Galway-based tech business NetFort has been acquired by Nasdaq-listed Rapid7 for an undisclosed sum. Media reports suggest that the transaction value was in excess of €10m.

NetFort was founded in 2002 by John Brosnan, Morgan Doyle and Darragh Delaney. The company provides network traffic and security monitoring software for virtual and physical networks.

NetFort’s most recent account filings are for 2017, when the business booked a loss of €60,000, bringing accumulated losses to €1.8m. Year-end cash amounted to €1m and equity investment totalled €2.5m.

Among NetFort’s backers is Enterprise Ireland, which has invested €450,000 in the company.  NetFort’s largest shareholder is Brodoymoin Technologies Ltd, an entity where John and Gabrielle Brosnan speak for 90% of the equity. Brodoymoin  owns 57% of the NetFort Technologies Ltd equity.

• Download complete list of NetFort shareholders

In Association with

Rapid7 is listed on Nasdaq  and is headquartered in Boston. The company provides security analytics and automation software.

“We were immediately impressed by NetFort’s technology and the deep network protocol expertise inherent across the team,” said Lee Weiner, chief product officer at Rapid7.

“By bringing NetFort’s network data and analytics to our own platform, we enhance security analysts’ capability to unearth risk, detect attacks and investigate incidents more effectively.”

John Brosnan (54), CEO of NetFort, said that the acquisition by Rapid7 was a testament to the capabilities of his firm’s people and its technology. “Rapid7 will help us apply our network data insights across their cloud-based platform to improve the security posture of our customers,” he said.

Rapid7 was advised by accountants JPA Brenson Lawlor and law firm LK Shields.