Introduction

In mid-April, last year, the California-based Radiant Logic, a company that delivers identity data unification and integration solutions, successfully acquired France-based identity governance firm Brainwave GRC.

Together, the two companies will offer a first-to-market identity data platform, combining data federation and observability with analytics and prescriptive capabilities to create a complete policy information pipeline. This move is in direct response to the growing recognition that Identity-First Security relies on access to consistent, accurate identity data.

The following statements are from three chief stakeholders to give more context to this deal: Radiant Logic and Brainwave GRC's Chief Executive Officers and the company Gartner, Inc. More on Gartner later on.

“We have co-exhibited at a few major conferences recently, and the interest from the market and from our customers has been very exciting,” says Joe Sander, Radiant Logic CEO. “Practitioners see the opportunity to use analytics to mitigate access-related risks and significantly improve their identity data governance practices with the joint solution.”

Moving on, Brainwave GRC's executive director adds.

“We have been thrilled with the interest in Brainwave in the North American market,” said Cyril Gollain, CEO and co-founder of Brainwave GRC. “Like Radiant Logic, we have built our reputation on customer-driven innovation and responsiveness–the synergy between our two approaches to doing business combined with our shared passion for this area will allow us to grow tremendously together in the coming years.”

Finally, experts in the latest data science give their views on these M&A intricacies.

"The identity analytics and intelligence insights resulting from Radiant Logic + Brainwave’s data-driven approach will give unprecedented insight into user behavior, transforming how organizations detect cyberattacks, fraudulent activity, and lateral movement from insider threats. Together, Radiant and Brainwave provide an Identity-First Security foundation to deliver enhanced data security, reduced audit and compliance costs, and improved understanding and visibility of malicious activity," according to Gartner, Inc., an American technological research and consulting firm.

To conclude this Introduction; Brainwave continues to maintain independent operations for now, but the two platforms will be integrated over time, the announcement said. Terms of the acquisition remain undisclosed.

Background

Radiant Logic

Radiant Logic, the enterprise Identity Data Fabric company, helps organizations by making identity data easy to use, manage, and protect. The RadiantOne Platform turns identity data into a strategic asset, enabling organizations to improve decision-making, accelerate innovations, and minimize risk.

Built to overcome identity sprawl and technical debt, RadiantOne unifies identity information from disparate sources across legacy and cloud infrastructures to create an authoritative data pipeline that drives: Zero Trust Architecture; merger and acquisition integrations or divestitures; access, governance & and administration processes; cloud initiatives; customer identity projects; directory modernization; and more.

The Company boasts 20%+ revenue growth, EBITDA growth, and a 95% customer retention rate in 2022. Likewise, the Company's clients range from Microsoft to LinkedIn to McDonald's.

Radiant Logic does its core business, which to most experts outside of the data science field is, well, ambiguous at best. Hence, the following list of features will explain what Radiant Logic exactly does.

1. Identity Integration and Federation: Radiant Logic excels in integrating disparate identity data sources, creating a unified, federated identity service. This is particularly useful in complex environments where identity information is spread across various data stores.
2. Directory Virtualization: Radiant Logic provides a virtualized directory service, allowing applications to query a single access point for identity data, even if the underlying data is stored in multiple directories.
3. Global User Profiles: The ability to aggregate and normalize identity data from multiple sources into comprehensive global user profiles is a key feature, enhancing user management and access control.
4. Scalability and Performance: Radiant Logic’s solutions are designed to scale and perform in large enterprise environments, managing millions of identities and handling complex queries efficiently.
5. Support for Various Identity Standards:The platform supports various identity standards and protocols, ensuring compatibility with a wide range of applications and identity providers.

Brainwave GRC

Established in 2010 in France, Brainwave GRC has a strong reputation for helping companies across EMEA ensure compliance and protect their assets from fraud and cyber threats. Brainwave GRC provides essential Access Governance reports that include access risks, accounts, attestations, and out-of-the-box reports for major compliance frameworks—a common requirement in highly regulated markets.

Brainwave GRC successfully specializes in the following technology.

1. Access Reviews and Compliance Reporting: Brainwave GRC provides tools for conducting thorough access reviews and generating detailed compliance reports, helping organizations meet regulatory requirements and internal policies.
2. Risk Detection and Segregation of Duties (SoD) Controls: The software identifies potential risks in user access rights and enforces SoD controls, crucial for preventing fraud and ensuring operational integrity.
3. Identity Analytics and Governance: Advanced analytics capabilities allow organizations to analyze and optimize user access rights, roles, and permissions, streamlining IAM (Identity and Access Management) processes.
4. Audit Trails and Historical Analysis: Brainwave GRC maintains detailed audit trails and supports historical analysis of access rights, which is vital for forensic analysis and understanding access evolution.
5. Policy Management:The solution allows for the definition and enforcement of access policies across the organization, ensuring consistent and secure IAM practices.

The Rationale Behind this Major M&A Deal

With this merger, the American niche leader Radiant Logic augments its strength in several strategic areas, as will be mentioned below, while the French company Brainwave GRC enters into the North American market. A win-win scenario for both sides.

Here are five main reasons why this M&A deal happened.

1. Complementary Technologies: Radiant Logic's strength in identity federation and data integration can be effectively complemented by Brainwave GRC's focus on identity governance and analytics. This combination would allow the merged entity to offer a more comprehensive suite of IAM solutions.
2. Enhanced Product Offering: By integrating Brainwave GRC's capabilities, Radiant Logic can expand its product portfolio to include advanced identity governance and compliance management features, thereby enhancing its value proposition to customers.
3. Market Expansion: The acquisition could enable Radiant Logic to extend its market reach into new customer segments that require robust identity governance and compliance solutions, which are Brainwave GRC’s specialties.
4. Innovation and Development: The combined expertise and resources of both companies could foster innovation, leading to the development of more sophisticated solutions in the IAM space.
5. Competitive Advantage:By offering a more diverse and integrated set of solutions, Radiant Logic can strengthen its competitive position in the IAM market, making it a one-stop shop for customers' identity management needs.

Final Thoughts

In the ever-evolving digital landscape, where security and compliance are paramount, the combined force of Radiant Logic and Brainwave GRC is poised to deliver cutting-edge solutions, driving both technological advancement and business growth. The future of identity management looks promising, with this merger being a testament to the dynamic and adaptive nature of the industry.

Redmount M&A is a strategic partner for aiding companies in the extensive technology solutions and consultancy services space. The firm has a track record of helping companies in the space to execute transactions, achieve strategic capital restructuring, and in effect, increase the desired long-term market expansion objectives.