Exterro, a Leeds Equity Portfolio Company, Acquires Data Discovery Solutions Leader Divebell

Acquisition provides customers the only solution available to identify, map and understand all organizational data – structured and unstructured – to effectively respond to legal requirements, including e-discovery, privacy, breach response and internal investigations

PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Exterro, a leading provider of legal governance, risk and compliance (GRC) software, today announced it has acquired Divebell, a best-in-class data discovery SaaS solution. By combining Divebell's sophisticated data discovery capabilities with Exterro's comprehensive legal GRC platform, including its rich information governance workflows, Exterro further solidifies its position as a leading company that can help solve the legal, regulatory, and compliance data challenges facing corporations, government organizations and global enterprise. This represents Exterro's fourth acquisition since partnering with Leeds Equity Partners in 2018. 

With the acquisition, Exterro is poised to revolutionize the way organizations identify, understand and utilize their structured and unstructured data for e-discovery, internal investigations, data privacy compliance, data security and breach response, as well as emerging AI-related challenges such as AI-related legislation and governance. 

"In an era where data-centric regulations are tightening and organizational functions are converging under legal oversight, having an agile, accurate, and all-encompassing platform to automatically identify and contextualize all available corporate data has never been more crucial," said Bobby Balachandran, CEO & President of Exterro. "This is particularly important as companies manage legal governance, risk, and compliance obligations amid the rapid adoption of AI technologies. The efficient and effective monitoring of training datasets is imperative to ensure proper data governance and avoid privacy and intellectual property issues. This acquisition gives organizations the tools they need to understand where their data is coming from and ensures reliable and unbiased outcomes."

"The combination of Divebell technology with Exterro's world-class development team and its market-leading AI capabilities will result in faster, more powerful, and more cost-effective solutions to meet regulatory and compliance obligations," said Divebell CEO and co-founder, Vikram Shrowty. "The integration of Divebell with Exterro's established data platform will give customers continuous automatic visibility into their data and the ability to automatically detect, measure, and remediate risk across their data ecosystem. Factoring in our quick time-to-value, this transaction will be transformative for a market in which competitive solutions are either a big lift to operationalize or lack automation or both."

"Divebell's sophisticated data discovery software is transforming the way that customers understand and protect their sensitive data inventories across the enterprise in an evolving regulatory landscape," added Kevin Malone, Managing Director at Leeds Equity. "This acquisition is a cornerstone in Exterro's strategy to lead the market in comprehensive legal GRC and data governance software."

Reed Smith LLP served as legal counsel to Exterro.

About Exterro, Inc.
Exterro empowers legal teams to proactively and defensibly manage their Legal Governance, Risk and Compliance (Legal GRC) requirements. Its Legal GRC software is the only comprehensive platform that leverages automation, workflow optimization, and one of the first to utilize responsible AI to give professionals insight into and control over the complex interconnections of privacy, legal operations, digital investigations, cybersecurity response, compliance, and information governance. Thousands of teams around the world in corporations, law firms, managed services providers, and government and law enforcement agencies trust Exterro to manage their risks and drive successful outcomes at a lower cost. For more information, visit www.exterro.com

About Divebell

Divebell's powerful Data Discovery platform provides a robust foundation for operationalizing your data governance, data privacy management and data protection programs at scale. Divebell's lightweight and modern architecture allows customers to rapidly scan petabytes of data to understand the sensitive data footprint, pinpointing risks and then facilitating collaborative workflows to ensure appropriate risk posture. Divebell's platform allows our customers to confidently manage their crucial data assets. For more information, visit www.divebell.com

About Leeds Equity Partners

Leeds Equity is a New York-based private equity firm dedicated exclusively to partnering with management teams in the education, training and information and data management services industries (the "Knowledge Industries"). The firm was founded in 1993 and currently manages approximately $4.8 billion of capital across a broad spectrum of companies within the Knowledge Industries. Leeds Equity seeks to leverage its sector-focused expertise and market insights to create long-term value for its partner companies. For additional information on Leeds Equity Partners, see www.leedsequity.com

For More Information:
Jacques Galante
Tel. 212-835-2000
Fax: 212-835-2020
www.leedsequity.com

SOURCE LEEDS EQUITY PARTNERS