Microsoft Corp. has confirmed the acquisition of Israeli cyber security company Secure Islands. No financial details were disclosed but the acquisition is believed to be for about $150 million. "Globes" first reported the imminent acquisition in October.
Secure Islands was founded in 2006 by brothers Aki and Yuval Eldar. The company has developed technology that allows tracking an organization's documents throughout the web. According to IVC's databank Secure Islands started out in the Chief Scientist funded Xenia Venture Capital Ltd. (TASE:XENA) Van Leer incubator in Jerusalem., and has raised $20 million to date. Its last financing round was in September 2014 when the company raised $12 million from Credit Suisse NEXT Investors LLC.
Yuval Eldar said, " Today marks an incredibly exciting milestone for our company. We have reached an agreement to be acquired by Microsoft. When Yuval and I founded Secure Islands nine years ago, we shared one vision: to provide customers with the most efficient and reliable solution for information protection and control. In those days, it was still a nascent market for technology like ours, but we knew the customer need was there. Together, with our team of “marathon runners”, we have been thrilled to see our solutions adopted by some of the most prestigious companies around the world. By joining Microsoft, we will be able to extend and expand our vision. Microsoft has been a long time partner and its leadership in enterprise IT, its resources and global reach will help us innovate and deliver new information protection capabilities to both our current and new customer base
The acquisition will be Microsoft's fifth Israeli acquisition this past year and its third acquisition of an Israeli cyber security company over that period. Only four months ago, Microsoft bought Israeli company Adallom for $320 million.
Microsoft corporate VP Cloud and Enterprise Marketing Takeshi Numoto said, "Furthering Microsoft’s investments in security technology, I am pleased to announce today that Microsoft has signed an agreement to acquire Secure Islands, an innovator in advanced information protection solutions. This acquisition accelerates our ability to help customers secure their business data no matter where it is stored across on-premises systems, Microsoft cloud services like Azure and Office 365, third-party services, and any Windows, iOS or Android device."
He added, "Based in Israel, Secure Islands provides powerful data classification, protection and loss prevention technologies for virtually any type of file, which allows customers to apply data protection to more applications. Global customers, such as UBS, OSRAM, Vodafone and Credit Suisse, use and trust Secure Islands to protect data at each stage of the information lifecycle - from creation to sharing." "Secure Islands’ technology enhances the data protection capabilities available today with Azure Rights Management Service, Microsoft’s cloud-based information protection solution. After completing this acquisition, we will integrate Secure Islands’ technology into Azure Rights Management Service to provide a flexible architecture able to meet the most rigorous protection and compliance requirements."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 9, 2015
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