Israeli cyber startup raises $150m to secure critical assets of plants and hospitals

Israeli-founded cybersecurity firm Claroty said Thursday it has secured $150 million in fresh funds to broaden its software platform, which helps defend factories and industrial plants from hacking attempts on their critical physical infrastructure.

The financing round, which gives the cybersecurity firm a valuation of $3 billion, was led by Golub Growth, an affiliate of US private credit lender Golub Capital. The new investment brings Claroty’s total funding to date to about $900 million. Among the startup’s investors are Japanese investment giant SoftBank, Bessemer Venture Partners, South Korea’s LG, Schneider Electric, Siemens, and Team8.

Claroty was founded in 2014 by Amir Zilberstein, managing partner at Team8; serial entreprenuer Benny Porat; and cybersecurity entrepreneur Galina Antova. The Israeli-founded firm is the developer of a software platform tailored to help protect industrial companies, factories, hospitals, and healthcare providers from ransomware and other cyberattacks targeting physical assets, such as oil pipelines, water utilities, infrastructure, and supply chains.

Claroty said that the funding round comes amid an increase in cyberattacks on critical infrastructure and supply chains that lead to power outages, fuel shortages, and disruptions to medical care.

“Organizations need a platform approach that serves as the foundation of a holistic cyber-physical systems (CPS) protection program, leveraging the right combination of technology, people, and processes in order to reduce risk, maintain compliance, and preserve operational integrity,” said Claroty CEO Yaniv Vardi. “This new funding marks the start of an exciting new chapter in Claroty’s growth journey…to secure the cyber-physical systems that underpin our lives.”

The new funds will be used to support Claroty’s global expansion and develop a comprehensive industry-centric cybersecurity protection platform for critical infrastructures, the startup said in a statement.

Claroty serves 1,300 enterprises across manufacturing, healthcare, retail, data centers, and logistics companies and organizations. Among its customers are Pfizer in the pharmaceutical industry and General Motors in the automotive field, as well as BHP,  Yale New Haven Health System, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Noble Energy.

Claroty currently employs about 700 people, including roughly 350 in Israel, with the remainder based in New York, Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, and Latin America.