Blackstone (NYSE: BX) through Blackstone Tactical Opportunities has acquired a controlling stake in TITUS Inc., an Ottawa based provider of data classification and categorization solutions headquartered in Ottawa. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Viral Patel, Managing Director at Blackstone Tactical Opportunities, said: “We are excited to combine Blackstone’s flexible capital and experience with TITUS market-leading solutions to continue to transform data-centric security. With data breaches at an all-time high, each day brings another example of the importance of protecting information.”
“Digital transformation and the cloud mean information increasingly travels outside of the corporate perimeter, and information security must now be based around the data itself,” said James Socas, Blackstone Executive Advisor. “TITUS solutions are a critical component of data-centric protection.”
TITUS is a leading provider of data classification and categorization solutions, with millions of users in over 70 countries worldwide. Its platform-agnostic solutions enable organizations to bridge multiple data security solutions prevalent in most large organizations to ensure documents and files are protected. TITUS solutions empower and enable employees to understand the value of critical data and how it must be handled. This is particularly important as compliance regulations, such as GDPR and NIST, raise the bar on data protection standards. TITUS has over 950 enterprise customers, including 3 of the top 25 global financial institutions and government and military organizations in 5 of the G7 countries.
TITUS was founded in 2005 and was bootstrapped until this investment by Blackstone.
“Since our inception in 2005, we have focused on data-centric security working with leading organizations around the world,” said Tim Upton, CEO and co-founder of TITUS. “Partnering with Blackstone will allow us to expand our geographic reach and to accelerate our innovation strategy with the backing of one of the world’s leading investment firms.”
AGC Partners served as financial advisor and Gowlings WLG served as legal advisor to TITUS. Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP served as legal advisor to Blackstone.
photo credit: TITUS