Qualys, Inc. (QLYS): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

In a world where a major cyber incident can cost a company millions, how do you defintely know where your digital risks actually lie? Qualys, Inc. (QLYS) has positioned itself as a critical player in pre-breach cyber risk management, pioneering a cloud-native platform that unifies security and compliance for over 10,000 subscription customers globally. The company's financial performance reflects this market strength, with its full-year 2025 revenue guidance raised to a range of $665.8 million to $667.8 million, showing durable growth in a complex environment. Are you leveraging a platform that delivers an adjusted EBITDA margin of 49%, or are you still patching vulnerabilities with fragmented tools?

Qualys, Inc. (QLYS) History

You're looking for the foundational story of Qualys, Inc., and the direct takeaway is this: the company's entire trajectory, and its current success, stems from a single, early, contrarian bet on delivering security as a cloud service (SaaS) back in 2000. That decision set them up to become a platform leader today, with a trailing twelve-month revenue of $653 million as of September 2025.

Qualys, Inc.'s Founding Timeline

Year established

Qualys, Inc. was established in 1999, incorporated in Delaware on December 30 of that year.

Original location

While the initial concept may have roots in France, the company quickly established its principal executive offices in Silicon Valley, specifically in Redwood Shores, California, before moving to its current headquarters in Foster City, California.

Founding team members

The company was founded by Gilles Samoun and Philippe Langlois. The early leadership team was quickly solidified by the key addition of Philippe Courtot, who invested in 1999 and became the CEO and Chairman in 2001, steering the company for two decades.

Initial capital/funding

The company raised a total of $28.4 million in initial funding rounds. A significant portion of this was the Series B round, which secured $20 million in April 2001. That capital was crucial for scaling the first-of-its-kind cloud platform.

Qualys, Inc.'s Evolution Milestones

Qualys, Inc.'s Transformative Moments

The company's history is defintely defined by three major strategic shifts that moved it from a niche tool to a comprehensive platform. These weren't just product updates; they were fundamental changes to the business model and market approach.

• The Cloud-Native Pivot (2000): The early decision to deliver QualysGuard as a cloud-based service, not on-premise software, was the most transformative move. This SaaS model offered continuous, scalable security assessments, which was a massive differentiator from traditional, slow-moving vendors. It let them serve over 10,000 subscription customers globally today.
• Platform Expansion: Qualys didn't stop at vulnerability management. They expanded the core offering into a broader suite-web application security, compliance, and malware detection-all delivered from a single agent and platform. This consolidation increased customer value and drove higher revenue per user.
• The Risk-Based Shift (2023-2025): The launch of the Enterprise TruRisk Platform and the subsequent introduction of solutions like TotalAppSec in Q1 2025 moved the company beyond simple scanning to actual cyber risk quantification. This positions Qualys as a foundational risk management platform, which is what the market is demanding now. Honestly, this is the future of security spending.

For a deeper dive into the strategic direction, you should check out the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Qualys, Inc. (QLYS).

Qualys, Inc. (QLYS) Ownership Structure

Qualys, Inc. (QLYS) is a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ, but its ownership structure is heavily weighted toward institutional investors, which is typical for a mature cybersecurity firm.

This institutional control means that major strategic decisions are defintely influenced by the world's largest asset managers, which contrasts sharply with founder-led companies where insider ownership is dominant.

Qualys' Current Status

Qualys operates as a public company, trading under the ticker QLYS, which subjects it to rigorous Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) oversight and quarterly reporting requirements. This transparency is a key benefit for investors, but it also means the company's governance is primarily focused on maximizing shareholder return, as opposed to a private company's focus on long-term capital appreciation without public scrutiny.

For the full fiscal year 2025, the company has provided a strong revenue guidance range of $665.8 million to $667.8 million, demonstrating stable growth in the enterprise cybersecurity market. This financial performance, coupled with a Q3 2025 Non-GAAP Earnings Per Share (EPS) of $1.86, shows the management team is delivering on its growth and profitability promises.

You can see the full strategic context in the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Qualys, Inc. (QLYS).

Qualys' Ownership Breakdown

The company is overwhelmingly owned by large financial institutions, which gives them significant voting power on corporate matters, including board appointments and executive compensation.

Here's the quick math on who holds the shares as of November 2025, which helps you understand the decision-making power structure:

Qualys' Leadership

The company is steered by a seasoned executive team with deep roots in product development and enterprise SaaS (Software as a Service), which is crucial for a cloud-native security platform. This leadership's focus is clearly on the Enterprise TruRisk Management (ETM) platform, a major strategic pivot for the company.

• Jeffrey P. Hank: Chairman of the Board. As a long-serving director since 2010, he provides governance continuity and strategic oversight.
• Sumedh Thakar: President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Thakar, who became CEO in 2021, is a product fanatic who joined the company in 2003 and has been instrumental in scaling the platform.
• Joo Mi Kim: Chief Financial Officer (CFO). She manages the financial strategy and operations, bringing over 15 years of experience in financial planning and investment banking.
• Dilip Bachwani: Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Senior Vice President (SVP), Enterprise TruRisk Platform. He leads the global product development and engineering for the core security platform.
• May Mitchell: Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Appointed in November 2025, she is tasked with leading the global marketing and go-to-market strategy to drive revenue.
• Brad Bell: Chief Information Officer (CIO). He oversees the global corporate IT infrastructure and is key to driving internal digital transformation.

The low insider ownership of 1.40% is something to watch; typically, higher insider stakes align management's interests more closely with shareholders, but the long tenure of leaders like Thakar shows a commitment that goes beyond just equity percentage.

Qualys, Inc. (QLYS) Mission and Values

Qualys, Inc. is driven by a core purpose to simplify the complex world of cybersecurity, focusing on a single, cloud-native platform that provides continuous, real-time visibility and risk management for organizations globally. Their cultural DNA is built on innovation, customer success, and the integrity required to be a trusted partner in a high-stakes industry, as evidenced by their projected 2025 revenue of up to $667.8 million.

Given Company's Core Purpose

You're not just buying a product; you're buying a strategy that consolidates disparate security tools into one view. Qualys's long-term aspiration is to move customers from simply managing vulnerabilities to proactively managing cyber risk-a huge shift in how security teams operate. This focus is why their Enterprise TruRisk Management (ETM) solution is a major growth pillar, driving adoption among customers.

Official mission statement

The company's mission is to revolutionize how organizations secure their digital assets by providing a single platform for comprehensive, always-on security and compliance. This commitment to unification and real-time data is critical, especially when you consider that their cloud platform processes over 3 trillion data points annually.

• Consolidate security and compliance solutions into a unified platform.
• Ensure continuous, real-time visibility and protection of digital assets.
• Innovate and adapt to the evolving threat landscape, defintely.

Here's the quick math: consolidating security tools onto the Qualys Cloud Platform helps organizations streamline operations, which directly contributes to their strong financial performance, like the Q3 2025 Adjusted EBITDA margin of 49%. You can read more about their foundational principles here: Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Qualys, Inc. (QLYS).

Vision statement

Qualys's vision is to be the leading provider of cloud-based security and compliance solutions that enable organizations to protect their digital assets and comply with regulatory requirements effectively. This means they aim to be the platform of choice for securing digital transformation.

• Establish market leadership in cloud-based security and compliance.
• Continuously develop new solutions to meet evolving security threats.
• Ensure customer success by enabling effective use of their platform.

This vision is being executed through their focus on Agentic AI and the Risk Operations Center (ROC), which is a strategic move to future-proof their platform. The company is betting its future growth on these innovations, targeting a full-year 2025 revenue guidance between $665.8 million and $667.8 million.

Given Company slogan/tagline

While Qualys does not use a single, public-facing slogan in the traditional sense, their core message is clear: they are the Enterprise Cyber Risk & Security Platform. They want you to think of them as the single source of truth for your security posture.

• Pioneering the first Agentic AI Risk Operations Center (ROC).
• Simplify and automate security and compliance.
• Continuous Security.

The company's commitment to this unified platform approach is validated by their customer base, which includes a majority of the Forbes Global 100 and Fortune 100 companies. That's a powerful endorsement of their mission to consolidate and simplify.

Qualys, Inc. (QLYS) How It Works

Qualys, Inc. operates by delivering a unified, cloud-native platform that fundamentally shifts cybersecurity from a fragmented set of tools to an integrated, risk-based operation. It works by deploying a single, lightweight agent-the 'Qualys Agent'-across your entire IT environment-on-premises, endpoints, cloud, and containers-to continuously gather security and compliance data, providing a real-time, quantified view of your cyber risk.

Honestly, the big picture is consolidation: you get one platform to manage your security posture, which cuts down on complexity and the cost of managing multiple vendors. This approach helped Qualys project full-year 2025 revenues in the range of $665.8 million to $667.8 million, a solid 10% growth year-over-year.

Qualys, Inc.'s Product/Service Portfolio

The company's value creation centers on its Enterprise TruRisk Platform, which hosts a suite of integrated applications. Here's a look at the core offerings driving their business as of late 2025:

Qualys, Inc.'s Operational Framework

The operational process is built on a 'collect once, use everywhere' model, making it incredibly efficient. The key is the Qualys Cloud Platform architecture, which acts as a central nervous system for all security and compliance data.

• Data Collection: The Qualys Agent is deployed once, collecting security and compliance data from all assets (endpoints, cloud workloads, containers) continuously. This single-agent model eliminates the need for multiple, conflicting security tools.
• Risk Quantification: The platform processes petabytes of data daily, translating raw vulnerability data into a quantifiable business risk score (TruRisk). This allows security teams to focus on the 4% of vulnerabilities that pose the highest risk to the business, rather than chasing all of them.
• Automation and AI: Qualys is pioneering the Agentic AI-powered Risk Operations Center (ROC), which uses AI not just for detection but for automated, proactive risk management and remediation actions. This is defintely a game-changer for speed.
• Go-to-Market Strategy: A significant portion of revenue is driven by partners. In Q3 2025, partner-led sales accounted for 50% of total revenues, showing a strong reliance on the channel to accelerate adoption of solutions like ETM.

Qualys, Inc.'s Strategic Advantages

When you look at why Qualys wins deals, it comes down to a few hard-to-replicate advantages that translate directly into lower operational costs and better security outcomes for customers.

• Cloud-Native Architecture and Single-Agent Model: Being one of the first Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) security companies, their platform is inherently scalable and requires minimal customer infrastructure management. The single agent drastically reduces friction, which is a big selling point for large, complex organizations.
• Superior Profitability and Financial Health: The highly efficient cloud model results in industry-leading margins. The Q3 2025 GAAP gross margin was a remarkable 84%, demonstrating exceptional cost control and pricing power in their subscription model.
• Unified Risk Context: Unlike competitors who stitch together disparate products, Qualys offers a natively integrated suite of solutions. This allows a customer to move from asset inventory to vulnerability management to patching and compliance all within a single user interface, reducing human error and time-to-remediation.
• Focus on Risk Surface Management: The pivot to Enterprise TruRisk Management (ETM) and the Risk Operations Center (ROC) positions them ahead of the curve, moving beyond simple vulnerability scanning to true business risk quantification. This is what CISOs are demanding now.

To understand the foundational principles guiding this platform, you can review the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Qualys, Inc. (QLYS).

Qualys, Inc. (QLYS) How It Makes Money

Qualys, Inc. makes money by selling annual and multi-year subscriptions to its cloud-based cybersecurity and compliance platform, which provides customers with a unified, continuous view of their IT security posture. Essentially, you are paying a recurring fee for a suite of integrated security applications, moving away from fragmented point solutions.

Qualys, Inc.'s Revenue Breakdown

For a cloud-native software company like Qualys, the revenue is overwhelmingly driven by recurring subscriptions, which is a key indicator of business quality. The high gross margin confirms that professional services, such as implementation and training, are a small, non-core component of the financial engine.

Business Economics

The economics of Qualys's business model are classic high-margin Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), built on the efficiency of its single-agent, cloud-native architecture. This structure allows the company to roll out new modules, like Enterprise TruRisk Management (ETM), at minimal marginal cost, driving significant operating leverage.

The company recently introduced the flexible Qualys Unit (QLU) pricing model, also known as Q-Flex, which is a smart strategic move. Instead of buying individual modules, customers purchase 'units' that give them flexible access to the entire platform, which encourages them to consolidate their security spending onto the Qualys platform and drives larger, multi-year commitments. This is defintely a lever for higher Average Revenue Per User (ARPU).

• Pricing Strategy: The QLU model shifts pricing from a per-module, per-asset basis to a unified platform-access model, which increases the total addressable market within existing customer accounts.
• Channel Momentum: Partner-led sales are a major growth driver, making up 50% of total revenues in Q3 2025, up from 47% a year ago, with channel partner revenues growing at a strong 17%. This is a capital-efficient way to scale.
• Retention Health: The Net Dollar Expansion Rate (NDER) remains healthy at 104% as of Q3 2025, meaning existing customers are spending 4% more year-over-year, which is a solid sign of successful cross-selling and upsells into the new ETM solution.

Qualys, Inc.'s Financial Performance

The financial results for the 2025 fiscal year show a business that is not just growing, but is doing so with elite profitability, which is what you want to see in a mature SaaS company. The full-year 2025 revenue guidance was raised to a range of $665.8 million to $667.8 million, representing about 10% growth over 2024.

• Q3 2025 Revenue: Total revenue reached $169.9 million, a 10% year-over-year increase.
• Gross Profitability: Non-GAAP Gross Margin in Q3 2025 was an exceptional 85%, confirming the low cost of delivering the cloud-native software service at scale.
• Operating Efficiency: Adjusted EBITDA Margin was 49% in Q3 2025, a significant jump from 45% in the prior year quarter, demonstrating excellent expense management and operating leverage.
• Cash Generation: Operating cash flow for Q3 2025 was robust at $90.4 million, representing a 53% margin of revenues, which is a massive amount of cash returning to the business.
• Profitability: Non-GAAP Earnings Per Share (EPS) for the full year 2025 is guided to be between $6.93 and $7.00, reflecting the high-margin, cash-generative nature of the business.

If you want to dive deeper into the resilience of these numbers, you should check out the full analysis: Breaking Down Qualys, Inc. (QLYS) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors. Finance: Model the impact of a 10% QLU adoption increase on the 2026 gross margin by the end of the month.

Qualys, Inc. (QLYS) Market Position & Future Outlook

Qualys, Inc. is pivoting from a vulnerability management leader to a holistic cyber risk management platform, positioning itself for significant growth in the high-margin security software space. The company's focus on its Enterprise TruRisk Management (ETM) platform, which integrates AI and automation, is a direct response to the market's demand for consolidation and quantifiable business risk reduction, not just vulnerability scanning. For the full year 2025, the company raised its revenue guidance to between $665.8 million and $667.8 million, a clear sign of confidence in this platform-led strategy.

You can see the full strategic context of this shift in the company's core values and long-term goals here: Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Qualys, Inc. (QLYS).

Competitive Landscape

The vulnerability management market is highly concentrated, with Qualys, Tenable, and Rapid7 dominating the core software segment, holding over 60% of the market share combined. Qualys's long-standing cloud-native architecture gives it an advantage in scalability and data collection, but its competitors are aggressively using acquisitions and AI to close the platform gap. Here's the quick math on how the major players stack up in the core market as of 2025:

Opportunities & Challenges

The total addressable market (TAM) for Qualys is massive, estimated to be around $55 billion in 2025 and expanding to $79 billion by 2028, largely driven by the need for integrated cloud security and risk quantification. The shift to ETM is defintely the biggest opportunity, but it comes with the challenge of a tight budget environment.

Industry Position

Qualys is a highly profitable, cash-generating leader in the cybersecurity space, known for its pioneering cloud-based model since 1999. The company's core strength is its single-agent, unified platform, which allows it to seamlessly integrate new capabilities like its Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) and Identity Security. This is a huge advantage over competitors who rely on integrating disparate tools.

• Dominates the Rule of 40 metric, achieving a score of 57% in Q2 2025, substantially outperforming its peer group due to its high profitability.
• The ETM platform moves the conversation from IT-centric vulnerability counts to business-centric risk quantification, a key differentiator for board-level reporting.
• Strong channel momentum, with partner-driven revenue increasing to 49% in Q2 2025, indicating a scalable sales model.

The company's operational efficiency is underscored by its ability to generate high free cash flow, which was $89.5 million in Q3 2025, representing a 53% margin. This financial strength allows Qualys to fund its aggressive AI and platform development organically, without sacrificing its industry-leading margins.