Palo Alto to buy cyber startup in 2nd acquisition of Israeli startup within a week

Founded by American-Israeli entrepreneur Nir Zuk, US firm Palo Alto says deal underscores its commitment and belief in the strength of the Israeli cybersecurity ecosystem

By Sharon Wrobel

You will receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

You will no longer receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

6 November 2023, 7:09 pm

Edit

Sharon Wrobel is a tech reporter for The Times of Israel

Illustrative image of hacking, hackers, ransomware and a cybersecurity attack. (solarseven; iStock by Getty Images)

Palo Alto Networks, a Santa Clara, California-based cybersecurity firm founded by American-Israeli entrepreneur Nir Zuk, on Monday agreed to purchase Talon Cyber Security, marking its second acquisition of an Israeli startup in less than a week at a time when the country is at war with the Hamas terror group.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but the deal is valued between $600 million and $650 million, according to industry sources.

Founded in 2021 by CEO Ofer Ben-Noon, a serial entrepreneur and angel investor; and CTO Ohad Bobrov, Talon has developed an enterprise browsing platform for large organizations to run all of their web apps and services in a secure workspace, and protect them against cyber threats and malicious attacks. The Tel Aviv-based startup says the platform helps corporations “secure any user, in any location, on any device.”

“The average enterprise uses hundreds of SaaS and web applications, meaning that most work is now done primarily via the browser,” said Palo Alto’s chief product officer Lee Klarich. “Talon enables organizations to secure all work activity via an Enterprise Browser, without touching the personal usage of the device or impacting user privacy.”

The deal comes after Palo Alto on Oct. 31 announced the acquisition of Israeli startup Dig Security, a developer of a platform to secure data across public clouds. Palo Alto did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, but the value is estimated at around $400 million, according to Hebrew press reports.

“Today’s announcement underscores our continued belief in the strength of the Israeli cybersecurity ecosystem and our commitment to our growing team in Israel,” said Klarich.

Palo Alto Networks founder & CTO Nir Zuk (YouTube Screenshot)

Ben-Noon, an angel investor who is also the co-founder of Argus Cyber Security, which was sold to German car manufacturer Continental AG in 2018, described Palo Alto as an “ideal partner.”

“Their commitment to innovation in Israel is inspiring and an excellent match for Talon’s mission,” said Ben-Noon.

Talon last raised $100 million in Series A funding round in August, led by Evolution Equity Partners, with participation from Ballistic Ventures, CrowdStrike’s Falcon Fund, Merlin Ventures, SYN Ventures. Previous investors, including CrowdStrike co-founder George Kurtz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sorenson Ventures and Team8, also joined the financing round.

Zuk, a former engineer at Israeli cybersecurity firm Check Point Software Technologies, set up the competing Palo Alto back in 2005.

Over the past decade, the US firm has made a number of acquisitions in Israel, including Cyvera for $200 million in 2014; LightCyber for $130 million in 2017; CyberCubes and Secdo in 2018; and Twistlock ($410 million), PureSec, and Demisto ($560 million) in 2019, according to data compiled by Start-Up Nation Central.