Guardz Team (Photographed by Doron Letzter – from website)
Israeli founded cyber security firm Palo Alto Networks is on the verge of hitting a $100 billion valuation as its stock continues to rise. This comes just weeks after the company made several high-priced acquisitions.
And in further proof that Israel Startup Nation has rebounded from the initial shock of the Hamas massacre on October 7 and the start of the Iron Swords War in Gaza, Guardz, an Israeli cybersecurity startup, just raised $18 million in a Series A round of funding led by Glilot+, the early growth fund of Glilot Capital Partners just ten months after launching from stealth when it raised another $10 million. The firm has raised $28 million to date.
The New Israel Shekel almost crashed in the weeks after the Hamas massacre. And business deals were nil in Israel. But the Shekel has rebounded, and Startup Nation is making the big deals again, even as so many of the people who work in Israel’s high-tech sector have been called up for military service to defend their country.
Will you offer us a hand? Every gift, regardless of size, fuels our future.
Your critical contribution enables us to maintain our independence from shareholders or wealthy owners, allowing us to keep up reporting without bias. It means we can continue to make Jewish Business News available to everyone.
You can support us for as little as $1 via PayPal at [email protected].
Thank you.
Founded in 2022 by Dor Eisner and Alon Lavi, Guardz declares that the company exists to help businesses go from “zero cyber protection to having the right security and coverage in place in the most simple, efficient and affordable way. Guardz secures and insures your business, so you can focus on building it.”
The new raise came as Israel is still fighting against Hamas in Gaza and at the same time against the threat from the terrorist group Hezbollah based in Lebanon. As such, Guardz CTO Alon Lavi was actually serving in IDF reserves defending Israel’s northern border with Lebanon when the raise was made.
Lavi serves in the IDF’s artillery corps, which has been very active lately, firing on Hezbollah terrorist bases in Lebanon after they fire rockets on Israel.
Founded in 2005, Palo Alto Networks boasts that as a cybersecurity firm, it is shaping the “cloud-centric future with technology that is transforming the way people and organizations operate.”
In November alone, Palo Alto Networks spent more than $1 billion on the acquisition of two smaller companies: Israeli startup Talon Cyber Security, which develops cloud infrastructure-based cyber security technology, which sold for more than $600 million and Israeli cloud data security startup Dig Security for as much as $400 million.
