The deal will create a new entity, operating as Optiv Consulting, with 500 employees—while Optiv Security will now be enabled to invest in fast-growth areas such as managed security services, Optiv CEO Kevin Lynch tells CRN.
Optiv Security has completed the sale of its advisory, consulting and transformation (ACT) business in a major move that will enable the cybersecurity powerhouse to invest in fast-growth areas such as managed security services, the company told CRN exclusively.
The acquirer is technology-focused investment firm Vobis Ventures, and the deal will create a new entity, operating initially as Optiv Consulting. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The new company will bring 500 employees from Optiv Security, and Anup Kumar, who is an operations executive partner at Vobis Ventures, will serve as Optiv Consulting CEO.
[Related: How Optiv Defined The Security Channel—And Is Transforming Partnership For The AI Era]
Denver-based Optiv Security, No. 28 on CRN’s 2025 Solution Provider 500, retains roughly 2,000 employees following the closure of the deal.
In an interview with CRN, Optiv Security CEO Kevin Lynch said carving out the company’s ACT business will enable substantially greater focus on managed services such as its Advanced Fusion Center security operations services and its MDR (managed detection and response) offering.
Crucially, Optiv Security will maintain a close collaboration with Optiv Consulting, with the deal terms including an exclusive partnership between the two companies for the first year—meaning there should be no meaningful disruption for clients or employees from the deal, Lynch said.
“For our clients, and certainly for our staff, they’ll see very little change in the short run,” he said.
The vast majority of North American professionals in the former ACT business, who are now employed by Optiv Consulting, are remote workers, Lynch noted. And when it comes to advisory and consulting services, the exclusive partnership ensures continuity for Optiv clients, he said.
At Optiv Security, “we still have [those services] in our ecosystem of capability,” Lynch told CRN. “The only thing that’s really changed is our ability to take this capital and reinvest back where we’re getting a higher return, with effectively no change to the way we serve our clients or our field teams.”
Likewise, Vobis Ventures plans to increase the investment into advisory and consulting services delivered by Optiv Consulting, with a focus on AI and agentic implementation services, according to Kumar.
While ACT had been one of many businesses under Optiv Security, “for us [at Optiv Consulting] this will be the core business,” he told CRN. “This will be the business that will get all of the strategic attention and investments to scale the business.”
Additionally, Vobis sees Optiv Consulting as the foundational business for its goal to offer a broader cybersecurity services platform focused on secure AI adoption, Kumar said. The opportunity, he said, is around helping clients to “bridge the gap between AI adoption and AI governance.”
Cape Coral, Fla.-based Vobis Ventures also plans to pursue hiring, especially in areas related to AI, for Optiv Consulting going forward, according to Kumar.
All in all, the deal “will be pretty positive from an employee perspective and from a client perspective—because we’ll be able to bring in new advisory capabilities, particularly in the AI arena, to these existing clients,” Kumar said.
Optiv Consulting will be based in Ashland, Va.—with employees in the U.S., Canada and India—and has 800 clients to start, one-fourth of which are in the Fortune 500, he said.
Prior to Vobis Ventures, Kumar had held roles at companies including Capgemini, where he had served as president of its senior health insurance services business, and most recently at Coforge, where he was executive vice president and global head of M&A.
Growth Opportunities Ahead
As Optiv Security looked to find a buyer for the ACT business, Vobis Ventures emerged as the ideal match for a number of reasons, Lynch said.
“We were looking for [a buyer] that not only had great interest in the business, not only had a good cultural symmetry to us but where [the ACT team] would actually have growth opportunities personally and professionally,” he said.
Lynch also said the move was not connected to the recent recapitalization of Optiv’s debt, which closed in early May. The two moves were “independent events. But it is nice for management to put both of these behind us and really focus in on serving our clients and running our business,” he said.
In addition to managed security services and MDR, Optiv Security also retains its sizable VAR solutions business as well as its Optiv + ClearShark federal business. The company’s Optiv Market System (OMS), a data-driven intelligence system that helps Optiv to better identify specific customer needs, will continue to be a major focus and differentiator for Optiv Security, according to Lynch.
Importantly, investing in managed services is also a massive opportunity right now given the expanded set of managed security capabilities that clients are looking for, Lynch said. Segments such as managed identity security and governance are among the key growth areas for managed services, he said.
“We’re seeing more modules of managed [services] emerge over the course of time,” Lynch said. “We’re not only running the business that we’ve been in, but we’re continuing to add to the portfolio.”
‘Didn’t Just Chase The Money’
As for shareholders in Optiv Security, which is majority-owned by private equity firm KKR, they are “delighted with the returns on this [deal],” he added.
“But we didn’t just chase the money—we really sought out to do something very unique and very different,” Lynch said.
Notably, the exclusive partnership between Optiv Security and Optiv Consulting includes a referral agreement that maintains the connection across the businesses, executives of the companies said. Under the agreement, demand for consulting and advisory services will be directed to Optiv Consulting, while managed service and VAR opportunities can flow back to Optiv Security.
Ultimately, the deal sets up both Optiv Security and Optiv Consulting for capturing huge growth opportunities ahead, the executives said.
“We’re coming from a place of phenomenal strength, great capability,” Lynch said. “I don’t think Optiv has ever been as vibrant.”
