EDITORIAL. C’est l’histoire du jour. Assez spéciale pour moi. J’ai connu Yevgeny Dibrov bien avant qu’il fasse la « Une » de toute la presse israélienne. Il vient de conclure un deal extraordinaire à l’échelle mondiale. Nous l’avons rencontré dans un bar de Tel-Aviv lors d’une rencontre professionnelle proposée par le CEO de Bits of Gold. Une personnalité exceptionnelle. Aimable, souriante, professionnelle, dévouée. Je l’ai aidé à collaborer avec des entreprises françaises. Sa principale référence : être lancé par Zohar Zisapel, le patron de RAD. (Daniel Rouach)
LE PLUS. Fondée en 2015, Armis est une société israélienne proposant une offre de sécurisation de l’Internet des objets. La plateforme, sans agent, donne la possibilité aux entreprises de voir et de contrôler n’importe quel dispositif ou réseau (PC portables, smartphones, écrans connectés, webcams, imprimantes, systèmes de chauffage et de climatisation, etc.) La firme de capital risque, Insight Partners, a jeté son dévolu sur cette start-up en offrant 1,1 milliard de dollars pour son rachat. La jeune pousse avait levé depuis son démarrage 112 millions de dollars. (lemondeinformatique.fr)
LE PLUS. Depuis plusieurs années, les start-ups israéliennes attirent beaucoup les investisseurs. Amazon est l’un des plus récents avec son rachat d’E8 Storage, spécialisée dans le stockage NVMe over fabric. Mais d’autres entreprises comme NetApp, ou Hyundai en dehors de l’IT, ou même le club d’investisseurs multimillionnaires La Maison ont été séduits par les solutions poussées par ces jeunes pousses israéliennes, notamment dans la cybersécurité. D’après une étude de Keyrus, elles étaient 6 616 en 2018 (+2% sur un an) dont 80% orientées BtoB. Et sur les 7 Md$ levés l’an dernier, la majorité des fonds sont allées vers ces dernières : 5,47 Md$ de financement pour le BtoB contre 1,19 M$ pour les start-ups BtoC. (lemondeinformatique.fr)
LE PLUS. JERUSALEM POST. American private equity firm Insight Partners has agreed to acquire Israeli-founded cybersecurity company Armis in a deal valued at $1.1 billion, the companies announced early Tuesday. Under the terms of the agreement, representing the largest acquisition of a private Israeli cybersecurity company to date, Armis will continue to operate independently and be led by Israeli co-founders Yevgeny Dibrov and Nadir Izrael. The deal is expected to close in February.
The companies said software-focused Insight Partners will acquire the company in cash, with participation from Alphabet’s private equity firm CapitalG valued at $100m., and rollover from certain existing stockholders. Seeking to deepen its presence in the Israeli ecosystem, Insight Partners opened an office in Tel Aviv in October 2019. Prior to the acquisition of Armis, the New York-headquartered venture capital firm – which manages over $20b. in assets – had invested over $700m. in Israeli companies.
“Insight is one of the most sophisticated software investors in the sector, and it is due to the depth of their domain expertise that they really understand the enterprise IoT device challenge we are looking to solve, and the size of the market opportunity,” said Dibrov, who serves as chief executive of Armis.
“We considered growth rounds and strategic offers, but by partnering with Insight we have the best of both worlds – operational support and independence, both of which were important in our decision to take on a scale-up partner this early in our company journey.”
By 2021, Armis reports, 90% of enterprise devices will be unmanaged and unsecured, thereby creating massive security gaps within businesses and organizations. A recent report by Finnish cybersecurity firm F-Secure revealed that attacks on such devices soared by 300% in 2019 alone.
“One of the biggest challenges keeping CIOs and CISOs up at night is how to secure the unmanaged devices proliferating through their businesses, from manufacturing floors to hospital rooms, from airports to boardrooms,” said Izrael, the chief technology officer of Armis.
“These devices – capturing and creating business critical information, working on production lines, or administering patient care – have no protection and they need a security solution.”
Following the acquisition, Insight founder Jeff Horing, managing director Teddie Wardi and Cyberstarts founder Gili Raanan will join Armis’ board of directors.
“Armis is one of the most ground-breaking enterprise data-centric security solutions that is actively protecting modern businesses today,” said Horing. “Armis has established themselves as the leader in the enterprise IoT security space, and we believe this team and their technology will continue to transform the way unmanaged devices are secured.”
