Private equity investment firm Thoma Bravo LLC today said it has acquired application security firm Veracode Inc. for $950 million.

The buy, part of a flurry of security-related acquisitions and initial public offerings in the past year or so, came as Broadcom Inc. finalized its $19 billion acquisition of CA Technologies Inc., the latter having acquired Veracode Inc. for $613 million in March 2017.

Founded in 2006, Veracode offers cloud-based application intelligence and security verification services that are claimed to improve the security of internally developed, purchased or outsourced software applications and third-party components. The company’s platform uses static, dynamic and manual testing, e-learning capabilities and advanced application analytics to help identify and eradicate vulnerabilities.

“Software security is one of the most consequential issues facing companies as they look to compete in the digital economy,” Sam King, outgoing senior vice president of Veracode and soon to be chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Partnering with Thoma Bravo, a proven security software investor, is expected to extend our market reach and further fuel our innovation so that we can offer the broadest software security platform and empower us to accelerate growth.”

For Thoma Bravo, the acquisition is yet another buy in its growing cybersecurity investment portfolio. The private equity firm owns a number of firms outright, including Imperva Inc., Continuum Managed Services LLC. and Barracuda Networks Inc. while also holding stakes in Centrify Inc., McAfee Inc. and a number of others. As a private equity firm, Thoma Bravo looks to acquire companies, turn them into more successful firms then flip them for a profit at some point down the track.

Thoma Bravo is willing to play the long game with its acquisitions as well. For example, it acquired LANDesk Software Inc. in 2010 at a time when annual revenue growth was in the low single digits and invested heavily to regain momentum before eventually selling it for $1.1 billion in January 2017. This latest deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Also today, Symantec Corp. announced that it has acquired Appthority Inc. and Javelin Networks Inc., two venture-backed startups focused on enterprise network protection.

Image: Veracode