Israeli automatic software update platform developer JFrog (Nasdaq: FROG) has announced that it is acquiring Israeli startup Upswift, which has developed a management platform for remote updates of IoT devices by developers. This is JFrog's second acquisition of an Israeli startup in recent months after it acquired security startup Vdoo for $300 million in June.
JFrog did not disclose financial details about the Upswift acquisition saying the amount was immaterial. Sources believe it was for tens of millions of dollars. At the end of the second quarter of 2021, JFrog had $615 million in cash.
Upswift was founded three years ago by CEO Amit Ezer and CTO Eitan Chudnovsky (both aged 27) who met during their service in an IDF technology unit. According to IVC, the company has raised $3.5 million from Vertex. Upswift already has dozens of paying customers.
Ezer said, " "As more and more intelligent applications and data collection move to the edge, the marriage of DevOps with device management is unstoppable. We’re thrilled to join JFrog - a leader in the DevOps space - and to deliver something truly innovative to the market that helps developers further their digital transformation initiatives and bridge container deployment all the way to the end-device."
JFrog is traded on Nasdaq with a market cap of $3.5 billion. CEO Shlomi Ben Haim said, "We started out with the desire to make developers faster and more efficient in building and distributing software and the software ultimately reaches the cloud and data center. But your computer is not in the cloud, and your smartphone and car are not in the cloud, so someone need to reach the end device. Updating software on a device does not happen in the background and you have to switch off the device and turn it back on. Upswift manages the software update on the device itself - the car, telephone, TV. Together with JFrog this connects up to the world of the developer: writing code, pressing update, and billions of devices are updated.
Ben Haim says about the challenge of connecting IoT to DevOps. This is the 2.0 digital transformation. A smart device without a software update is a stupid device."
about Upswift's platform he says, "What they have built is simply fantastic. When we saw this put simply we jumped out of our minds. They are a talented pair."
"Upswift's team will all stay with JFrog 'as is' and will join JFrog's technology team in Israel in order to build an integration of the products."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 13, 2021
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