Varonis acquires SlashNext to enhance email security and threat detection capabilities against phishing and social engineering attacks.
Quiver AI Summary
Varonis Systems, Inc. has announced the acquisition of SlashNext, an AI-driven email security provider known for its exceptional detection capabilities against advanced phishing and social engineering attacks. Founded by Atif Mushtaq, a key figure behind FireEye's malware sandbox technology, SlashNext enhances Varonis' ability to offer comprehensive threat detection and response strategies, particularly in combating the growing risks of phishing across various communication platforms. The acquisition allows Varonis to strengthen its security offerings by linking email security, identity management, and data protection, thereby expanding its market potential. Varonis CEO Yaki Faitelson emphasized that this move aligns with the company's mission to protect data from initial attack points, while growth projections suggest significant increases in revenue and cash flow despite associated acquisition costs.
Potential Positives
- Varonis Systems, Inc. announced the acquisition of SlashNext, enhancing their capabilities in AI-driven email security and expanding their total addressable market.
- The acquisition strengthens Varonis' position against advanced phishing and social engineering attacks, providing customers with improved threat detection and response.
- SlashNext achieved the highest detection accuracy (99%) in an independent testing of cloud email security vendors, showcasing the effectiveness of their technology.
- Varonis is forecasted to maintain impressive revenue growth, expecting year-over-year growth of 10% to 14% for 2025, despite the acquisition-related expenses.
Potential Negatives
- The acquisition of SlashNext comes with incremental expenses, which could negatively impact short-term profitability.
- The updated guidance indicates a non-GAAP operating loss for the full year, suggesting operational challenges post-acquisition.
- Forward-looking statements acknowledge significant uncertainties and risks, raising concerns about the company's ability to deliver expected financial performance.
FAQ
What is the purpose of Varonis's acquisition of SlashNext?
Varonis aims to enhance its email security offerings, providing better protection against advanced phishing and social engineering attacks.
How does SlashNext improve email security?
SlashNext uses predictive AI to detect threats early, removing advanced phishing attacks from users' inboxes across various communication channels.
What is the expected growth of the email security market?
The email security market is projected to grow from $5.2 billion in 2025 to $10.7 billion by 2032, largely due to AI-driven threats.
What financial expectations does Varonis have for 2025?
Varonis expects revenues between $616.0 million to $628.0 million, with a year-over-year growth of 12% to 14% in 2025.
Who founded SlashNext and what is their background?
SlashNext was founded by Atif Mushtaq, an architect of FireEye’s core malware sandbox technology, emphasizing advanced threat detection.
Disclaimer: This is an AI-generated summary of a press release distributed by GlobeNewswire. The model used to summarize this release may make mistakes. See the full release here.
$VRNS Insider Trading Activity
$VRNS insiders have traded $VRNS stock on the open market 5 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 0 have been purchases and 5 have been sales.
Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $VRNS stock by insiders over the last 6 months:
- GUY MELAMED (CFO and COO) has made 0 purchases and 3 sales selling 104,994 shares for an estimated $5,943,128.
- DEN BOSCH FRED VAN has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 9,000 shares for an estimated $465,240.
To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative's insider trading dashboard.
$VRNS Hedge Fund Activity
We have seen 181 institutional investors add shares of $VRNS stock to their portfolio, and 207 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.
Here are some of the largest recent moves:
- ALYESKA INVESTMENT GROUP, L.P. added 2,195,730 shares (+inf%) to their portfolio in Q2 2025, for an estimated $111,433,297
- THRIVENT FINANCIAL FOR LUTHERANS removed 1,550,178 shares (-100.0%) from their portfolio in Q2 2025, for an estimated $78,671,533
- UBS GROUP AG removed 1,272,047 shares (-53.1%) from their portfolio in Q2 2025, for an estimated $64,556,385
- BANK OF MONTREAL /CAN/ removed 1,085,654 shares (-70.0%) from their portfolio in Q2 2025, for an estimated $55,096,940
- DRIEHAUS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC removed 1,084,651 shares (-100.0%) from their portfolio in Q1 2025, for an estimated $43,874,132
- VOYA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LLC added 1,004,476 shares (+43.3%) to their portfolio in Q2 2025, for an estimated $50,977,157
- POLAR CAPITAL HOLDINGS PLC removed 1,003,524 shares (-100.0%) from their portfolio in Q1 2025, for an estimated $40,592,545
To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative's institutional holdings dashboard.
$VRNS Analyst Ratings
Wall Street analysts have issued reports on $VRNS in the last several months. We have seen 13 firms issue buy ratings on the stock, and 0 firms issue sell ratings.
Here are some recent analyst ratings:
- B. Riley Securities issued a "Buy" rating on 08/26/2025
- Wells Fargo issued a "Overweight" rating on 08/11/2025
- Wedbush issued a "Outperform" rating on 07/30/2025
- Baird issued a "Outperform" rating on 07/30/2025
- RBC Capital issued a "Outperform" rating on 07/30/2025
- UBS issued a "Buy" rating on 07/30/2025
- Needham issued a "Buy" rating on 07/30/2025
To track analyst ratings and price targets for $VRNS, check out Quiver Quantitative's $VRNS forecast page.
$VRNS Price Targets
Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $VRNS recently. We have seen 15 analysts offer price targets for $VRNS in the last 6 months, with a median target of $64.0.
Here are some recent targets:
- Erik Suppiger from B. Riley Securities set a target price of $80.0 on 08/26/2025
- Fatima Boolani from Citigroup set a target price of $58.0 on 08/18/2025
- Andrew Nowinski from Wells Fargo set a target price of $70.0 on 08/11/2025
- Rudy Kessinger from DA Davidson set a target price of $50.0 on 07/30/2025
- Shyam Patil from Susquehanna set a target price of $65.0 on 07/30/2025
- Roger Boyd from UBS set a target price of $65.0 on 07/30/2025
- Matthew Hedberg from RBC Capital set a target price of $64.0 on 07/30/2025
Full Release
MIAMI, Sept. 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Varonis Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRNS), the data security leader, today announced the acquisition of SlashNext, an AI-native email security provider with the industry’s best detection rate for advanced phishing and social engineering attacks.
SlashNext was founded by Atif Mushtaq, one of the main architects of FireEye’s core malware sandbox technology. Their predictive AI sees through evasive tactics, removes threats from the inbox, and protects humans from multi-channel phishing attacks.
Hackers are flooding users with social engineering attacks across email and tools like WhatsApp, Slack, and Teams. SlashNext allows Varonis to provide CISOs with a complete and consolidated threat detection and response offering that stops threats early in the attack path.
“The acquisition of SlashNext is a natural evolution of our platform and significantly expands our total addressable market,” said Yaki Faitelson, CEO, and Co-Founder of Varonis. “By connecting the dots between email, identity, and data we will dramatically increase the value of our MDDR service and help customers stop threats in their inbox, where many data breaches begin.”
“At SlashNext, we built a fast, automated solution to stop advanced threats across communication channels,” said Atif Mushtaq, Founder and CPO of SlashNext. “I’m excited to join the Varonis team on their mission to protect the world’s data, giving customers end-to-end protection from the first point of attack to the last."
Email Security Built for the AI Era
The email security market is projected to grow from $5.2 billion in 2025 to $10.7 billion by 2032 driven in large part by the rise of AI-driven phishing and BEC attacks.
SlashNext is powered by predictive AI models that use techniques such as computer vision, natural language processing, and virtual browsers to protect users from the widest range of human risks.
In an independent test of cloud email security vendors conducted by the Tolly Group, SlashNext outperformed leading providers such as Abnormal Security and Mimecast. In the test, SlashNext demonstrated the highest overall detection accuracy (99%) and a perfect 100% detection rate for BEC and QR code attacks.
Financial Outlook
The Company is updating its guidance to reflect the incremental expenses associated with the acquisition of SlashNext. Due to the Company’s strong performance to-date, it is reiterating its previously issued free cash flow guidance.
For the third quarter of 2025, the Company now expects:
- Revenues of $163.0 million to $168.0 million, or year-over-year growth of 10% to 13%.
- Non-GAAP operating income of $1.0 million to $4.0 million.
-
Non-GAAP net income per diluted share in the range of $0.04 to $0.06, based on 134.0 million diluted shares outstanding.
For full year 2025, the Company now expects:
- ARR of $748.0 million to $754.0 million, or year-over-year growth of 17%.
- Free cash flow of $120.0 million to $125.0 million.
- Revenues of $616.0 million to $628.0 million, or year-over-year growth of 12% to 14%.
- Non-GAAP operating loss of ($7.0) million to ($2.0) million.
-
Non-GAAP net income per diluted share in the range of $0.11 to $0.12, based on 134.7 million diluted shares outstanding.
Actual results may differ materially from the Company’s Financial Outlook as a result of, among other things, the factors described below under “Forward-Looking Statements”.
Additional Resources
- Learn more about the news on the Varonis blog.
- Read why Varonis was named a Leader and a Customer Favorite by a leading analyst firm.
- Learn why Varonis is Gartner® Peer Insights™ Customer’s Choice and #1-rated DSPM .
- Check out these Varonis integrations.
- See Varonis in action: schedule a 30-minute demo .
- Visit our blog and join the conversation on X , LinkedIn , and YouTube .
Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Key Performance Indicators
A reconciliation for non-GAAP operating income (loss), non-GAAP net income (loss) and free cash flow referred to in our “Financial Outlook” is not provided because we do not guide on their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. As these are forward-looking statements, such reconciliation is not available without unreasonable effort due to the high variability, complexity, uncertainty and difficulty of estimating certain items such as stock-based compensation and currency fluctuations, which have an impact on our consolidated results. The actual amounts of such reconciling items will have a significant impact on the Company’s most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. The Company believes the information provided is useful to investors because it can be considered in the context of the Company’s historical disclosures of this measure.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking" statements, which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are not guarantees of future performance but are based on management's expectations as of the date of this press release and assumptions that are inherently subject to uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements include the following: the impact of potential information technology, cybersecurity or data security breaches; risks associated with anticipated growth in Varonis’ addressable market; general economic and industry conditions, such as foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations and expenditure trends for data and cybersecurity solutions; Varonis’ ability to predict the timing and rate of subscription renewals and their impact on the Company’s future revenues and operating results; risks associated with international operations; the impact of global conflicts on the budgets of our clients and on economic conditions generally; competitive factors, including increased sales cycle time, changes in the competitive environment, pricing changes and increased competition; the risk that Varonis may not be able to attract or retain employees, including sales personnel and engineers; Varonis’ ability to build and expand its direct sales efforts and reseller distribution channels; risks associated with the closing of large transactions, including Varonis’ ability to close large transactions consistently on a quarterly basis; new product introductions and Varonis’ ability to develop and deliver innovative products; Varonis’ ability to provide high-quality service and support offerings; the expansion of cloud-delivered services; and risks associated with our convertible notes and capped-call transactions. These and other important risk factors are described more fully in Varonis’ reports and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and could cause actual results to vary from expectations. All information provided in this press release is as of the date hereof, and Varonis undertakes no duty to update or revise this information, whether as a result of new information, new developments or otherwise, except as required by law.
About Varonis
Varonis (Nasdaq: VRNS) is the leader in data security, fighting a different battle than conventional cybersecurity companies. Our cloud-native Data Security Platform continuously discovers and classifies critical data, removes exposures, and detects advanced threats with AI-powered automation.
Thousands of organizations worldwide trust Varonis to defend their data wherever it lives — across SaaS, IaaS, and hybrid cloud environments. Customers use Varonis to automate a wide range of security outcomes, including data security posture management (DSPM), data classification, data access governance (DAG), data detection and response (DDR), data loss prevention (DLP), database activity monitoring (DAM), identity protection, email security, and AI security.
Varonis protects data first, not last. Learn more at www.varonis.com .
Investor Relations Contact:
Tim Perz
Varonis Systems, Inc.
646-640-2112
[email protected]
News Media Contact:
Rachel Hunt
Varonis Systems, Inc.
877-292-8767 (ext. 1598)
[email protected]