Carbon Black (company)

Carbon Black (formerly Bit9 and Bit9 + Carbon Black) is a cybersecurity company based in Waltham, Massachusetts.[1] The company develops cloud-native endpoint security software that is designed to detect malicious behavior and to help prevent malicious files from attacking an organization.[2] The company leverages technology known as the Predictive Security Cloud (PSC), a big data and analytics cloud platform that analyzes customers’ unfiltered data for threats.[3]

This article is about the cybersecurity company. For the chemical compound, see carbon black.

Carbon Black, Inc.

Formerly	Bit9 Bit9 + Carbon Black
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Endpoint security
Founded	2002 (2002) (as Bit9)
Founders	Todd Brennan Allen Hillery John Hanratty
Headquarters	Waltham, Massachusetts , U.S.
Key people	Patrick Morley, CEO
Products	Security software
Number of employees	1000+ (2019)
Parent	VMware
Website	carbonblack.com

The company has approximately 100 partners.[4] It has over 5,600 customers including approximately one-third of the Fortune 100.[5]

In October 2019, the company was acquired by VMware.[6][7][8]

History

Carbon Black was founded as Bit9 in 2002 by Todd Brennan, Allen Hillery, and John Hanratty.[9][10] The company's first CEO was George Kassabgi.[11] The current CEO, Patrick Morley, was formerly the chief operating officer of Corel. He took over the position in 2007.[12]

In 2013, the company's network was broken into by malicious actors who copied a private signing key for a certificate and used it to sign malware.[13]

In February 2014, Bit9 acquired start-up security firm Carbon Black.[14][15] At the time of the acquisition, the company also raised $38.25 million in Series E funding, bringing Bit9’s total venture capital raised to approximately $120 million.[16] The company acquired Objective Logistics in June 2015.[17] In August 2015, the company announced that it had acquired data analytics firm Visitrend and would open a technology development center in downtown Boston.[18] A month later, the company announced it would partner with SecureWorks, Ernst & Young, Kroll, Trustwave, and Rapid7 to provide managed security and incident response services.[19][20]

The company changed its name to Carbon Black on February 1, 2016, after being known as "Bit9 + Carbon Black" for approximately two years.[21]

In July 2016, Carbon Black announced it had acquired next-generation antivirus software provider Confer for an undisclosed sum. Prior to the deal, Confer had raised $25 million in venture funding and had more than 50 employees. According to The Wall Street Journal, the deal was valued at $100 million.[22]

On May 4, 2018, the company joined public markets, listing as "CBLK" on the Nasdaq exchange. As part of its initial public offering (IPO), Carbon Black raised approximately $152 million at a valuation of $1.25 billion.[23] Prior to its IPO, the firm had raised $190M from investors including Kleiner Perkins, Highland Capital, Sequoia, Accomplice, and Blackstone.[24][25]

In October 2019, the company was acquired by VMware.[6][7][8]

References

1. "Carbon Black, Inc.: Private Company Information - Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-02-13.
2. "Advanced prevention: Nothing new, just better". Network World, June 6, 2014.
3. "Carbon Black stocks close 26 percent up on first day of public trading". Cyberscoop. May 4, 2018.
4. "SEC S-1 Filing". SEC, 2018.
5. https://www.carbonblack.com/company/news/press-releases/carbon-black-announces-second-quarter-2019-financial-results/
6. "VMware Completes Acquisition of Carbon Black" (Press release). GlobeNewswire. October 8, 2019.
7. "VMware acquires Carbon Black for $2.1B and Pivotal for $2.7 billion". TechCrunch. August 22, 2019.
8. Lardinois, Frederic (August 23, 2019). "VMware acquires Carbon Black for $2.1B and Pivotal for $2.7 billion". TechCrunch.
9. "Dropbox's tale speaks to a Bay State weakness". The Boston Globe. August 5, 2012.
10. "John Hanratty". Bloomberg L.P.
11. "George Kassabgi". Veracode, 2014. Archived from the original on 2015-10-09. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
12. "Bit9 Names New CEO". Dark Reading, December 3, 2007.
13. "Elite Chinese Cyberspy Group Behind Bit9 Hack". Dark Reading, September 18, 2013.
14. "What does the Bit9 and Carbon Black merger mean for businesses?". Tech Radar, March 12, 2014.
15. "Carbon Black S-1/A Filing, pg. 11". SEC.gov. May 2, 2018. Archived from the original on May 9, 2018.
16. "Bit9 raises $38M, merges with Carbon Black in cybersecurity consolidation". Boston Business Journal, February 13, 2014.
17. "Exclusive: Bit9 acqui-hires Objective Logistics". Retrieved 2015-06-23.
18. "Bit9 + Carbon Black Continues Investment in Innovation by Acquiring Security Data Analytics Firm and Establishing Development Center in Boston" (Press release). August 27, 2015. Retrieved August 24, 2019 – via carbonblack.com.
19. "Bit9 + Carbon Black Announces the Addition of EY's Managed SOC to the "Bit9 + Carbon Black Connect" Alliance Partner Program - Bit9 + Carbon Black". Retrieved 2015-09-28.
20. Bit9. "Cutting-Edge MSSPs Supercharge their Services with Bit9 + Carbon Black, the Market Leader in Next-Gen Endpoint Security". Retrieved 2015-09-28.
21. "Bit9 + Carbon Black is Now Carbon Black - Carbon Black" (Press release). February 1, 2016. Retrieved February 2, 2016 – via carbonblack.com.
22. Zakrzewski, Cat (2016-07-19). "Carbon Black to Acquire Confer in $100 M Deal". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-07-21.
23. "Carbon Black IPO Pops In Hot Cybersecurity Market". Investors Business Daily, May 4, 2018.
24. "Carbon Black | CrunchBase". www.crunchbase.com. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
25. "Bit9 + Carbon Black Raises $54.5M - Carbon Black". Carbon Black. Retrieved 2016-02-02.

External links

• Official website