IT administrators regularly lack an overview of the SaaS services an organization has in use. With the acquisition of Trelica, 1Password aims to tackle the problem of shadow IT.
1Password, best known as a password manager, is expanding its focus within the field of identity security. In 2024, the company introduced Extended Access Management (XAM), a comprehensive solution designed to unify the management of identities, devices, and applications. The acquisition of Trelica is aimed to further enhance this offering.
The financial details of the acquisition remain undisclosed. Trelica, founded in 2018, set out to address the problem of “shadow IT.”
Tackling shadow IT
While Trelica and 1Password share overlapping goals, their primary areas of expertise differ. Trelica, a UK-based company, specializes in providing visibility into SaaS usage and optimizing SaaS spending. Its platform also supports workflow automation, such as triggering a Slack notification when an account’s access rights are revoked.
For 1Password, the addition of Trelica is a significant complement. Together, the two solutions create a robust discovery and access management tool, according to 1Password. Beyond uncovering unknown SaaS usage, the platform allows apps to be managed directly via XAM. Trelica also brings over 300 existing SaaS integrations, which 1Password can now leverage.
Industry consolidation
This acquisition is part of a broader trend of consolidation within the security industry in recent years. Two factors explain this movement. First, the venture capital surge of 2022 has subsided in earnest, making previously high-valuation companies more affordable for well-backed competitors. Second, customer demand is driving the shift toward “platformization”—offering comprehensive security platforms that streamline management and oversight.
Read more here: The security platform: what is it and what does it deliver?