Private equity firm completes buy of Herndon’s Exostar

Arlington Capital Partners has completed its acquisition of Herndon-based cybersecurity company Exostar, the Chevy Chase, Maryland-based private equity firm announced Monday.

The deal was announced in September, and financial terms were not disclosed. It comes a little more than three years after Exostar was acquired by Chicago-based Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm, in a deal valued at about $100 million, The Wall Street Journal reported in 2020.

Exostar’s cloud-based platform allows users to securely collaborate and share information, including with third-party suppliers. It has nearly 200,000 customers around the globe in highly regulated industries including aerospace, defense, banking, insurance, health care and life sciences.

“We are excited to begin Exostar’s next chapter as we continue to expand our leading platform for secure business collaboration,” Exostar CEO and President Richard Addi said in a statement. “Arlington’s directly relevant focus, experience, network, and support will strengthen our team and advance our mission to make the Exostar platform the solution of choice for our target markets and our rapidly growing customer communities. We very much appreciate the thoughtful, strategic support we have received from Thoma Bravo that has helped us transform our company and solidify our position.”

Exostar was founded in 2020 and has about 250 employees.

“Building digital trust and sharing information seamlessly, securely, and compliantly is a growing necessity for companies globally and has made Exostar’s portfolio of products more critical than ever,” Michael Lustbader, a managing partner at Arlington Capital Partners, said in a statement. “We look forward to utilizing our domain knowledge in highly regulated industries to build on Exostar’s leadership position and accelerate their growth trajectory through a focus on innovation and enhanced customer value.”

Arlington Capital Partners focuses on middle market investments in industries including aerospace, defense, government services, health care and software, and has managed more than $7 million in investments.