Blackstone Makes a Significant Growth Investment into NetBrain to Rapidly Expand Network Automation and AI Solutions to Global Enterprises at a $750M Valuation
Investment Seeks to Accelerate Adoption of AI in the $30 Billion Networking Operations (NetOps) Solutions Market
Blackstone (NYSE:BX) announced today that Blackstone Growth (BXG) and affiliated funds (collectively "Blackstone") have entered into a definitive agreement to make a majority growth investment in NetBrain Technologies, a market-leading Network Automation and AI platform. The investment, which values NetBrain at $750 million, is intended to enable the company to accelerate innovation, expand its global footprint, and scale its AI-powered platform to meet the rising demand for intelligent network automation solutions.
NetBrain is the market leader in network automation and AI, powering some of the world's largest and most complex networks – including those of more than one-third of the Fortune 500. The company pioneered intent-based network automation technology, which creates a digital-twin of the network and enables AI to orchestrate and automate many of the manual tasks in network operations.
As enterprise networks rapidly evolve in size and complexity – particularly with the adoption of cloud and SDN architectures – traditional automation and observability tools are struggling to deliver timely value and measurable ROI. NetBrain's next-generation automation platform, the result of years of R&D often in close collaboration with the world's most demanding network operators, eliminates manual dependencies in critical network operations and security workflows. By consistently shifting operational workloads to automation and AI, NetBrain is redefining how hybrid networks are managed. With its industry-leading intent discovery engine, NetBrain transforms network management from a device-centric to an intent-centric model – allowing networks to be governed by self-assessable intents. This advancement enables faster outage resolution, safer change execution, and stronger security – often without human intervention.
"While NetBrain is already the market leader in network automation and AI and continues to grow rapidly, I'm thrilled to partner with Blackstone Growth to accelerate our next phase of expansion," said Lingping Gao, Founder and CEO of NetBrain Technologies. "Blackstone's global reach, operational expertise, and deep commitment to innovation will be instrumental in helping us seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lead the AI transformation of network operations."
"AI has the power to transform how enterprises manage network operations and security," said Vishal Amin, Senior Managing Director at Blackstone Growth. "NetBrain is at a pivotal inflection point, with increasing demand for automation across IT, networking, and security teams. Blackstone is excited to help NetBrain expand its global reach while continuing to invest in innovation for customers. Together, we seek to drive the future intersection of network operations (NetOps), security operations (SecOps) and AI, empowering enterprises to achieve total observability and operational excellence."
Blackstone's investment in NetBrain reflects its commitment to supporting market-leading and category-defining technology companies that address enterprise challenges. The firm believes NetBrain's solutions address a critical need in the $30 billion NetOps market, where enterprises face increasing pressure to optimize IT operations, ensure reliability, and mitigate security risks. With no debt, significant cash reserves, ongoing profitability, and a growing global footprint, NetBrain is poised to accelerate its mission of transforming network automation and empowering organizations to thrive in an increasingly interconnected and AI-driven world.
McDermott Will & Emery served as legal counsel to NetBrain. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP served as legal counsel to Blackstone.
About Blackstone
Blackstone is the world's largest alternative asset manager. We seek to deliver compelling returns for institutional and individual investors by strengthening the companies in which we invest. Our nearly $1.2 trillion in assets under management include global investment strategies focused on real estate, private equity, credit, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, secondaries and hedge funds. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow @blackstone on LinkedIn, X (Twitter), and Instagram.
About NetBrain Technologies
NetBrain, since 2004, has pioneered network automation, empowering IT teams with no-code and AI. Its Next-Gen platform shifts from reactive visibility to proactive observability. Automating troubleshooting and change management, it boosts efficiency, reduces errors, and provides insights. Powered by a Digital Twin and intent-based automation, NetBrain scales automation and simplifies adoption. NetBrain is in use by more than one-third of the Fortune 500. For more information, please visit www.netbrain.com.
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Media Contacts
Blackstone
Jennifer Heath
(347) 603-9256
[email protected]
NetBrain Technologies
Ryan Couch
979-220-4586
[email protected]