The news
REDLattice, the US defense cyber company that owns Israeli spyware developer Paragon Solutions, agreed on September 28, 2026 to go public by merging with Bold Eagle Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), a shell company listed to buy a private business. The Paragon spyware SPAC deal values REDLattice at a $1.25 billion pre-money enterprise value, SiliconANGLE reported.
After closing, the combined company is expected to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker REDL, according to SiliconANGLE. The Record reported the deal is expected to close around year-end, and an investor presentation filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission estimated closing on December 31, 2026.
The transaction could bring in up to $610 million in gross proceeds if no SPAC shareholders redeem their shares. That includes $275 million of convertible notes anchored by Loomis, Sayles and Co. at a 4% annual coupon and a $12.50 conversion price, a $60 million stock purchase at $10 a share by affiliates of AE Industrial Partners and the Bold Eagle sponsor, and the rest from Bold Eagle's trust account, SiliconANGLE reported.
The investor presentation lays out planned uses of the $610 million: $213 million to repay debt, $119 million for a Paragon earnout, a deferred payment tied to the earlier acquisition, $197 million of cash for the balance sheet, $20 million to repay a Goldman Sachs facility and $61 million of transaction expenses.
REDLattice, founded in 2012, provides lawful intercept, vulnerability research and intelligence tools to government agencies in 23 countries. It reported $267 million in revenue for the 12 months ended June 30, 2026, up 29% year over year, according to The Record and SiliconANGLE. Chief executive Andy Boyd, described in the presentation as a former director of the CIA's Center for Cyber Intelligence, said the deal provides capital and public market currency to grow, expand products and pursue acquisitions, as reported by The Record.
Paragon joined REDLattice after Florida-based private equity firm AE Industrial Partners acquired it, The Record reported. SiliconANGLE put that December 2024 deal at about $500 million.
The numbers
- Pre-money enterprise value
- $1.25 billion
- Maximum gross proceeds (no redemptions)
- $610 million
- Paragon earnout in planned uses
- $119 million
- Revenue, 12 months to June 30, 2026
- $267 million, up 29%
- Countries served
- 23
Why CEOs should care
For investors and boards, this listing will put a price on risks that private spyware vendors rarely spell out. The company's own investor presentation warns that some of its tools may be seen as, or ruled by courts to be, violating privacy rights, and that customers could use them in ways seen as incompatible with human rights. Anyone weighing the stock, or a fund holding it, should read those risk factors closely and ask how export controls, lawsuits and government policy shifts could hit revenue.
For CISOs and security leaders, the deal is a reminder that commercial spyware is a funded, growing industry, not a fringe one. Executives, lawyers and journalists who travel or handle sensitive negotiations are the kinds of people such tools have reportedly targeted. Make sure high-risk staff use phone protections such as Apple's Lockdown Mode or managed device policies, and that suspected targeting has a clear escalation path.
For CFOs at companies doing business with governments, public reporting will offer more data on how agencies buy surveillance tools. As The Record noted, quoting the Atlantic Council's Jen Roberts, SEC disclosure duties could give shareholders new leverage over how the company operates.
The bigger picture
Paragon has faced scrutiny over its Graphite spyware. In January 2025, WhatsApp said Graphite targeted about 90 of its users, including journalists and members of civil society, The Record reported. SiliconANGLE reported that the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab confirmed infections on the phones of two European journalists, and that in August 2025 US Immigration and Customs Enforcement lifted a stop-work order on a $2 million Paragon contract.
A Nasdaq listing would make REDLattice one of the few publicly traded companies with commercial spyware in its portfolio, testing whether public investors will accept the legal and reputational risk that comes with it.
What’s next
Watch for the registration statement and proxy filings with the SEC, which should add detail on customers, legal exposure and governance. Also watch the level of Bold Eagle shareholder redemptions before the vote, which will determine how much of the $610 million actually arrives, and any response from lawmakers or rights groups.
What “Fact-checked” means
Fact-checking means testing a story’s facts against the evidence before it is published. This story went through at least two separate checks before this version was published.
- What we checked
- Its names, figures, dates, job titles, quotes and who said what were checked against the story’s sources, including its main source where it could be opened. The headline was checked for accuracy and overstatement.
- How
- A first check reviewed the whole story. If it passed, a second, skeptical check went back to the sources to look for mistakes in the most important facts. If a check flagged the story, it was edited to fix the problems found, and a separate re-check then reviewed the whole story again.
- Who
- The checks are made by our newsroom, as steps kept separate from the writing, under rules set by our editor, Hussein Mukhtar. A story the checks still flag is held for the editor, who decides whether it is fixed, published or dropped.
- If something is wrong
- “Fact-checked” does not mean error-free. If a material error is found after publication, we correct the story and add a note saying what changed. Report an error
