Bitdefender moves closer to IPO with latest acquisition

Bitdefender, a cyberthreat protection vendor with over 500 million users globally, announced Tuesday it has acquired a local partner in the Australia and New Zealand market, SMS eTech.

Why it matters: This puts Bitdefender one step further on its path to an IPO. The Romania-based company tripled its staff and revenue over the past five years, has been pushing expansion in Europe, and was operating with $139.7 million in annual revenue before the acquisition, per Crunchbase. The move will likely shore up its foothold in the Australia and New Zealand region. Its only other acquisition — Profil Technology in France — brought sales in-house in that region last year, per The Australian.