With our long track record of investing in the security market, Ascent knew that enterprises were shifting focus from securing the network perimeter to protecting data residing within the company. Through proactive research, we identified a number of emerging technology companies that were addressing the ‘insider threat’. Of these, Ascent believed that Guardium had the technology and management team to capitalize on this emerging trend.

• Ascent led the $5.5 million Series C financing for Guardium, an emerging leader in the database security market, in June 2005.
• Ascent helped negotiate a Series D financing that included a strategic investment from Cisco Systems. As the sole Boston-area board member from 2005 to 2008, Ascent assumed the lead role working with Guardium management.
• Guardium emerged as the established leader in their market with more than 400 customers, including some of the largest domestic and international Global 2000. IBM acquired Guardium in November 2009.