Amadeus Capital Partners, Eden Ventures and Spark Ventures have agreed to sell Secerno, an Oxford-based data security business, to Oracle Corporation for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is expected to close this quarter. Eden and Spark first invested in Secerno in 2005; Eden Ventures remains the largest venture investor in Secerno, whose second round of funding in 2008 was led by Amadeus. The exit is a profitable one for all the investors. 

Secerno, an Oxford University spin-out, has developed a disruptive database security and compliance software platform, designed to block both known and unknown threats. Using a sophisticated mathematical model, the software builds and continuously refines a model of acceptable behaviour, analysing the true intent of database interaction. Easy to set up, manage and enforce, Secerno’s technology provides an effective solution to an increasingly complex problem.

For Oracle, the acquisition adds a heterogeneous database firewall to the company’s existing database security products. “The Secerno acquisition is in direct response to increasing customer challenges around mitigating database security risk,” said Andrew Mendelsohn, senior vice president, Oracle Database Server Technologies. “Secerno’s database firewall product acts as a first line of defence against external threats and unauthorised internal access with a protective perimeter around Oracle and non-Oracle databases. Together, Oracle’s complete set of database security solutions and Secerno’s technology will provide customers with the ability to safeguard their critical business information.”

Mark Caroe of Eden Ventures, Richard Anton of Amadeus, Kiko Duffy of Spark Ventures, issued a joint statement saying: “We are delighted that a European technology innovator is being acquired by one of the world’s leading companies. This is testament to the strength of Europe’s ability to produce world-leading technologies and the importance of venture capital in supporting the development of innovation.”  

END

For further information, please contact:

Chantal Ligertwood, PR for Amadeus, +44 (0)7976 229 210 chantal@ligertwood.net

Kiko Duffy, SPARK Ventures, +44 (0)207 851 7707 kiko@sparkventures.com