McAfee Inc. (NYSE:MFE) has made its first acquisition in Israel. It will announce the acquisition of IT security start-up Onigma Ltd. for $20 million tomorrow. Onigma produces solutions for preventing leaks from enterprises.
Two McAfee executives visited Israel in March to examine strategic cooperation with, or the acquisition of Israeli companies. They focused their discussions with Israeli end-point data security companies. The executives spoke with Onigma, Safend Ltd., Promisec Israel and other companies.
Onigma was founded by 2004 by executive VP EMEA Amir Sadeh, CTO Liad Agmon, and software architect Ishay Green, who met during service with the IDF Military Intelligence. Onigma chairman Asher Jospe invested in the company through J-Vision Investments. Other investors include Excellence Investments chairman Roni Biram and CEO Dr. Gil Deutsch, Adi Federman, and Arye Weber. The company has one foreign investor, On Demand Partners. Onigma has raised $3.5 million to date, and was seeking additional investment.
Onigma will become McAfee’s development center in Israel, and it is now hiring to boost its staff to 40 from its current 25.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on October 15, 2006
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