KnowBe4, Inc.
Clearwater-based human risk management and security awareness platform owned by Vista Equity Partners since a $4.6 billion take-private in 2023.
Company Type
private
Founded
2010
Headquarters
Clearwater, Florida, USA
Revenue
Not publicly disclosed (approximately $400 million in 2022, last public year)
Employees
Approximately 2,600
Primary Market
Global
About KnowBe4, Inc.
What does KnowBe4 do?
KnowBe4 sells security awareness training and human risk management software. Its platform simulates phishing attacks, trains employees, measures organizational human risk, and now includes email security and AI agent protection products.
Is KnowBe4 publicly traded?
No. KnowBe4 traded on the NASDAQ under ticker KNBE from April 2021 until February 2023, when Vista Equity Partners acquired it for approximately $4.6 billion and took it private.
Who owns KnowBe4?
Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners owns KnowBe4. It operates as a Vista portfolio company headquartered in Clearwater, Florida.
Who founded KnowBe4?
Stu Sjouwerman founded KnowBe4 in 2010 in Clearwater, Florida. He served as CEO for 15 years before becoming executive chairman in May 2025.
Where is KnowBe4 headquartered?
KnowBe4 is headquartered in Clearwater, Florida. It has offices and direct operations across more than a dozen countries in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, and Africa.
What is KnowBe4's revenue?
KnowBe4 does not disclose revenue since going private in 2023. It generated approximately $400 million in 2022, its last public year, and has stated a goal of reaching $1 billion in annual recurring revenue.
History of KnowBe4, Inc.
Stu Sjouwerman founded KnowBe4 in 2010 in Clearwater, Florida. A serial entrepreneur in IT security, Sjouwerman built the company on a simple observation: most breaches begin with a person clicking something they should not. Antivirus and firewalls addressed machines, but nobody was systematically addressing the human layer.
The company's first product was straightforward phishing simulation. IT teams sent fake phishing emails to their own employees, tracked who clicked, and assigned remedial training. It was cheap to deliver, easy to explain, and sold itself through demonstrable click rate reductions. Growth was rapid and largely bootstrapped in the early years.
Venture funding arrived in the late 2010s, including a $300 million round in 2019 that valued the company at $1 billion. KnowBe4 went public on the NASDAQ in April 2021 at a valuation near $4 billion. The public run was short: Vista Equity Partners took the company private in February 2023 for $24.90 per share, approximately $4.6 billion.
Under Vista, KnowBe4 broadened from training into adjacent security categories. Its largest deal was the April 2024 acquisition of Egress, a UK based cloud email security company, which added roughly 300 employees and brought KnowBe4's headcount past 2,000. The company stated a goal of reaching $1 billion in annual recurring revenue.
Leadership changed in 2025. Bryan Palma, previously CEO of Trellix and a veteran of Cisco and FireEye, became president and CEO effective May 5, 2025, with Sjouwerman moving to executive chairman. KnowBe4 also raised $1.5 billion in debt financing in July 2025, a transaction typical of private equity owned software companies returning capital to sponsors.
Controversy, Regulation & Public Scrutiny
KnowBe4 has faced no major regulatory actions. A notable public incident came in 2024 when the company disclosed it had inadvertently hired a North Korean IT worker using a stolen identity, a story it turned into a case study on the very social engineering risks it trains against. The transparency was widely noted as effective crisis handling.
Brands Owned by KnowBe4, Inc.
KnowBe4, Inc. owns 1 brand in our database. Explore the ownership tree below — click categories to expand and see individual brands.
KnowBe4, Inc.
private · Founded 2010 · Clearwater, Florida, USA
1
brands
KnowBe4, Inc. Ownership: Pros & Cons
Advantages
- +Category leadership in a market it created
- +Vista ownership provides M&A capital and software operating expertise
- +Subscription model with high recurring revenue
- +Human risk is a durable budget line as AI driven phishing grows
- +New CEO brings public company scale experience for potential re-IPO
Considerations
- -Private equity ownership adds leverage from the $1.5 billion debt raise
- -Training is increasingly bundled free by larger security platforms
- -Growth depends on expansion beyond the core training product
- -Integration of Egress is still in progress
- -No public financial disclosure limits outside visibility
Frequently Asked Questions About KnowBe4, Inc.
What does KnowBe4 do?
KnowBe4 sells security awareness training and human risk management software. Its platform simulates phishing attacks, trains employees, measures organizational human risk, and now includes email security and AI agent protection products.
Is KnowBe4 publicly traded?
No. KnowBe4 traded on the NASDAQ under ticker KNBE from April 2021 until February 2023, when Vista Equity Partners acquired it for approximately $4.6 billion and took it private.
Who owns KnowBe4?
Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners owns KnowBe4. It operates as a Vista portfolio company headquartered in Clearwater, Florida.
Who founded KnowBe4?
Stu Sjouwerman founded KnowBe4 in 2010 in Clearwater, Florida. He served as CEO for 15 years before becoming executive chairman in May 2025.
Where is KnowBe4 headquartered?
KnowBe4 is headquartered in Clearwater, Florida. It has offices and direct operations across more than a dozen countries in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, and Africa.
What is KnowBe4's revenue?
KnowBe4 does not disclose revenue since going private in 2023. It generated approximately $400 million in 2022, its last public year, and has stated a goal of reaching $1 billion in annual recurring revenue.
Sources & Further Reading
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