# Identity market acquisitions: who owns whom

Source: https://startwithidentity.com/acquisitions/
Last updated: 2026-08-01
License: content by Start with Identity. Cite the source URL.

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Identity security spent the last three years consolidating, and the pace picked up sharply in 2026. If you are evaluating a vendor, the question "is this product going to exist in its current form in two years" now matters as much as any feature comparison.

Four patterns run through the deals below.

**PAM is being absorbed into platforms.** Palo Alto Networks buying [CyberArk](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/pam/cyberark/) for roughly $25 billion is the largest deal identity security has seen, and it moved the category's anchor vendor inside a network-security platform. [Delinea](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/pam/delinea/) took [StrongDM](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/pam/strongdm/), and [Ping Identity](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/iam/ping-identity/) took [Procyon](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/pam/procyon/). Standalone privileged access management is becoming a feature of something larger.

**Machine and non-human identity got expensive.** [CyberArk](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/pam/cyberark/) paid for [Venafi](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/machine-identity/venafi/), IBM took HashiCorp and with it both [Vault](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/machine-identity/hashicorp-vault/) and [Boundary](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/pam/hashicorp-boundary/), and in a single week in mid-2026 Cisco bought [Astrix Security](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/ai-identity/astrix-security/) while [SailPoint](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/iga/sailpoint/) bought [Entro Security](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/ai-identity/entro-security/). Then [Cyera](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/ai-identity/cyera/) agreed to pay about 1 billion dollars for [Oasis Security](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/ai-identity/oasis-security/), a company founded in 2022. Workload and agent identity stopped being a niche.

**Buyers came from outside identity.** The most striking thing about 2026 is who is writing the cheques. A data security vendor (Cyera) bought non-human identity, a data platform (Snowflake) bought [Natoma](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/ai-identity/natoma/), a workflow company (ServiceNow) bought [Veza](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/iga/veza/), an endpoint vendor (CrowdStrike) bought [SGNL](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/authorization/sgnl/), and a password manager ([1Password](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/password-management/1password/)) bought [Apono](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/pam/apono/). Identity controls are being pulled into whichever platform already sits closest to the thing an AI agent wants to touch, which means a standalone agent-identity vendor is now a likelier acquisition target than a likely category winner. [Okta buying Permiso](https://startwithidentity.com/blog/2026-07-30-okta-signs-definitive-agreement-to-acquire-permiso-security/) is the exception that proves it: an identity vendor buying detection back.

**Private equity reshaped the middle of the market.** Thoma Bravo bought [ForgeRock](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/iam/forgerock/) and folded it into [Ping Identity](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/iam/ping-identity/), which it already owned, collapsing two independent IAM platforms into one. Buyers who had standardised on ForgeRock inherited a migration they did not choose.

If you are on the other side of one of these deals and have to merge two identity estates, that is a different problem with its own playbook: see [IAM for mergers and acquisitions](https://startwithidentity.com/articles/iam-for-mergers-acquisitions/).

What this means practically: check the ownership line before you sign. A vendor acquired mid-evaluation may keep its roadmap, or may be folded into the acquirer's platform within a year. The deals where the target continued as a standalone product are noted as such below, and every entry links to the vendor profiles on both sides.

The table is the record we maintain, not a complete history of the market. It covers the vendors we profile, and it is checked against every profile's ownership line on each build, so a vendor described as independent here and acquired there is a build failure rather than something a reader discovers.