Israel Growth Partners (IGP) growth fund is in talks to buy a 25% stake in Petah Tikva based digital forensics company Cellebrite at a company valuation of several hundred million dollars. Cellebrite declined to comment. Several months ago Cellebrite's co-CEOs Yossi Carmil and Ron Serber told "Globes" that reports about the company's imminent sale were just rumors. Cellebrite is currently fully owned by Japan's Sun Corporation.
IGP was founded by Haim Shani and Moshe Lichtman and were later joined by Assaf Harel and Ziv Kop. IGP raised $250 million in its second fund last year - a similar size to its first fund. IGP typically invests $15-30 million in growth startups so that the potential investment in Cellebrite would be exceptional.
Cellebrite has developed tools which serve law enforcement and intelligence agencies and the military in dozens of countries. These tools help identify threatening activities and are also used by large corporations, companies like Apple, Google, Verizon and major banks, for internal investigations.
Cellebrite was founded by Yaron Baratz, Yuval Aflalo and Avi Yablonka who have never held positions in the company.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on May 29, 2019
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