Houlihan Lokey Advises Armorblox

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Armorblox, Inc. (Armorblox) has been acquired by Cisco Systems, Inc. (Cisco). This transaction will allow Cisco to leverage Armorblox’s use of predictive and generative AI across its portfolio, unlocking broad security use cases beyond email. Houlihan Lokey acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Armorblox. The transaction closed on July 18, 2023.

Armorblox, founded in 2017, secures enterprise communications over email and other cloud office applications and protects critical business workflows from compromise. Armorblox uses natural-language-understanding-based deep learning algorithms, ML models, data science approaches, computer vision, and large language models (LLMs) like GPT to understand the content and context of communications. The Armorblox platform connects over APIs and analyzes thousands of signals, including user identity and behavior, to protect against data loss, prevent business email compromise and targeted phishing attacks, stop unauthorized exposure of sensitive PII, PCI, and PHI, and reduce incident response times through automated threat remediation. Armorblox’s customers include both medium-sized businesses and enterprise organizations as well as MSPs and protects more than 58,000 organizations.

Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) delivers innovative software-defined networking, cloud, collaboration, and security solutions. Cisco’s Security Business Group includes a comprehensive platform of security products that provide end-to-end protection for users and devices across multiple clouds and networks. The Security Business Group continues to grow and is focused on cloud-based security, AI-driven threat detection, and end-to-end security architectures.

Raj Chopra, SVP and Chief Product Officer, Security Business Group, highlighted how Cisco is taking an exciting step forward in executing its plans for an AI-first security cloud with its acquisition of Armorblox, a company that has pioneered the use of LLMs and natural language understanding in cybersecurity. The first application of Armorblox’s advanced techniques was securing the most significant way enterprise users get routinely attacked: email. Through this acquisition, Cisco sees many exciting broad security use cases and possibilities to unlock.

Leveraging Armorblox’s use of predictive and generative AI across its portfolio, Cisco will change the way its customers understand and interact with its security control points. From enhanced attack prediction, to rapid threat detection, to efficient policy enforcement, there are near-limitless ways to improve today’s security experience. The Armorblox team will join the Security Business Group, where they will work closely to bring generative AI-powered experiences to Cisco’s Security portfolio.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to Armorblox. This transaction underscores the team’s deep domain expertise and continued success advising clients in the cybersecurity sector. The transaction is expected to close by the end of Cisco’s fourth quarter of FY23. Financial terms were not disclosed.