Austin’s Dean Drako Buys Maryland-Based Security Manager Brivo for $50M

Dean Drako, an Austin, TX, businessman known for starting security companies Barracuda Networks and Eagle Eye Networks, is paying $50 million to buy Brivo, another security business.

Brivo, based in Bethusda, MD, sells a security management system called Brivo OnAir, which offers cloud-based physical access control and video surveillance. Drako will serve as chairman, and Brivo’s current president and CEO will remain in those roles, a spokesperson said.

Drako is currently president and CEO of Eagle Eye Networks, a company he founded in 2012. Eagle Eye, which provides a cloud-based video surveillance service, received a “multimillion-dollar” venture round in 2014 from Michael Dell’s private investment fund, MSD Capital.

In July, Brivo is going to begin selling its cloud-based access control systems along with Eagle Eye’s cloud-based security camera system, according to a statement. The companies will continue to be operated as separate entities, however.

Barracuda Networks (NYSE: [[ticker:CUDA]]), which Drako co-founded in 2003, provides network and cloud security services, protecting against everything from hackers to spam.

Author: David Holley

David is the national correspondent at Xconomy. He has spent most of his career covering business of every kind, from breweries in Oregon to investment banks in New York. A native of the Pacific Northwest, David started his career reporting at weekly and daily newspapers, covering murder trials, city council meetings, the expanding startup tech industry in the region, and everything between. He left the West Coast to pursue business journalism in New York, first writing about biotech and then private equity at The Deal. After a stint at Bloomberg News writing about high-yield bonds and leveraged loans, David relocated from New York to Austin, TX. He graduated from Portland State University.