DigiCert posts record ARR after Valimail acquisition

DigiCert reported record fourth-quarter annual recurring revenue and exceeded its full-year bookings target, making the quarter the largest in the company's history by ARR.

The results capped a financial year in which the digital trust supplier expanded its DigiCert ONE platform, acquired email authentication specialist Valimail, and added new partnerships and regional deployments.

Chief executive officer Dr Amit Sinha said demand from large organisations strengthened as certificate management became more complex. Shorter certificate lifespans, rising certificate volumes, and preparations for cryptographic change are pushing more companies to automate digital trust management.

"FY26 was a breakthrough year for DigiCert," said Dr Amit Sinha, CEO of DigiCert. "We expanded our DigiCert ONE platform, deepened our partnerships, and delivered record Q4 ARR performance. Organisations are prioritising digital trust as foundational security infrastructure, and DigiCert is leading that transformation."

Platform changes

A central part of that effort was the integration of UltraDNS into DigiCert ONE, bringing public key infrastructure and DNS management into a single system. Customers can manage certificates and DNS records in one place.

The approach is intended to reduce outage risks and simplify operations as certificate renewal cycles get shorter. The combined platform also reflects a broader shift in security operations, with companies seeking closer links between identity, infrastructure, and domain controls.

DigiCert also expanded its Trust Lifecycle Manager integrations with F5, HashiCorp, Jamf, and NetScaler. The additions extend automated certificate management into application delivery, device management, and infrastructure environments, where certificate sprawl can create operational and security issues.

The company also made DigiCert ONE available through AWS Marketplace and released its TrustCore software development kit as open source. That release is aimed at developers who want to build cryptographic functions into newer architectures.

Acquisition push

The acquisition of Valimail broadened DigiCert's focus beyond certificates and PKI into email authentication. Valimail specialises in protections against phishing, spoofing, and domain impersonation, adding another layer to DigiCert's effort to build a broader digital trust platform.

Valimail passed 100,000 customers during the year, according to DigiCert. The company also highlighted the launch of a BIMI Simulator, a tool designed to help brands assess how their email identity appears in inboxes.

DigiCert also increased its patent activity, filing 29 new patents and receiving 12 grants, bringing its total portfolio to 230. Half of the new filings were focused on artificial intelligence and post-quantum cryptography, two areas attracting greater investment across the cybersecurity sector.

Recognition

DigiCert said it was named a leader in the IDC MarketScape assessment for worldwide certificate lifecycle management. It also pointed to a commissioned Forrester Total Economic Impact study, which found organisations using DigiCert ONE achieved a 312% return on investment over three years, with payback in less than six months and more than USD $2.8 million in revenue and cost efficiencies.

Such studies are typically commissioned by vendors, but they remain a common way for software companies to frame the potential operational savings from automation. In DigiCert's case, the argument centres on reducing manual certificate work and consolidating control of trust-related systems.

Partnerships

During the year, DigiCert expanded work with external groups and technology providers. That included a partnership with Panasonic tied to Matter, the connectivity standard for smart home and internet of things devices, and participation in a US National Institute of Standards and Technology initiative focused on software supply chain and DevSecOps security.

Those relationships show how certificate and identity management are becoming more deeply embedded across connected devices, software development, and cloud operations. For vendors in this market, growth increasingly depends on being present across those environments rather than serving only traditional web certificate needs.

Regional footprint

DigiCert also added regional instances of DigiCert ONE, including a locally hosted deployment in India. It now has more than 30 service instances across Australia, Europe, India, Japan, and North America.

That regional footprint reflects growing customer demand for local hosting, compliance controls, and data residency. Large organisations, particularly in regulated sectors, often require trust services to meet local sovereignty and audit requirements while maintaining consistent controls across global operations.

One example of DigiCert's industry work was its selection by ASC X9 to provide managed PKI infrastructure for the financial services industry.