CrowdStrike has announced its acquisition of Onum, a Madrid-based data observability startup, for $290 million. The deal, revealed on August 27, is a strategic move to bolster CrowdStrike’s AI-native security capabilities amidst the escalating landscape of AI-driven cyberattacks.
According to CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz, the company is evolving into “the Reddit of security data.” This statement underscores the significance of data aggregation and analysis in modern cybersecurity strategies. The acquisition of Onum aligns with CrowdStrike’s broader vision of leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance its security offerings.
The Onum acquisition, completed within three months, marks a relatively swift transaction for CrowdStrike. Kurtz indicated that the company had temporarily paused deal-making following a global IT outage in 2023. Despite this pause, CrowdStrike maintained an active mergers and acquisitions pipeline, engaging with various startups, venture capital firms, and entrepreneurs. This proactive approach ultimately led to the acquisition of Onum.
Onum specializes in real-time pipeline detection, identifying anomalies in data as it flows into enterprise systems. The company is backed by Dawn Capital and Insight Partners. CrowdStrike emphasizes that Onum’s technology transforms raw telemetry into enriched intelligence in milliseconds, thereby accelerating threat detection, reducing storage expenses, and enhancing customer outcomes. The integration of Onum is expected to amplify the capabilities of CrowdStrike’s Falcon Next-Gen SIEM platform, providing AI-driven defenses with more intelligent, rapid, and cost-effective telemetry.
Kurtz highlighted the strategic importance of data in cybersecurity, stating, “The more data we get in, the larger the moat we actually have, and the greater the opportunity to solve bigger and broader problems from an AI perspective.” He also outlined the comprehensive exposure of security systems, noting that they “have access to a workflow, and it has access to systems that are outside of your own boundaries… So, it has all of the exposure that we’re protecting against.”
CrowdStrike’s Q2 earnings report exceeded expectations, but a weaker revenue outlook led to a roughly 4% decrease in shares during after-hours trading. Since 2017, CrowdStrike has acquired eight companies, including Humio for $400 million in 2021 and Flow Security for a reported $200 million in 2024.
Kurtz drew a contrast between CrowdStrike’s acquisition strategy and the larger deals made by competitors. He referenced Palo Alto Networks’ $25 billion acquisition of CyberArk and Google’s proposed $32 billion acquisition of Wiz as examples of alternative approaches to market consolidation. These comparisons emphasize CrowdStrike’s focus on targeted acquisitions to enhance specific technological capabilities.
Kurtz emphasized the growing importance of security in the face of evolving cyber threats. He stated, “We know there’s going to be a greater need for security tomorrow than there is today.” He also pointed out that generative AI is compressing the response window for defenders, as attackers are leveraging more accessible tools to move faster.
