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About
Eldon Sprickerhoff founded eSentire in Waterloo in 2001, when — as he told a TechTO audience — cybersecurity was a blue ocean with barely any companies in it, and built the always-watching, respond-on-your-behalf service model the industry later named managed detection and response (MDR). Today eSentire runs 24/7 security operations centres in Waterloo and Cork, Ireland, acting as the around-the-clock security team for organizations that can't staff one themselves. Warburg Pincus took a majority stake in 2017, and in February 2022 Georgian and CDPQ invested US$325 million at a valuation above US$1 billion, with Warburg remaining majority shareholder. Sprickerhoff moved from Chief Innovation Officer to Founder and Advisor in 2022 and now spends his time angel investing, advising cybersecurity startups, and mentoring founders. In March 2026, eSentire appointed ZeroFox founder James C. Foster as CEO, succeeding the retiring Kerry Bailey; the company's owners had reportedly explored a sale in 2024, with no transaction announced as of July 2026.
Backers
Warburg Pincus (majority shareholder since its 2017 growth investment); Georgian and CDPQ co-invested US$325M in February 2022. Owners reportedly explored a sale in 2024 (Reuters); no transaction announced as of July 2026.
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Quick answers
What does eSentire do, in plain terms?
Most security vendors sell you software and leave the watching to you. eSentire sells the outcome: its 24/7 security operations centres monitor a customer's systems, hunt for intruders, and contain threats on the customer's behalf. That service model — managed detection and response — is now an industry category, and eSentire founder Eldon Sprickerhoff is credited as its original pioneer.
Who founded eSentire, and are they still involved?
Eldon Sprickerhoff founded the company in 2001 and spent two decades building it, latterly as Chief Innovation Officer. Since 2022 his title has been Founder and Advisor — he has stepped back from day-to-day operations and now angel invests, mentors at the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst accelerator, and wrote Committed, a book of startup lessons. On the TechTO stage he summed up the founder job as being the 'chief survival officer.'
How big is eSentire?
It is one of Waterloo's unicorns: a February 2022 investment of US$325 million from Georgian and CDPQ valued the company at roughly US$1.1 billion, at which point it had passed US$100 million in annual recurring revenue. The company says it protects more than 2,000 organizations across 80-plus countries (as of 2026), with security operations centres in Waterloo and Cork, Ireland; Reuters reported annual recurring revenue of about US$150 million in August 2024, when its owners explored a sale.