Proofpoint, Inc. is an American enterprise cybersecurity company based in Sunnyvale, California that provides software as a service and products for email security, identity threat defense, data loss prevention, electronic discovery, and email archiving.
In 2021, Proofpoint was acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $12.3 billion.
The company was founded in July 2002 by Eric Hahn, formerly the CTO of Netscape Communications. It launched July 21, 2003, after raising a $7 million Series A funding round, an additional $9 million in Series B funding led by New York-based RRE Ventures was announced in October, 2003.
The company released the Proofpoint Protection Server (PPS) for medium and large businesses.
Proofpoint became a publicly traded company in April 2012. At the time of its initial public offering (IPO), the company's shares traded at $13 apiece; investors purchased more than 6.3 million shares through the IPO, raising more than $80 million.
On April 26, 2021, Proofpoint announced that it had agreed to be acquired by the private equity firm Thoma Bravo.
In May 2025, Proofpoint announced its acquisition of Hornetsecurity, including its French subsidiary Vale, forming what the company described as the worldâÂÂs leading email-security group.