Cyber company ForeScout Technologies, founded in Israel in 2000, which operates in California and Israel, yesterday submitted a prospectus for raising $100 million in a Wall Street IPO. The share price and the company value for the offering have not yet been published, but the company's most recent financing round in January 2016 was at a $1 billion company value, and it can be assumed that the company is planning a higher value for its IPO, possibly in the $1.2-1.5 billion range.
The cyberspace sector is hot on Wall Street, and investors usually welcome all offerings in the sector with open arms. When its IPO is completed, ForeScout will become the latest of a string of Israeli cyber companies (or companies with an Israeli affiliation) listed on Wall Street, including Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP), Imperva Inc. (NYSE: IMPV), CyberArk Software Inc.(Nasdaq:CYBR), Varonis Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: VRNS), and Palo Alto Networks.
The list of underwriters advising ForeScout on its way to Wall Street is headed by Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, and CitiGroup, with Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, KeyBanc Capital Markets, and UBS as secondary underwriters.
According to figures from the IVC research company, ForeScout was founded by chairman Hezy Yeshurun, together with Doron Shikmoni, chief technology officer Oded Comay, chief architect Dror Comay, and Noga Alon. Yeshurun is a professor of computer science at Tel Aviv University, and formerly taught at New York University and the University of Paris. He also founded other technology companies, including Top Image Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: TISA; TASE:TISA). Yeshurun currently owns 1.8% of ForeScout's share capital worth $18 million at the value for the company's most recent financing round. The prospectus lists Shai Yeshurun, Hezy Yeshurun's son, as the company's financial manager.
Other than Hezy Yeshurun, the only Israel director on ForeScout's board of directors is Pitango Venture Capital founding partner Rami Kalish, who invested in ForeScout in 2001. Pitango currently owns 14% of ForeScout's shares. No other Israeli funds are parties at interest in the company. ForeScout's shareholders include UK firm Amadeus Capital with a 19.6% stake, US fund Accel (15.2%), Meritech (13.4%), and Wellington Management (7.7%). ForeScout president and CEO Michael DeCesare holds 3.3% of the company's share capital. ForeScount has raised $152 million to date in seven financing rounds.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on October 3, 2017
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