint to access Microsoft’s Azure cloud. But Microsoft is also developing its own native software solutions, most notably Azure Active Directory Premium and single sign on. This leads to a natural mix of cooperation and friendly competition. An investment in innovation will help sure up Centrify’s footing in the marketplace.

Thoma Bravo was founded in 2008 by Carl Thoma, Lee Bravo, Orlando Mitchell and Scott Crabill as a successor firm to Thoma Cressey Bravo. The firm made its first big entry into the SaaS market with its 2002 purchase of Prophet 21, a durable goods SaaS provider. The firm’s investment strategy is frequently described as “buy and build.”

Thoma Bravo currently manages $17.3 billion in assets under management. The company buys its stake in the Centrify deal from current VC investors which include Accel, Jackson Square Ventures, Index Ventures and Mayfield. Notable investments include SailPoint, McAfee and Barracuda. The firm currently has offices in Chicago and San Francisco.

Centrify was founded in 2004 by Tom Kemp, Paul Moore and Adam Au, who currently serve as the company’s CEO, CTO and SVP of Engineering, respectively. The business specializes in a variety of application services, endpoint services and infrastructure services. The company is also responsible for the Centrify Identity Platform, which encompasses all of these services and and secures users and privileged accounts against a compromised credentials in a data breach. Centrify currently employs about 450 people and is based in Santa Clara, California.