Israeli cybersecurity company Cato Networks has announced the completion of a $238 million equity financing round. Cato Networks eighth and biggest financing round to date brings the total amount raised by the company to $773 million. The round was completed at a company valuation of more than $3 billion, Cato Networks said. In its most recent financing round in October 2021, the company raised $200 million at a slightly more modest $2.5 billion valuation. Cato's achievement in raising so much money, at a higher value than in 2021, during such a challenging period is a considerable feat.
Tel Aviv-based Cato Networks was founded in 2015 by its president and COO Gur Shatz and its CEO Shlomo Kramer, one of the founders of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP) and the founder of security company Imperva. The company has developed secure access service edge (SASE) technology, which combines enterprise communication and security capabilities into a single cloud-based platform.
Cato became a unicorn in 2020 when it raised $130 million. One of its acvhievements was to persuade research company Gartner to establish a special category for the SASE industry.
The latest financing round was led by LightSpeed Venture Partners with the participation of Adams Street Partners, Softbank Vision Fund 2, Sixty Degree Capital, and Singtel Innov8. Following the round, Ravi Mhatre, founder and managing director of LightSpeed Venture Partners, will join the Cato board.
Kramer said, "This funding round reflects investor confidence in Cato’s leadership in the single-vendor SASE market. Cato’s SASE platform uniquely enables organizations of all sizes to optimally secure their businesses without the cost, complexity, and risk of owning and maintaining a pile of point solutions. Cato provides the only SASE platform creating a seamless customer experience and empowers IT to move at the speed of business."
Cato will use the new funds to expand in three key areas: delivering Cato’s vision and customer success to more customers, expanding the partner ecosystem offering managed Cato SASE services, and continue enlarging the engineering and product team in charge of its innovative capabilities.
In 2022, the company saw Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) exceed $100 million with revenue up 60% year-over-year. More than 1,800 enterprise customers, including Carlsberg and the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E, use Cato's mission-critical security and networking infrastructure.
Many other Israeli companies have entered the SASE industry including Perimeter 81, which was acquired by Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP) last month for $490 million.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 19, 2023.
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