Cybersecurity provider SentinelOne Inc. has hired an investment bank to help it explore a sale, Reuters reported today.

The company is said to be working with Qatalyst Partners, a San Francisco-based bank that specializes in mergers and acquisitions, to “explore options.” Those options reportedly include a sale to private equity firms. 

Today’s report suggests that SentinelOne is already holding discussions with potential buyers. According to Reuters’ sources, the company has not yet received an offer that meets its “valuation expectations.” The sources added that SentinelOne may end the sale discussions.

NYSE-listed SentinelOne provides a cybersecurity platform called Singularity. It helps companies protect cloud workloads and employee devices from hacking. The platform can also secure deployments of Active Directory, a Microsoft Corp. tool used in the enterprise to manage how workers access business applications.

One of Singularity’s main selling points is that it includes automation features designed to save time for administrators. According to SentinelOne, the platform can automatically find all the devices that are connected to a company’s network. There’s also a built-in tool that allows administrators to remove malware from a device with one click. 

SentinelOne went public in June 2021. It achieved an $8.9 billion valuation in its trading debut after raising $1.2 billion from investors. That was nearly twice the sum CrowdStrike Holdings Inc., one of SentinelOne’s top rivals in the cybersecurity market, raised through its public offering two years prior. 

The company says its Singularity platform was used by more than 10,680 customers at the end of its most recent quarter. That’s up 43% from the same time a year earlier. Moreover, the number of companies that spend at least $100,000 annually on SentinelOne’s software jumped 61%.

The strong demand helped the cybersecurity provider increase its quarterly revenue by 70% year-over-year, to $133.4 million. But it missed its revenue guidance, which forecast slightly higher sales of $137 million.

The company’s widening losses also weighed on its most recent quarterly results. It posted a net loss of $106.86 million for the three months ended April 30, compared with $89.83 million a year earlier. Additionally, iy lowered its full-year sales guidance and had to restate its annual recurring revenue data.

SentinelOne’s shares dropped more than 30% after the release of its quarterly earnings report. Thanks to investor enthusiasm about the prospect of a sale, the company recouped some of those losses today. Its stock closed 16% higher at the end of the trading session.

SentinelOne currently has a market capitalization of about $4.23 billion. If the company’s reported plan to find a buyer materializes, the sale would likely mark one of this year’s largest cybersecurity acquisitions. It would eclipse several other high-profile deals signed since January, including Thales SA’s recent purchase of Imperva Inc. for $3.6 billion. 

Image: SentinelOne