US hybrid cloud data services company NetApp Inc. (Nasdaq: NTAP) has acquired Israeli data security company Cognigo in a deal last month that was not publicized. Sources inform "Globes" that the acquisition was for about $70 million. Following the acquisition, Cognigo's 35 employees are joining NetApp's Israel development center, which already has 80-90 employees.
Cognigo was founded in 2015 by Guy Leibovitz, who served as CEO until the acquisition. The company has raised $11 million to date in two financing rounds. The first was led by Pinhas Buchris, Yuval Baharav and Nir Adler's SOMV and the second by OurCrowd. Other investors in Cognigo include Mivtach Group and the investment fund of Spanish company Prosegur.
Cognigo has developed a platform for data protection and adapting it to the various privacy regulations worldwide such as GDPR. The Israeli company uses AI technology and natural language processing in order to categorize every piece of data according to the regulations required for specific types of data.
Sources close to the companies told "Globes" that NetApp and Cognigo have been collaborating for several years and the acquisition will deepen the partnership. NetApp is traded on Nasdaq with a market cap of $15.3 billion.
NetApp's Israel development center is based on the 2008 acquisition of Israeli startup Onaro. The company previously had a development center in Haifa, based on the 2005 acquisition of Topio, which it closed down. In 2017, NetApp bought PlexiStor and its employees joined the Onaro center.
Cognigo was represented in the deal by Advs. Itay Frishman, Yael Nardi, Gal Misgav and Nir Dagan of Meitar Liquornik Geva Leshem Tal law firm and NetApp was represented by US law firm Orrick and Advs. Hanan Haviv and Rafael Herbst of Herzog Fox & Neeman (HFN) law firm.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on May 27, 2019
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