Barracuda Networks, the email and network security company based in Campbell, California, acquired Evo Security, an Austin, Texas startup that sells identity and access management software built for managed service providers (MSPs). Barracuda announced the deal on 7 July 2026.
Terms were not disclosed.
Evo Security's team has joined Barracuda and its technology will be built into BarracudaONE, Barracuda's security platform. Barracuda said it would keep supporting the MSPs that already use Evo's products.
What Evo Security built
Evo puts identity and access management and privileged access management into a single multi-tenant platform, so an MSP can run them across all of its clients from one place. The product combines multi-factor authentication, single sign-on, help desk verification, RADIUS and privileged access management, including elevation of rights for technicians and end users, in one agent and one dashboard.
MSPs typically manage IT for many small and medium-sized businesses at once. Evo's pitch was that enterprise identity products are built for a single large organisation and do not fit that model. Its tools control who can access what, when and how, and remove standing administrator privileges that attackers can exploit.
Evo sums up its approach with the line that managed security starts with identity. Barracuda said customers of its partners would get a modern, AI-infused identity product that is affordable and easy to use, while partners would manage it from a single multi-tenant environment.
“We built Evo Security to solve the identity challenges MSPs face every day.”
Why Barracuda is buying
Barracuda said the deal gives BarracudaONE four layers of identity security. Evo covers the first, controlling identity and privilege. Barracuda's existing products cover the rest: SecureEdge ZTNA replaces broad network access with identity-based controls, Entra ID Backup protects Microsoft Entra ID settings from accidental or malicious changes, and Managed XDR watches email, endpoints, networks and cloud services for credential theft and lateral movement.
Chief executive Rohit Ghai said existing enterprise identity products were complex and costly and did not meet the needs of MSPs that manage millions of identities across thousands of customer environments. He linked the deal to the rise of AI agents, saying both human and non-human identities now need protecting.
Barracuda sells largely through partners and describes BarracudaONE as a partner-first platform. Adding Evo lets MSPs offer identity security without stitching several vendors' tools together, the company said.
The company said every layer of the resulting identity stack is built for partner operations, and that the combination would be easy to deploy, complete in coverage and driven by automation.
The founders and the funding
Evo Security was founded in 2018 and is led by chief executive and founder Michael Roth. It began with cloud-based multi-factor authentication and single sign-on for MSPs and their small business customers before adding privileged access management.
In July 2024 it raised a $6 million Series A led by TechOperators, an Atlanta cybersecurity venture firm, with Sorenson Capital, Prelude, Strategic Cyber Ventures, Inner Loop Capital and MetroSITE Group taking part. SecurityWeek reported that the round brought Evo's total funding to about $15 million. The companies did not disclose Evo's headcount or how many MSPs use it.
Roth said joining Barracuda would give Evo the scale, reach and resources to take its MSP-focused approach to many more partners worldwide.
Identity as the next layer
Barracuda timed the deal to what it described as a surge in identity and access management spending, citing industry analysts who expect double-digit growth each year. It argued that many identity platforms force customers to rip out and replace large parts of their security stack, and positioned BarracudaONE as an alternative that adds identity controls to tools partners already use.
Ghai said AI was increasing the speed and scale of identity-centred attacks, and that the combined company aimed to help organisations of every size keep ahead of them. Barracuda says it is trusted by hundreds of thousands of organisations and partners worldwide.
For Evo's investors, led in the last round by TechOperators, the sale came about two years after the Series A. The price they received was not disclosed.
